Tag: Food
Shrinking Planet Statistic of the Day: Chinese Restaurants
by Jim Benning | 03.06.08 | 3:15 PM ET
”[T]here are about 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., ‘more than the number of McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and KFCs combined.’” Source: The Chicago Tribune quoting Jennifer 8. Lee in a review of her new book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. (Via aldaily.com)
Photo by pixeljones via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
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Yahoo! BuzzPizza and Intrigue in Naples: A Graphic Travel Story
by Eva Holland | 02.27.08 | 10:16 AM ET
Tom Downey, whose first ‘graphic travel story’ we blogged about awhile back, has put out another in this month’s Conde Nast Traveler. As in the first story, Naples: The Case of the Stolen Starter was created with artist Neil Gower and fuses techniques from graphic novels and detective fiction to create a unique piece of travel writing. From the piazza to the mercato to the trattoria, Downey encounters all kinds of compelling details of Neopolitan life while his illustrated hero attempts to save a pizzeria whose dough has been stolen.
Tokyo Foodies to Michelin: ‘You Still do Not Know us or Our Cuisine’
by Michael Yessis | 02.25.08 | 11:47 AM ET
All those stars Michelin awarded Tokyo restaurants are impressing many, but not a core group of prominent Tokyo chefs and critics. “Japanese food was created here, and only Japanese know it,” chef Toshiya Kadowaki told the New York Times. “How can a bunch of foreigners show up and tell us what is good or bad?”
CAMRA Names Britain’s Best Pub
by Eva Holland | 02.19.08 | 4:24 PM ET
Britain’s Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has announced the results of its annual hunt for the best pub in Britain, and the winner, the Times of London notes dryly, came out on top “despite having no juke box, pool table, fruit machine or ‘theme.’”
Mint and Djinns in Fes
by Terry Ward | 02.18.08 | 1:03 PM ET
Photo by Terry Ward. Terry Ward wondered if her Moroccan friend believed in genies. Over a pot of tea, she learned just what she wanted to know.
Tokyo: ‘The Premier City in the World for Food’
by Michael Yessis | 02.15.08 | 2:51 PM ET
Michelin’s first-ever guide to Tokyo gave the city’s restaurants a combined 191 stars, more than Paris (98 stars) and New York City (54 stars) have together. Sure, Tokyo also has far more restaurants (160,000) than Paris (20,000) and New York (23,000), but the news of the quality of the Japanese cuisine—Michelin released the Tokyo ratings last November—has resonated with travelers. According to the Japanese government, seven out of 10 international travelers to the country cite food as the primary reason for visiting.
‘Feng Shui-Inspired’ McDonald’s Opens in California
by Michael Yessis | 02.15.08 | 1:57 PM ET
A press release touts the “water elements, earth tones, red accents and exotic fauna” in a design by “Feng Shui Grand Master” Dr. Chi-Jean Liu. Eater LA and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune have photos, if you want to see the Grand Master’s work for yourself. Me? I just want to see if this influences the next Big Mac Index.
Eating Cuban on Miami’s Calle Ocho
by Jim Benning | 02.14.08 | 1:37 PM ET
The cultural heart of Cuban life in Miami is, naturally, Little Havana. And in Little Havana, the main drag is Calle Ocho—8th Street. It’s on Calle Ocho where old men in elegant guayaberas gather to play dominoes, and it’s on Calle Ocho where a number of fine Cuban restaurants have been serving up strong espresso and garlic-infused fried pork for years. For Americans who want to experience authentic Cuban culture without violating U.S. laws with a clandestino trip to Havana, Miami’s Calle Ocho is the place to start.
Kibbe and Myth in the Mississippi Delta
by Joanna Kakissis | 02.07.08 | 11:06 AM ET
If you go to any family-run diner in the Mississippi Delta, chances are you’ll find tabouleh, dolmas and the Lebanese meat dish called kibbe tucked between the barbecue and fried chicken on the menu. That’s because waves of Lebanese settled in Mississippi between the 1870s and 1960s, setting up grocery stores and restaurants to make a living, according to NPR’s Kitchen Sisters and “the Faulkner of Southern food,” John T. Edge.
10 Super Bowl-Worthy Watering Holes
by Jim Benning | 02.01.08 | 10:07 AM ET
Searching for the Perfect Cup of Chai
by Eva Holland | 01.30.08 | 10:43 AM ET
Last week’s post about eating patatas bravas in Washington D.C. made my mouth water—and it also got me thinking about those meals that I’ll always associate with a particular place and time. I inevitably come back from a trip with a new favorite food or drink, and just as inevitably my attempts to re-create it at home, whether in a local restaurant or my own kitchen, fail miserably. Case in point: my search for the perfect cup of chai.
