Tag: Food
How to Eat Peking Duck in Beijing
by Diana Kuan | 11.29.07 | 11:29 AM ET
It's a feast fit for emperors. But as Diana Kuan explains, there's more to devouring the iconic dish than you might think.
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Yahoo! BuzzIn Search of the Perfect Dumpling in Shanghai
by Joanna Kakissis | 11.26.07 | 11:09 AM ET
In Shanghai, the dumpling known as xiao long bao is on the city’s list of “protected traditional treasures.” It was invented in Shanghai, which made an excellent setting for a witty and mouth-watering piece in the International Herald Tribune by intrepid travel writer and World Hum contributor Daisann McLane. During the course of three days, she taste-tested her way through the city, looking for the perfect dumpling.
Can’t Afford Europe? Take the A Train Instead.
by Julia Ross | 11.12.07 | 4:42 PM ET
If you’re a New Yorker pining for a week in Tuscany or Paris—but can’t face the prospect of an $8 soda—don’t despair: Cara O’Flynn has some tips for getting your Euro fix at home, all within steps of your nearest subway stop. While waiting for the dollar to rebound against the Euro, O’Flynn, a World Hum contributor writing in the New York Post, advises checking out the Alliance Francaise’s Cinema Tuesday series or the weekly flamenco theater Alegrias en la Nacional.
Seoul Does Brunch: South Korea Embraces the Newfound Weekend
by Joanna Kakissis | 11.07.07 | 9:59 AM ET
Photo by Presta, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
As globalization continues its culture-morphing march, it’s brandishing a powerful weapon: brunch. In Seoul, once a city so overworked from a six-day work week that tired South Koreans only socialized late in the evening, a Western-style brunch of toasted bagels and blueberry pancakes is the latest way to bond with family and friends, according to The New York Times.
Delta Ups the Meal Ante on Short Flights
by Terry Ward | 11.06.07 | 1:17 PM ET
I knew it spoke sadly for the state of in-flight food affairs last week when I found myself thrilled with the prospect of free Doritos and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee on a JetBlue flight from Orlando to New York (to the airline’s credit, it is one of the only domestic short haul carriers still offering free snacks—and, just my opinion, but I think Dunkin’ Donuts coffee rocks). The days of free food on short flights in America have been gone for a while. So I was pleased to read this AP story about Delta’s decision to enlist celebrity chef Todd English to create a new line of “upscale” in-flight meals that will be available for sale on all Delta flights of 90 minutes or longer by spring 2008.
From New York City to Los Angeles, Michelin Aims to Crack Zagat’s Hold on U.S. Restaurant Guides
by Joanna Kakissis | 11.06.07 | 8:07 AM ET
For decades, travelers in the United States have favored the Zagat Survey to find restaurants. Like the popular hotel guide TripAdvisor, Zagat rates restaurants based on reviews from frequent diners. But now France’s storied Michelin guides are challenging Zagat in hotel and restaurant recommendations in the U.S., writes Adam Goldman of the AP. “Our star system is the measure against the world,” Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin Guides, told Goldman. “The chefs see us as the only independent benchmark.”
Culinary Explorer: Getting to Know a Culture by Creating its Cuisine
by Joanna Kakissis | 11.05.07 | 9:47 AM ET
It’s been said that the best way to get to know a country is through its food. As a fan of the food writers Diane Kochilas and Corinne Trang, who combine a traveler’s cultural awareness with a chef’s creativity in their cookbooks, I believe cooking authentic cuisine from abroad helps you get closer to a culture. Dorothy Aksamit went one step further on her trip to the river town of Hoi An, Vietnam: She took a cooking class led by a local chef.
‘This American Life’ on Mapping Your World
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.25.07 | 9:50 AM ET
Mapping doesn’t mean just plotting places on a piece of paper. In a particularly brilliant This American Life episode, host Ira Glass says you can explore your world by mapping each of your five senses. “Every map is the world seen through a different lens,” he said.
A Daring Cup of Tea in Darjeeling
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.19.07 | 10:47 AM ET
How far would you go for a cup of tea? Matt Gross, the Frugal Traveler for The New York Times, went deep into West Bengal and the Himalayas to explore the tea estates of Darjeeling country and sample varieties of the coveted teas. The hours-long journey to Darjeeling is like “a teetotaler’s version of a Napa Valley tour but without the crowds,” Gross writes. Getting to this remote corner of India is also apparently spine-chilling: the steep drive up and down decrepit roads has caused more than a few fatal plunges and Gross anxiously notes rough trips between estates.
Extreme Eating in East Berlin With the Stasi
by Michael Yessis | 10.08.07 | 11:11 AM ET
Bless Tom Perrotta for trying to eat local on the road, but after reading his extraordinary tale from a long-ago visit to East Berlin, I can understand why he’s hesitant to do so anymore. The author of “Election” and “Little Children” recalls that after a few beers with some locals, including two uniformed East German soldiers, he was urged to try Hackepeter, a combination of raw beef, chopped onions and raw egg. The food, he writes in the New York Times Magazine, was “quite tasty.” It was what happened afterwards that scared him.
