On Food & Culture
Here’s the link to the art exhibit in which food, candy in particular, is not just served at the exhibit but is actually the art. “The Candy Shop” features three visual artists and myself as chef exploring issues surrounding the manufacture, commercialization, advertising and transporting …
Notes on cooking my candy for an upcoming art show, “The Candy Shop” Eating candy is an artful experience, both visual and flavorful. When biting into Latin American candy the moment is imbued with a long history of cultural encounter between Latin American and European …
Today’s lecture notes dealing with Tex-Mex cuisine has this astounding sentence in the description of our cusine: “Basically, Tex-Mex food consists of bastardized Mexican foods. Burritos, tacos, enchiladas, and quesadillas are a few.” I believe we’ll be discussing this attitude tomorrow morning and it will …
Today we studied “Cuisines of the Americas,” cuisines that recent European immigrants (1600’s) developed in New England. Forced to use local ingredients, they adapted their knowledge of European cooking and, with the help of the locals, developed intersting stuff. We cooked clam chowder and Yankee …
Today I’m starting to blog again. It’s been a long, long, long, sad absence, indeed, but this morning’s cooking class conversation about vegetarian cooking made me smile. At 7 AM we discussed complementary proteins, those that served together provide a higher quality protein or a …
This is the meal that I cooked during class at the Culinary Arts Institute last Friday. Braised beef with soft polenta, roasted vegetables and asparagus.View image I couldn’t eat that much meat but the polenta, the roasted vegetables and asparagus were deeeelicious. Coincidentally, I read …
Being a student at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) is a gift in my life for which I’m enormously grateful. It has re-founded my perspectives and my gusto for life. One of the things I’ve realized is how central to community are media like …
Commenting on the post about Rachel Carson, Mary told me about Sandra Steingraber’s writings. Her book, “Living Downstream,” is now a film. The 90-minute HD documentary is just now released and beginning to play in festivals and community venues. I’ll explore when it’s in San …
I am just blown away by Alice Waters and Rachel Carson. Well, blown away at first, but then anchored, educated and invigorated. Rachel Carson made words sing — and in so doing breathed soul into the organic farming movement. Example: “It is a wholesome and …
The inventor of Cuisine Minceur (Haute Diet Cuisine), published his diet cookbook in 1976. Below is one of his recipes, “Fresh Tomato and Spinach Tarts with Thyme.” I like to read the recipes, menus, really, in his cookbook side by side with “Food For Life, …