Food

A Few Food Reads

Posted on 1 Jan 2023 by Food

Most of these links were first shared in my newsletter (to which you can subscribe here).

A Turkish professor believes that a plant found in central Turkey is actually silphion (or silphium), a plant used as a seasoning (among other things) in Roman times that was believed to have gone extinct. His theory is not without its detractors. See the National Geographic story from last September.

D Magazine’s review of Tatsu Dallas makes the tiny 10-seat omakase sushi counter sound like a religious experience.

After being forced to survive on them during World War II, France more or less swore off vegetables like Jerusalem artichokes, kohlrabi and rutabagas. (Seriously, rutabagas are a famine signifier in many parts of Europe.) Now these “forgotten vegetables” are making a comeback. Atlas Obscura in April 2020.

The Atlantic on how wildfires in 2021 have decimated the production of Turkey’s unique pine honey.

“A product of an unholy eggnog-fuelled tryst between a hot dog and a fruitcake—and I don’t mean that in a good way.” As It Happens on the (blessedly) limited-edition figgy-pudding flavoured Spam.

““Almost everything with the truffle label that is available in stores or served in restaurants is a lie and a fraud.” TasteAtlas’s Matt Babich on synthetic truffle flavour posing as the real thing.

Garlic in a Jar and the Casual Ableism of Foodie Culture

Posted on 2 Jul 2022 by Food

“The culture that surrounds cooking today is one that lends itself well to casual ableism,” writes Gabrielle Drolet in The Walrus. “It’s a culture that prizes specific ways of doing things over others, constantly pitting methods and recipes against one another: French-style scrambled eggs over American; minced garlic instead of pressed, nonstick pans against those made of cast iron, bouillon cubes against broth cartons against homemade stock.” Drolet had cause to reconsider the precepts of foodie culture when an injury limited her ability to cook the right way. “Often, the wrong choice is the easier (read: more accessible) one—and making it is a fatal flaw. These aren’t things to try to avoid when you can. They’re things you should never do, even though many of us don’t have a choice. This lack of nuance is what made me believe using accessibility tools might make me a bad cook, pushing me to hurt myself even when cooking alone.”

The King of Cheese

Posted on 24 Jan 2022 by Food

In Smithsonian magazine, Joshua Levine looks at the history and somewhat uncertain future of Roquefort cheese. “The king of cheese is in trouble. Over the past dozen years, sales of Roquefort cheese have fallen 15 percent, to 16,000 tons in 2020. The people who love it are growing ever grayer, and French parents are no longer bringing up their young to appreciate a taste that any normal child instinctively finds yucky (god knows, mine does). It takes training and persistence to overcome a natural human instinct to avoid food that, let’s face it, is spoiled, albeit in a tightly controlled and highly refined manner.” I have tried Roquefort a grand total of once: my sinuses have never since been so clear. It’s an experience, to be sure.

What Happened to All the Bucatini?

Posted on 29 Dec 2020 by Food

Bucatini is a thick, spaghetti-like long pasta with a hole down the middle, and for some reason it’s been impossible to find in the United States this past year. Rachel Handler investigates for New York magazine’s Grub Street blog, and finds herself going down an increasingly bizarre rabbit hole as she tries to answer the question: what happened to all the bucatini? Was production cut back in favour of other, easier-to-produce pastas because of increased pandemic demand? Were people using them as straws? And what exactly was the issue between the FDA and pasta maker De Cecco? An astonishing read.

The Rise and Fall of Pandemic Baking

Posted on 28 Jul 2020 by Food

There was a point during the lockdown where it seemed like sourdough culture was propagating faster than SARS-CoV-2, and you couldn’t find yeast or flour on the shelves for love nor money. (We had to go through a restaurant.) That seems to have abated now. The Cut explores the rise—and fall—of pandemic baking. “The height of sourdough mania crested before Memorial Day, when one national emergency—the COVID-19 pandemic—was met by another, the police brutality and systemic racism brought to the fore by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The privileged lifestyle cosiness of home baking then seemed a pale crutch. The Instagrammed loaves disappeared. The mood is more urgent now; those stuck at home have forcefully, passionately wrenched themselves unstuck. Sourdough can’t save a nation, and it can’t distract it indefinitely, either.”

Cronk Is the Drink

Posted on 20 Jul 2020 by Food

Paul Fairie recently stumbled across bizarre advertisements for a drink called Cronk in an 1883 issue of the Calgary Herald. (“Cronk. Buy Cronk. Cronk is the drink.”) The rabbit hole that opened up in the wake of that discovery is summarized in his 16-minute video above, which tries to reconstruct the history of Cronk: what was it, what were its ingredients, who invented it, and how did those weirdo ads end up in the Calgary Herald? (More from CBC News.)

The New Trophies of Domesticity

Posted on 11 Feb 2020 by Food

KitchenAid stand mixers and Le Creuset dutch ovens have become “small markers of stability and sophistication, coveted by young people for whom traditional indicators of both often remain out of reach,” The Atlantic’s Amanda Mull writes, and boy (glances at kitchen) do I feel seen. People delaying marriage and homeownership are upgrading their cheap starter equipment themselves instead of getting them as wedding gifts. As status markers go, though, they’re durable and practical: they may be expensive, but they last.

When Average Equals Amazing

Posted on 31 Jan 2020 by Food

ChefSteps created a chocolate chip cookie recipe by using the average amounts used in 10 cookie recipes: the average of the amount of baking soda, flour, salt, et cetera, used in these recipes. The result was the best chocolate chip cookie they’d ever tasted. “There is no reason why this should have worked. But this cookie checks all the cookie qualifier boxes in a big way. It’s the perfect blend of chewy, crispy, buttery, chocolatey goodness—it is far more than average.” That’s it: we’re so baking this.

Jonathan Crowe
Map blogger. Science fiction and fantasy critic and writer. Snake whisperer. Typewriter fiend.

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