It’s Tapped: Oktoberfest Kicks Off in Munich
by Eva Holland | 09.25.07 | 12:43 PM ET
The 174th annual Oktoberfest got under way this past weekend in Munich, Germany, and just reading the AP story about the opening keg-tapping ceremony made me thirsty. Last year, the festival attracted more than 6 million people, saw nearly 13 million pints poured and generated 1 billion euros in revenue. Similar numbers are expected this year.
Restaurant Criticism: Is Anonymity Possible, Post-Google?
by Jim Benning | 09.12.07 | 3:47 PM ET
Many restaurant critics treasure their anonymity, slipping into restaurants and sampling dishes without fearing they’re getting special treatment. But as Regina Schrambling writes in today’s Los Angeles Times, that’s becoming increasingly difficult to do in a post-Google environment. “After Google, the rules are being rewritten by the hour,” she writes. “When any human being is searchable online not just verbally but visually, how can a critic possibly hope to retain anonymity long enough to give a restaurant a fair evaluation? Throw blogs into the mix and it’s a mashup of Facebook and a masquerade ball. In the last month, a youngish but old-style critic adamant about his anonymity has been involuntarily outed for all of cyberspace and thousands of magazine readers to see, while a blogger-turned-critic happy to bask in the limelight has been hired by a newspaper that puts her pulchritude on prominent display with every review.”
‘On the Road’ Sites, Including a Mexico City Sanborns, Then and Now
by Jim Benning | 09.04.07 | 2:30 PM ET
Fifty years after the publication of “On the Road,” the Los Angeles Times’s Christopher Reynolds observes how a number of places depicted in the book have changed—or not—from Sausalito to New York City. Among the places he includes is Mexico City’s famed blue-tiled Sanborns (pictured).
Four Travel and Food Books: Paul Richardson’s Picks
by Emily Stone | 08.28.07 | 1:17 PM ET
Today we published our review of Paul Richardson’s new book, “A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain.” We asked Richardson to recommend a few books that inspired him. Here are his picks:
Food in History by Reay Tannahill
Richardson says: “This book is permanently interesting and superbly written with enormous wit and erudition—a classic that is never far from my writing desk.”
‘A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain’
by Emily Stone | 08.28.07 | 12:45 PM ET
Paul Richardson's new gastro-adventure, Emily Stone finds, catches a European country with a complex past at a strikingly modern moment
Big Mac Turns 40, Gets Own Museum in Pennsylvania
by Michael Yessis | 08.23.07 | 2:44 PM ET
The burger that’s so influential the Economist magazine named an index after it is four decades old this year, and the centerpiece of the celebration is the just-opened McDonald’s Big Mac Museum Restaurant in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. It’s the museum featuring the 14 feet by 12 feet statue of a Big Mac, naturally. America’s most famous contribution to world cuisine—or, to some, an imperial symbol of the country’s gluttony—was created in a Uniontown, Pennsylvania McDonald’s in 1967 by Jim Delligatti.
Three Travel Tips: Ways to Save Money in Europe
by Michael Yessis | 08.09.07 | 11:03 AM ET
Travel tips are easy to find on the Internet, but some are better than others. Each week, we’ll bring you World Hum-approved travel tips from around the Web.
1) Eat seasonally. “Germans go crazy for white asparagus. Italians lap up porcini mushrooms. And Spaniards gobble their snails (caracoles)—but only when waiters announce that they’re fresh today. You’ll get more taste for less money throughout Europe by ordering what’s in season.”—Rick Steves.
Joe Bravo’s Tortilla Art on a Roll
by Jim Benning | 08.07.07 | 1:03 PM ET
Did Hemingway Really Drink Mojitos at La Bodeguita del Medio?
by Jim Benning | 08.06.07 | 3:23 PM ET
Depending on your perspective, mojitos are either all the rage and part of “mint’s moment” or as dated as “Sex and the City” reruns. I polished off a too-sweet-for-my-taste mojito last night at San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado, as evidenced by this photo of my empty glass, mainly because the drink set me back $11 and I couldn’t stand the idea of wasting it. I like the occasional mojito, but I’ve been enjoying the mojito press coverage even more, and I particularly liked this piece in the Wall Street Journal focusing on Ernest Hemingway’s relationship—or lack thereof—with the drink. I thought it was a given that Hemingway tossed back mojitos at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana. Tourists flock to the bar for that very reason.
Amtrak to Overnight Travelers: Drink Up!
by Jim Benning | 08.03.07 | 1:48 PM ET
The last Amtrak train I took in California was delayed so long it fouled up my weekend plans and nearly drove me to drink. Now Amtrak is going out of its way to get some passengers liquored up. It’s offering $100 in alcohol credit to members of its guest rewards program traveling between November and January in sleeper cars on select legs of the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief and Silver Meteor. According to the AP, it’s “part of an effort to revive some of the luxury of old-fashioned, cross-country train trips.” And it’ll help some passengers drown their Amtrak travel sorrows.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Hey America, Make With the !@~$ High-Speed Rail Already’
Photo by tompagenet via Flickr, (Creative Commons).