The New Gastronomes

To watch the artisanal practice of fishing for Magghia Masculina in the Bay of Catania, you need to rise before the sun. Half asleep and fumbling like drunks, our class poured onto an old sightseeing boat that slowly lumbered towards our destination. Our first stop was to watch the industrial practice of netting anchovies. As [...]

Being a student of gastronomy is really hard work. Honestly. It’s not for the faint of stomach. A relentless number of challenges are thrown at you with such frequency as to make your head spin and your belly churn.
Apart from the obvious requirements of attending lectures and producing a myriad of projects and reports, the [...]

If you go for a walk in the woods one of these crisp Piemontese autumn mornings, you may meet a man carrying a wicker basket. In it, a few small mushrooms on a bed of fern. “Oh,” you will say, “Not so lucky today?”
“No,” he will answer, with a rueful look into his basket. “Not [...]

I didn’t receive a word of confirmation, just a friendly and approving look and a piece of some arepas (a sweet, tortilla-like bread made of coconut milk and grated tubers). Lula then told me I needed to wait about 40 minutes, something I patiently did while watching the parsimonious preparation of the casabe.
First she took [...]

Finding  Lula’s place was the first challenge in my casabe quest. I drove for not too long, but through what seemed a labyrinth of misplaced streets, palm trees, fences, and brightly colored houses. It was hot and humid, as Puerto Rico usually is on a midsummer day, and Loiza Aldea, an African heritage community, was vibrant [...]

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the Oldest Ham in the World. A friend and I recently stumbled upon this rather puny, petrified pork leg while having lunch inside Oxford, England’s Covered Market.
Having just arrived in town for a symposium on food and cookery, we had a few moments to kill, and [...]

My father is a great cook. My mother is even better. Last month, when my mom was in Germany, and the rest of us at home in California (my dad, my sister, and my fiancé, Ben), I said I would play mom.
I decided to cook my way through [...]