Archive for the ‘Food + Recipes’ Category
Foodie Underground: Are You Abnormal?
For Thanksgiving I found myself staying in a yurt near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. There was a small propane stove and no running water, but Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving and so we made a concerted effort to eat well.
The stuffing used locally baked pumpkin bread, the sweet potatoes were organic and made without a Cuisinart in sight, and I hand-chopped a cranberry relish. After not finding anything but absurdly cheap, huge frozen birds that surely came from the mass farms of nightmares, we accepted the fact that we would be without the Thanksgiving staple. Fine in our books, as no one was interested in eating “a depressed, fake bird,” as one friend put it. Fortunately, an organic, free-range, local bird was scored at the last minute.
Sitting in our woodstove-outfitted yurt filling ourselves with the bounty of a day of cooking felt perfectly normal. We were, after all, celebrating the most traditional of American holidays.
But apparently the scene was far from normal.
Read the rest here.
Does Being a Foodie Make You an Elitist?
Last week the Oregonian published the “Non-foodies Food Guide,” which spurred some local outrage. An issue that’s near and dear to my heart, I weighed in over on my weekly Foodie Underground column. So does being a foodie make you an elitist? Or do we need to drop our hangups and start focusing on the real problem at hand: access to healthy, fresh and local food for everyone? Here’s an excerpt.
Despite the recent inclination to team the term “foodie” with “snob” there are a whole group of foodies out there that are simply concerned with where their food came from, how it was raised, and what’s being added to it to make the end product. In fact, if there’s one thing the underground food movement has taught us, it’s that local, sustainable, fresh fare is desirable, not just because it’s trendy but because it’s healthy and better for the environment.
Read the whole article here.
Hembakat är Bäst: Minimal Cookbook from IKEA
The cookbook from the furniture giant is only available in Swedish, but the images say it all. Hembakat är Bäst — which translates to Homemade is Best — features traditional Swedish baked goods all presented in a minimal, simple, and beautiful way. Makes me want to go and make some kanelbullar… love.
A Reason to Love Fall
$5 worth of farmers market chantrelles. Consumed all in one sitting.
Parking Space Turned Cafe
Park(ing) Day is this Friday — props to those who will be converting parking spaces into mini urban parks — so I figured a mention of this super cool looking pop up cafe in New York was fitting, pulled from this week’s installment of Foodie Underground:
Sponsored by two neighboring eateries – Bombay and Fika – and the New York City Department of Transportation, the pop up cafe is composed of a wooden platform that houses 14 tables and 50 chairs. An attempt at solving the problem of cramped sidewalks which don’t leave much room for outdoor seating, the pop up cafe is part foodie attraction and part public space improvement. In fact, Bombay and Fika don’t offer table service, and anyone who wants to take advantage of the space is allowed to take a seat.
Taking the place of several parking spaces, the outdoor seating doesn’t conflict with the sidewalk traffic, and it’s a project that the DOT is more than happy to support. “Every time we put down just an orange barrel, people just materialize out of nowhere,” said Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan to Streetsblog. “If you build it, they will sit.”
Image: DNA Info
New Summer Favorite: Watermelon Salad
I’d seen variations on watermelon salad making their way around the web, and I figured it was time to make my own. Much like most of my food endeavors, this recipe was dictated by what I had on hand, so although most watermelon salad calls for mint I went all out and threw in some basil. Partnered with the sweet taste of the watermelon and the salty feta, you’ve got a salad that’s both refreshing and interesting. The new summer must have.
The Bike-Thru
Love this idea so much I had to cross-post from my Foodie Underground column over on EcoSalon:
The drive-thru: an iconic institution fueled by the American spirit to hit the open road. But in this day and age, drive-thrus have become synonymous with unhealthy lifestyle habits, both because of the food they serve and the mode of transportation used to get there. But what if the food was good, and getting access to it promoted sustainable living habits?
In Madison, a restaurateur is looking to open an eating space that’s anything but a drive-thru; he wants to launch a bike-thru, accessible only by two wheels. The Wisconsin capital is already known for its cycling culture, in fact it’s currently ranked the nation’s #7 city for biking, and Chris Berge thinks it would be the optimal spot for what he calls a “bike-in” bar and grill. The proposed restaurant would be built on the city’s Southwest Commuter Path, making it inaccessible by car, and commit to serving local food, and producing zero garbage. He’d also make it a great place for riders to get a quick rest stop, with bathrooms, a fountain for filling water bottles and a bicycle repair service station.
Although the restaurant hasn’t been officially proposed yet, the idea has already garnered the support of the mayor of Madison, Dave Cieslewicz. “I think it’s fascinating idea,” Cieslewicz said. Be it a love for good, local food or a passion for two-wheeled transport, the idea has the potential to take off in other cities as well.
Kombucha: Love it or Hate it? Love it.
So yeah… I’ll acknowledge that it looks gross, but there’s just something about brewing your own kombucha, and if you haven’t already jumped on the fermented tea train, it’s time to do it. Check out the latest installment of Foodie Underground to find out how (and why you should).
Foodie Photo Addiction
This week over on the Foodie Underground column I had the delight of writing about one of my favorite subjects: food porn. Sure, that may sound a little harsh, but if you’re addicted to beautiful pictures of good food, you know exactly what I’m talking about.You find yourself with a camera often closer to your plate than your fork, you know exactly what shutter speed to use in a dimly lit restaurant and shopping at farmers market takes twice as long as the average person because you’re forced to do a round to zoom in on all the fresh carrots and bell peppers.
New Column: Foodie Underground
My very first official column just debuted today over at EcoSalon. Pretty excited about it; going to give me the chance to all of the crazy, cool, avant garde things happening in the food world. Think taco trucks meets super clubs meets homebrews.
This week’s topic is “Amateur is the New Black,” taking a look at how you no longer have to have a fancy diploma to take part int he food movement. A sort of “democratized gastronomy.” Here’s an excerpt:
Maybe it’s the result of an economy that requires a skill for penny pinching or maybe it’s just a renewed love of food, but whatever the reasons behind it, amateur involvement in culinary culture is happening big time, bringing the power of being a foodie into the hands of everyone who wants a taste. Call it indie, call it DIY, but this trend is simply expanding on something we’ve done for centuries: create sustenance.
Now go read the whole thing!
blog.annabrones.com 