Empires, Cannibals, and Magic Fish Bones
Join us as we celebrate food, the dinner table, and quite likely empires, cannibals and magic fish bones!
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
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!!
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.
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.
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.
Islay. The name conjures salt water-spray off the North Atlantic, peat bogs rich with all that decays, limestone, spring water, geese and thrushes. And whisky. Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg on the southeast shore of the island. Bunnahabhain and Caol Ila to the northeast. Bowmore, Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte around Loch Indaal in the middle of … Continue reading Terroir And Smoke: Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2007 And Smoked Catfish Étouffée With Readings From Sir Albert Howard, Aldo Leopold and Eliot Coleman.
I’m almost through reading Carl Safina’s seminal text Song for the Blue Ocean, which surveys the state of Bluefin Tuna in the Northeast of the United States, salmon in the Northwest, and coral reefs in the Pacific. More than fifteen years ago Safina’s voice artfully, evocatively raised an alarm about the real thought that needs … Continue reading Bluefin Tuna to Palm Oil: Sustainability is the Word: Three Books And A Blog.
A dog barks, the Lute Suites of Sylvius Leopold Weiss drift through an open window, and I pour a Stone Brewery Russian Imperial Stout and light an Alec Bradley American Sun Grown cigar. I’m sitting on my back patio in the evening, contemplating the life of the gastronome. Actually, this could also be the opening … Continue reading Gastronomic Dreams: From Brillat-Savarin to Jorge Luis Borges With A Number Of Stops Along The Way.
We’re preparing for Brazil vs.Germany and I’m drinking a caipirinha as we cook a Moqueca. Why moqueca? It’s a signature dish from Bahia! Here’s where we are so far. I’ve halved, quartered several limes and added a spoonful of brown sugar. Also, the Rolling Stones on brown sugar. Next step, mottle. Add ice, cachaca, and … Continue reading Caipirinha, the Girl From Ipanema, And World Cup 2014!
This afternoon I’m drinking a Wasatch Devastator Double Bock (creamy, malty, yeasty and bananany) as I simmer diced onion and bacon (Revival Farms) in charred leftover bits of sirloin (Augustus Ranch). Grounded in the kitchen? Dwelling and being. I stir the pan and think through rural America, national parks, salmon on the Columbia River, returning … Continue reading Savoir-Vivre: Some Thoughts On Culture In A Bowl