My Patatas Bravas Are Better Than Yours
by Julia Ross | 01.23.08 | 10:37 AM ET
Last Saturday, my sister and I dug into a plate of our favorite tapas dish—patatas bravas—at Washington, D.C.‘s popular Jaleo restaurant. It’s always the first dish I order—hearty chunks of potato doused in a spicy tomato sauce and finished with a garlicky white sauce, best devoured with the aid of toothpicks. While the patatas are a best seller in Washington, they’re an obsession in Spain.
Fortune Cookies Exposed: Turns Out, They’re Japanese
by Julia Ross | 01.16.08 | 4:33 PM ET
I’ve always considered fortune cookies to be a prime example of Chinese-American entrepreneurship, developed by early 20th century immigrants to draw Americans into chop suey houses in the San Francisco area. Or so went popular history. Now a fascinating New York Times article has blown the fortune cookie’s cover: A Japanese graduate student has traced the tradition to several family bakeries outside Kyoto, Japan, where they have been tucking paper fortunes into crimped brown wafers since the 1870s.
Awakening the Primal Chef Within at Greece’s Open-Air Markets
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.14.08 | 5:04 PM ET
Photo by Daquella Manera via Flickr (Creative Commons).
This Smithsonian story on the Athens Central Market got me thinking about food (again), but not for the usual escapist reasons. For one thing, Athens Central isn’t a food porn kind of place, since it has all those bloody carcasses, intestines and glassy-eyed fish that inevitably come with creepy sales pitches (i.e. “baby lambs fed only on mother’s milk!”). When I first visited the market in 2004, the full-on raucousness of the place unnerved me. But it also awoke something primal in my palate—something these old but enduring agoras usually do to the sheltered supermarket set.
The Dogs of Pohnpei
by Rob Verger | 01.03.08 | 11:09 AM ET
Photo by Rob Verger. They roam wild on the Micronesian island. Their meat is also considered a delicacy. When one of his students offered him a plate, Rob Verger faced a decision.
Man Downs Liter of Vodka to Avoid Giving it up at Airport Security Checkpoint
by Michael Yessis | 12.13.07 | 11:03 AM ET
A 64-year-old man was given two choices by security at the Nuremberg, Germany airport: Dump his liter of vodka or pay to have it checked as luggage. He went with a third option: Chug it like a Sig Ep pledge. “The passenger was unable to stand or function and a doctor was called to the scene,” according to Spiegel Online. The not-too-surprising diagnosis: alcohol poisoning. The unnamed passenger was admitted to a Nuremberg hospital and is expected to be home in time for Christmas. I think I know what gift he’d like to find under his tree this year.
Related on World Hum:
* Airport Security to Lourdes Pilgrim: Your Holy Water is a Security Threat
* Russia: ‘Cold, Dark, Drowning in Vodka, and Ruled by the KGB’
Photo by inda.ca via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Dear Mexican, Why the Yellow Cheese on Tex-Mex Food?
by Jim Benning | 12.10.07 | 11:47 AM ET
Anyone who’s traveled much in Mexico knows you just don’t see much yellow cheese on authentic Mexican food. You’re far more likely to encounter a lighter white cheese. So why are so many Tex-Mex and California-Mex dishes north of the border—heck, throughout the world—smothered in yellow cheese? Gustavo Arellano, who writes the terrific Ask a Mexican column, explains.
Related on World Hum:
* All Hail ‘The Burrito King of Argentina’
* ‘On the Road’ Sites, Including a Mexico City Sanborns, Then and Now
* Eating Fajitas in France
Related on TravelChannel.com:
* Anthony Bourdain: Highlights From Mexico
Photo by HeatherW via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
A ‘Gastronaut’ Goes to San Sebastián
by Michael Yessis | 12.05.07 | 1:21 PM ET
Dining With NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli at Le Train Bleu in Paris
by Joanna Kakissis | 12.04.07 | 5:21 PM ET
For months now, NPR’s correspondents have been tempting devoted foodies like me with delicious reviews of noteworthy restaurants, bistros and cafes around the world. Among other things, they’ve sampled creamy orange hot chocolate in Berlin, camel’s milk desserts in Nairobi and blue corn quesadillas with zucchini flowers in Mexico City. The latest dispatch comes from senior European correspondent Sylvia Poggioli, who sampled pan-fried shrimp with red onions and fresh coriander, spiced pumpkin soup with mushrooms and a dessert of oranges, yellow and black carrots and yuzu sorbet at Le Train Bleu in Paris.
All Hail ‘The Burrito King of Argentina’
by Jim Benning | 12.03.07 | 10:43 AM ET
In our ongoing quest to chronicle the spread of Mexican food —Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex, you name it—around the globe, we note the rise of the humble burrito in Buenos Aires. At The California Burrito Company, which was co-founded by a 24-year-old expat from California, eating instructions are posted on the wall: “Pull back the foil wrap as you consume the burrito.” There’s even talk of expanding to Montevideo.
Photo by rick via Flickr, (Creative Commons).