Empires, Cannibals, and Magic Fish Bones
Join us as we celebrate food, the dinner table, and quite likely empires, cannibals and magic fish bones!
The hedges have not been clipped for awhile in this small garden at the edge of the Villa Borgehese in Rome. Grass does its best to cover a narrow walkway, while the sky above unfurls grey clouds and grey light like an old sheet stretched between the sun and earth. We walk through marble and … Continue reading The Mystery Of Cacio E Pepe While Walking In An Edward Gorey World.
A maid and a cavalier look out at us from a 17th century kitchen in Pieter Cornelisz van Ryck’s A large kitchen still life with a maid and a gentleman. She’s scaling a fish and he’s pouring back some water or wine. Practices of a day and time, very much like today, though the clothes … Continue reading House Of Kitchens To Doctor Omelette: Cooking Strategies And Tactics.
In his final work Ecce Homo, Friedrich Nietzsche reviews his life, draws conclusions, and emphasizes what he has learned about the art of living. In this context, he writes about nutrition. I am much more interested in a question on which the “salvation of humanity” depends far more than on any theologians’ curio: the question … Continue reading What Would Nietzsche Eat? Why Bagna Càoda, Of Course.
Gustav Klimt‘s painting Garden Path with Chickens from 1916 no longer exists. Hasn’t for awhile. Thirteen of his paintings stored in Schloss Immendorf castle in Lower Austria during World War II were destroyed by retreating German forces who set off explosives. Only a photographic reproduction of the work allows us to view it today. Gustav Klimt’s … Continue reading Chicken Soup For A Friend Who’s Fallen Ill.
I’m pausing in my reconstruction of Thanksgiving in order to get all philosophical about cooking with corn meal. Here is part of what the Larousse Gastronomique has to say about polenta: Piedmont form of maize (corn) meal porridge. It is made simply of maize flour dried in the open and not in the oven. Polenta … Continue reading The Philosophy of Polenta as I Whisk with Napoléon, Rousseau, Sebald and Aurelius.
