Author: magicfishbones

Food, travel, study and family. A way of life.
Posted on

The Past And Future Of Food: Nick Cave, Cotechino Sausage, The Holy League, The Beatles, Soylent, And Nick Cave Again.

“Ah wanna tell ya ’bout a girl,” Nick Cave sings. “Ah wanna tell ya ’bout a sausage,” I sing. Cotechino.  It’s 1511 and you’re living in Mirandola, a city in northern Italy in the province of Modena. The famous Pico della Mirandola’s family runs the city, but that’s little help to you now as Pope … Continue reading The Past And Future Of Food: Nick Cave, Cotechino Sausage, The Holy League, The Beatles, Soylent, And Nick Cave Again.

Posted on

The Violence Swirling Around Palm Oil: Roads and Kingdoms Travels To Honduras.

Much has been said and written about children fleeing Honduras for the United States, and yesterday the New York Times reported that our government seeks a remedy to the crisis by interviewing young adults and minors in Honduras to see if they may apply for refugee status on emergency humanitarian grounds.  Now might be a … Continue reading The Violence Swirling Around Palm Oil: Roads and Kingdoms Travels To Honduras.

Posted on

We Don’t Like To Take Advice About Food–And That’s Part Of The Problem.

In Tracie McMillan’s National Geographic article, “The New Face of Hunger,” the nature of agribusiness, food production and government subsidies becomes a part of the puzzle of hunger in America. It’s a cruel irony that people in rural Iowa can be malnourished amid forests of cornstalks running to the horizon. Iowa dirt is some of … Continue reading We Don’t Like To Take Advice About Food–And That’s Part Of The Problem.

Posted on

Hunger In America

A compelling view of hunger from Osage, Iowa to Houston, Texas to the Bronx, New York. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/hunger/ This is also a good place for a book recommendation: The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement by Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis.  A small food bank in Toronto, Canada … Continue reading Hunger In America

Posted on

Aaron Needs A Goat–I Have A Stew To Cook, Sins To Confess, And Côtes du Rhône To Drink. Let’s Here It For Family Bovidae!!

What’s in a cooking pot?  Here’s Rachel Laudan in Cuisines and Empires on the subject: The cooking pot, in which diverse elements were brought into harmony, symbolized culture and state.  When the Greeks founded a new colony, they carried a cauldron and a spark of fire from the mother city.  Confucians argued that the king … Continue reading Aaron Needs A Goat–I Have A Stew To Cook, Sins To Confess, And Côtes du Rhône To Drink. Let’s Here It For Family Bovidae!!

Posted on

Terroir Battle? You Know What Side I’m On!

So, apparently there is a terroir battle between those who smell each soil particle in a glass and those who only smell alcohol and cry “Pour on!”  I’m posting Dwight Furrow’s review of the situation, along with Compound Interest’s blog on the aroma of the sea–something particular dear to my heart when I curl up … Continue reading Terroir Battle? You Know What Side I’m On!

Posted on

Ancient Cuisine Philosophy For 500, Jack! The Odyssey To Yum Yum Cha To Nineveh To Cajun Country.

Why would this episode of Empires, Cannibals and Magic Fish Bones begin with Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Socrates?  Ah, just you wait–death, drink, friends, and something sacred are all in the air. The Odyssey, so much eating, so much time: sacrifice and feasts, strangers walking in the door and feasting, sailors feasting on cattle … Continue reading Ancient Cuisine Philosophy For 500, Jack! The Odyssey To Yum Yum Cha To Nineveh To Cajun Country.

Posted on

Is The World Better Off With Celebrity Chefs? Bourdain, Pépin, And Hong Kong Gardeners.

While working on a new post, I often like to scrawl through what’s happening in the blogosphere and discover a comet, orbiting planet or an emerging galaxy–today is one of the emerging galaxy days, I think. Throughout Dan Barber’s new book The Third Plate, he’s constantly wondering if chefs like himself are part of the … Continue reading Is The World Better Off With Celebrity Chefs? Bourdain, Pépin, And Hong Kong Gardeners.

Posted on

Beef Bone-Marrow: Removing Excess Blood, Scooping The Marrow Out, A Single Light, 350 Degrees For 20 Minutes, And An Egg.

Up above an appropriate memento mori from Pieter Claesz (1628).  Below, my beaten-up copy of Larousse Gastronomique under BONE-MARROW (Moelle) lists seven recipes: Beef bone-marrow (Moelle de boeuf).  The marrow, cut into fairly thick slices (using a knife dipped in boiling water), poached without boiling in salt water and drained, is used to garnish steaks.  Bone-marrow … Continue reading Beef Bone-Marrow: Removing Excess Blood, Scooping The Marrow Out, A Single Light, 350 Degrees For 20 Minutes, And An Egg.