Tag: Food
Has Sauvignon Blanc Trumped Stout in Belfast?
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.29.08 | 3:00 PM ET
Well, not yet, but it’s getting there. In a country that relishes its working-class brew, oenophiles have often been dismissed as effete elitists. But lately foreign travel, among other things, has fueled a marked interest in wine in Northern Ireland. Peter McBride, owner of the Gapwines chain, which recently held a wine-tasting at Belfast Castle, says he’s noticed that travelers often want to re-create the tastes they’ve experienced abroad at home. “And wine is one of them,” he told the BBC.
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Yahoo! BuzzPlaying the ‘Mzungu Crazy Card’ in Zanzibar
by Eva Holland | 09.29.08 | 10:53 AM ET
In the Ottawa Citizen, Rebecca Hall muses about the “incredibly freeing” nature of being an outsider in Zanzibar. She writes:
I called it the Mzungu Crazy Card (mzungu is the Swahili term used to identify, varyingly, white people, foreign people, Europeans and magicians). As one of a handful of expatriates living on the Tanzanian archipelago, Zanzibar, everything I did incited laughter. Everything I did was “crazy,” and treated as such. I haggled for a mango in the market. I asked for tea without sugar at work. Crazy! I asked for tea with sugar at work. Still crazy.
The Spanakopita’s Last Stand?
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.26.08 | 10:14 AM ET
Three-quarters of Greek adults and two-thirds of Greek children are overweight because of the decline of the famously healthy Mediterranean diet, writes Elisabeth Rosenthal in The New York Times. Just 20 years ago, Greeks were still regularly eating famously healthful staples like whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and goat milk. But as Greek lifestyles grow more hectic and convenience trumps wholesomeness, fast food and high-fat, high-sugar processed snacks have invaded Greek cuisine.
Une Baguette, S’il Vous Plaît: Cash-Strapped French Forgo Multicourse Lunches
by Valerie Conners | 09.24.08 | 12:01 PM ET
Gone are the days of languorous French lunches. As France’s economic crisis worsens, more French diners are opting for quick, cheap meals. The Guardian reports that restaurant-goers are “skipping the traditional aperitif, avoiding starters, drinking tap water, passing on wine and coffee and—at most—sharing a pudding.”
Meatball Nations: United in the Love of Kofte, Keftedes and Kebapches
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.19.08 | 6:21 AM ET
Southeastern Europe boasts something like 400 varieties of meatballs, according to Balkan Travellers. Albena Shkodrova looks at the beloved comfort food as served in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and the former Yugoslav republics—but not after tweaking the United States for its lack of creativity with minced meat. Cue Josh White while visualizing Chef Boyardee.
Photo by fotoosvanrobin via Flickr (Creative Commons).
New Season of ‘Bizarre Foods’ Begins Tonight
by World Hum | 09.09.08 | 1:12 PM ET
Andrew Zimmern, the man who eats insects for fun, is back. The new season begins tonight at 10 ET on the Travel Channel with a show from Phuket, Thailand. What’s on the menu? Tasty fish stomachs, among other things. The show will be followed by a live video chat with Zimmern at 11 ET.
Foodie Alert: Britain’s Regional Delicacies
by Eva Holland | 09.09.08 | 8:41 AM ET
Here’s one more nail in the coffin for all those outdated jokes about British cuisine: the Guardian has a round-up of 10 UK regional specialties, both well-known and obscure—and most of them are as fun to say (try “ham-and-pease-pudding stotty-cake sandwich”) as I’m sure they are to eat.
Photo of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding by robbie jim via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Café du Monde in New Orleans: ‘Nostalgia Can Make Even a Local Into a Tourist’
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.08.08 | 2:00 PM ET
A Regional Guide to Mexican Tamales
by Jim Benning | 09.04.08 | 12:40 PM ET
I’ll never forget arriving by bus in Mexico City a few years ago, famished, and finding a well-stocked tamale stand in the middle of the bus station. At that moment, I felt as though I’d never seen a more beautiful sight. Behind the counter, steaming pots were stacked high with half a dozen kinds of tamales: peppers and cheese, chicken, pork, seafood. I bought two or three, unwrapped them on a narrow bar and dug in. They were moist and savory, and their hot masa dough wrappings practically melted in my mouth. I was in heaven.
