food

Showing 65 posts tagged food

“I really like simpler food, and I really like restaurants that leave you alone. What satisfies me is simple food really well prepared—and prepared with conviction. I’m a little tired of restaurant culture, and I really like to cook. And, this sounds weird, but I sort of feel we’re being deprived of the pleasure of cooking.”

Michael Pollan laying down all my thoughts concisely on food, cooking, restaurants and the NY vs SF culture precisely. great read! (via http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2013/04/michael-pollan-in-conversation-with-adam-platt.html)

“This, for many, is flat-out evil but the rest of the world isn’t like America, where it’s become virtually impossible to throw a dinner party. One person doesn’t eat meat, while another is lactose intolerant, or can’t digest wheat. You have vegetarians who eat fish and others who won’t touch it. Then there are vegans, macrobiotics and a new group, flexitarians, who eat meat if not too many people are watching. Take that into consideration and it’s actually rather refreshing that a 22-year-old from the suburbs of Detroit will pick up her chopsticks and at least try the shar pei.”

David Sedaris: Chicken toenails, anyone?

Such a great writer. And hilarious.

“One of the most significant dishes in all countries along the Silk Road, from the Sea of Japan to Anatolia, is dumplings. Dumplings across Asia are tell-tale signs of a shared common past demonstrating drastic similarities. From the Turkish perspective, the origins of mantı have been long forgotten and the dish is regarded as quintessentially Turkish. However, almost all etymological references state that the origin of the word comes from the Chinese word man tou.”

Turkish mantı, Chinese mantou
Aylin Öney TAN

“In the early 1950s, the Betty Crocker Company introduced a cake mix so that people could readily make excellent tasting cakes at home. No muss, no fuss: just add water, mix, and bake. The product failed. “The cake mix was a little too simple. The consumer felt no sense of accomplishment, no involvement with the product. It made her feel useless.” Betty Crocker solved the problem by requiring the cook to add an egg to the mix, thereby putting pride back into the activity. Adding the egg gave the act of baking a sense of accomplishment, whereas just mixing water into the cake mix seemed too little, too artificial.”

Donald A. Norman, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things

We are such sensitive creatures. 

(via caitlinwinner)

This is like Instagram allowing the choice of filters for your photos.

(via dpstyles)

librarysciences: How Forks Gave Us Overbites and Pots Saved the Toothless Until around 250 years ago in the West, archaeological evidence suggests that most human beings had an edge-to-edge bite, similar to apes. In other words, our teeth were aligned liked a guillotine, with the top layer clashing against the bottom layer. Then, quite suddenly, this alignment of the jaw changed: We developed an overbite, which is still normal today. The top layer of teeth fits over the bottom layer like a lid on a box. […] What changed 250 years ago was the adoption of the knife and fork, which meant that we were cutting chewy food into small morsels before eating it. Previously, when eating something chewy such as meat, crusty bread or hard cheese, it would have been clamped between the jaws, then sliced with a knife or ripped with a hand — a style of eating Professor Brace has called “stuff-and-cut.” The clincher is that the change is seen 900 years earlier in China, the reason being chopsticks. Read more [via theatlantic, Image: flickr].  I love these bits of re-revelations. High-res

librarysciences:

How Forks Gave Us Overbites and Pots Saved the Toothless

Until around 250 years ago in the West, archaeological evidence suggests that most human beings had an edge-to-edge bite, similar to apes. In other words, our teeth were aligned liked a guillotine, with the top layer clashing against the bottom layer. Then, quite suddenly, this alignment of the jaw changed: We developed an overbite, which is still normal today. The top layer of teeth fits over the bottom layer like a lid on a box.

[…] What changed 250 years ago was the adoption of the knife and fork, which meant that we were cutting chewy food into small morsels before eating it. Previously, when eating something chewy such as meat, crusty bread or hard cheese, it would have been clamped between the jaws, then sliced with a knife or ripped with a hand — a style of eating Professor Brace has called “stuff-and-cut.”

The clincher is that the change is seen 900 years earlier in China, the reason being chopsticks.

Read more [via theatlantic, Image: flickr]. 

I love these bits of re-revelations.

“Franny’s, whose utterly undistinguished pizza is notable only for the coercive sanctimony that comes with it, is actually hailed as being one of the city’s best, when in fact it tastes in every way like 15 other pizzas you aren’t forced to eat with a fork and knife.”

The Truth About Brooklyn’s Overhyped, Undercooked Restaurant Scene (via paulbrady)

Such a spot on article. It’s not that this is a ‘hater gonna hate’ screed, but Brooklyn’s restaurant scene is massively overhyped and prone to boosterism — much like a lot of the startup scene.  I live minutes from Franny’s and Al Li Da and the pizza and Tuscan plates there would be average in Manhattan, LA or even San Francisco.  The decent places - Diner and Roberta’s in Williamsburg - are great when measured stand-alone but pair them against the cluster of great places in the city and the ingenuity becomes merely clever.  Don’t even get me started on the Asian resurgence at the over-fish-sauced Pok Pok or the supremely disappointing offerings at Pork Slope and Talde.

Are there good stuff in the Brooklyn? Yes. DuMont is great. 1 or 8 Sushi is great. Di Fara is great. Tanoreen is great. Convivium Osteria is great. Go for the sincere places, not chefs latching onto a trend or inspiration from “that one great trip I had to China”.

BUT - one good thing about this is that the prices are greatly affordable. For that, I’m thankful to the restauranteurs.  The dishes are good by themselves (no need for orgiastic commendations) at reasonable prices. If that’s what you’re into, Brooklyn is where you want to be.

(via paulbrady)