Took
a ride on the train from Kandy to Nuwera Eliya for the first time in 50 plus
years on my march Sri Lanka food tour. There is no buffet car on the train so
we all got lunch boxes from our previous night's hotel. Shouldn't have bothered
as a couple of stations up from Kandy this guy, selling prawn vada (lentil
cakes with a prawn pressed in and then deep fried) accompanied by onions and
fried whole dried red chilies, and a couple of others hopped on the train with
street food that was streets ahead of the limp sandwiches in the box.
21 Pictures that
Prove Hipsters Should be Banned from Food Forever
How
could I resist posting this J I understand the shovel is
already in use at a certain cafe in Alexandria.
His Paula Deen
takedown when viral but this food scholar has more on his mind.
‘Twitty’s embrace
of all the various parts of himself — African, African American, European,
black, white, gay, Jewish — sometimes raises hackles, as does his habit of
speaking his mind. An article he wrote in the ‘Guardian on July 4, 2015, suggesting
that American barbecue “is as African as it is Native American and European,
though enslaved Africans have largely been erased” from its story, elicited
scorn and worse: Many commenters were outraged by his idea of barbecue as
cultural appropriation. Even scholars who appreciate Twitty’s insistence that
the African and African Americans who helped create Southern cooking be
recognized say he sometimes overstates his case. “What gives scholars pause is
his tendency to make bold statements when more nuance is needed when writing
about a time period — pre-colonial Africa — that is not well documented,” says
Adrian Miller, James Beard Award-winning author of “Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American
Cuisine.”
To
which my response is that sometimes it takes bold statements to generate
questioning that leads to scholarship which may lead to documentation that
answers the question.
Thanks
to Jacqui Newling for the lead to this article on the fascinating Michael
Twitty.
The vast bay leaf
conspiracy
‘Maybe you’ve had this
experience: You throw a bay leaf into a broth, and it doesn’t do anything. Then
you throw the rest of the bay leaves you bought into the broth, too, because
you only bought them for this, and you’ll be damned if you don’t taste a bay
leaf, and they don’t do anything, either. What could be the cause of this? I’ll
tell you. Bay leaves are bullshit.’
It goes on a bit but it’s a fun article. I have a good mate who would
agree with the sentiment.
The Rise of Egotarian Cuisine
‘This style of dining is currently nameless. What makes
the food different is that every chef is seeking to express himself in an
incomparable and triumphant manner. I call it Egotarian Cuisine.
The food is ingenious. It's
occasionally brilliant. Too often, it's awful.’
Love the 9 signs – especial 5. The herb in your soup is found only in botany
textbooks and 9. The chef explains that his
cooking has "a story to tell," and it's a romantic novel of
self-love.
Ta John Newton for the lead.
What it’s like to
cook for the Pope
“There were certain
restrictions, which were obvious because of his age: nothing spicy, no
irritants, nothing too greasy,” Ibarra explained. “All the fruits had to be seedless to avoid digestive problems.”
Go on! You KNOW you want to know.
21st
Symposium of Australian Gastronomy
This looks seriously good with some fab OS guests. Registrations not open
yet. The webpage for the Symposium and the corresonding Facebook page are a
welcome advance. Signing up to the FB will keep you informed.
Just a pity I already delivered a paper on Utopias & Dystopias: Upesia
& Dyspepsia at a Symposium in 2004 –
available for anyone interested via moi.
Food Politics
The call for papers is now open for the Food Politics: From the Margins to the
Mainstream conference, which will be held at the University of Tasmania from
Thursday 30 June – Friday 1 July 2016.
No info yet on how to
register but you can follow the site via its blog.
Oxford Symposium
calling for donations
The Friends of the Oxford
Symposium have put out a call for donations to support work of the
Symposium that is ‘important to the Symposium that are not funded by
registration fees’ such as Student Research Grants, prizes for
Best Student Paper Presentations, the Best Presentation award for a
non-student first-time presenter, Young Chef grants, and ongoing support
for the website and the Proceedings Digitisation Project.
The online donation page is https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/oxfordsymposiumonfoodcookery
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