Typo in Swedish Food Magazine Leads to Nutmeg Poisoning
by Michael Yessis | 09.03.08 | 3:37 PM ET
A cake recipe in Matmagasinet mistakenly asked for 20 nutmegs instead of two pinches. Four readers of the now-pulled magazine ended up in the hospital. Sounds like the “typo vigilantes” were needed across the pond.
Foodies Still Bitter About Tokyo’s Michelin Honors
by Michael Yessis | 09.03.08 | 3:03 PM ET
Yeah, they’re still talking about this like it’s some sort of crime. More than nine months after Michelin debuted its Tokyo guide with 191 stars, foodies are still questioning whether Tokyo is indeed the premier city in the world for food.
Related on World Hum:
* Eating Japanese: The World’s ‘My Boom’ Food
Photo by yomi955, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Hooters in China: It’s About ‘Moral Righteousness’
by Eva Holland | 09.02.08 | 3:30 PM ET
I’ve always loved noting the subtle differences between the same big-name chain restaurants at home and abroad. According to this McClatchy-Tribune story, though, when Hooters opened in China there was nothing subtle about the changes the chain made. The “American Owl Restaurant,” as it’s apparently known there, has a totally different shtick in Beijing. Said one server: “It’s more sexy in the U.S. Here, it’s more about being healthy, friendly, cute and having moral righteousness.”
Related on World Hum:
* Las Vegas’ Hooters Hotel to go Boutique
Photo of Beijing Hooters by china_puwa via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Eating Seal With the Inuits: ‘The Best Part is the Flipper’
by Joanna Kakissis | 08.28.08 | 10:13 AM ET
Is the best way to dive into a culture through its food? Justin Nobel, writing in Gourmet, was eager to find out. While in Canada, he visited Kuujjuaq, a village 900 miles north of Montreal. He decided to skip the cheese fries and pizza at local restaurants and instead headed to an Inuit home to sample “the country food”—baked caribou leg and “a hunk of seal the size of a small suitcase.”
Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Leaking Mushroom Soup Halts Plane’
by Jim Benning | 08.27.08 | 7:39 PM ET
Oh, the power of a good mushroom soup. There was actually a little more to the story of why a Ryanair plane had to make an unscheduled landing in Germany.
First Bras, Now Bacon: Breakfast Meat Triggers Alarm
by Valerie Conners | 08.27.08 | 4:08 PM ET
I can almost imagine how giant underwire bras might prompt an airport security brouhaha, but now bacon—that most innocuous of breakfast meats—has reportedly done it? Oh, the humanity!
Brits Go on Holiday, Europe Cowers in Fear
by Elyse Franko | 08.25.08 | 4:53 PM ET
So we’ve posted about the British couple getting arrested after having sex on a Dubai beach. And about the nine British women who were arrested for taking part in an oral sex competition in Greece. Now the New York Times offers a comprehensive look at the bad behavior of Brits abroad.
Wine Spectator Gives ‘Award of Excellence’ to Fake Restaurant
by Jim Benning | 08.21.08 | 3:25 PM ET
Yes, Wine Spectator magazine, which urges readers to “Learn More, Drink Better,” unwittingly gave an “Award of Excellence” to a non-existent restaurant in Milan. Wine writer Robin Goldstein is behind the hoax. Goldstein entered Osteria L’Intrepido and its fake menu in the magazine’s restaurant awards competition, paying the $250 entry fee, “[a]s part of the research for an academic paper I’m currently working on about standards for wine awards.”
French Food Violations: France’s Entire Image ‘At Stake’
by Valerie Conners | 08.18.08 | 11:13 AM ET
Before biting into your escargot in that bistro along the Seine, beware: a report from France’s agriculture ministry reveals that more than a quarter of France’s eateries violate food safety standards. It’s no small embarrassment for a country that has hoped to have its food named a UNESCO world treasure. “The image of France is at stake,” France’s agriculture minister, Michel Barnier, told the Telegraph.
Has the British Pub Jumped the Shark?
by Julia Ross | 08.15.08 | 12:51 PM ET
Sadly, yes, according to this rather depressing essay in the Telegraph. Britain’s smoking ban and drinks promotions run amok “have transformed the average British pub from a haven of smoked glass, polished brass and mahogany into blaring dumps filled from one end to the other with quiz machines, karaoke stages, and drunken teenagers,” laments Andrew O’Hagan.
How to Eat Ceviche in Lima
by Nicholas Gill | 08.15.08 | 11:00 AM ET
Photos by Nicholas Gill