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Cuisine without Food: AddendumBook of Tasty and Healthy Food by Anastas Mikoyan, translation pub. 2012Anya Von Bremzen, in her memoir Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking (see my post from yesterday) described the Soviet cookbook for good communist homemakers, first published in 1939. Its attributed author, Anastas Mikoyan, was c…
Cuisine without FoodI read the Kindle edition,so I never actually saw this dust jacket.In Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing, Anya Von Bremzen compresses the last 100 years of Russian history into a few representative meals. Tales of eating are punctuated by descriptions of several eras o…
Agriculture and cuisine: different subjects or the same?Hendrick Danckerts: "Royal Gardener John Rose Presenting a Pineapple to King Charles II," 1675 (Wikimedia)I've been reading about the introduction of European and Asian food plants and many domestic animal species to the Spanish colonies of the new world, and about the introduction of new world plan…
Following a CloveSyzygium aromaticum, the clove plantCloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, ginger, cumin, nutmeg -- spices from the east -- once sold for enormous prices; possession and use of spices was a status symbol for medieval men and women who could afford them. From ancient times Europeans imported Asian spice via …
Gran Cocina LatinaChicken and corn made according to recipes from Gran Cocina LatinaUsing indirect heat over aluminum drip panMainly because of its historical content, I have been reading Maricel E. Presilla's gigantic and ambitious cookbook titled Gran Cocina Latina. By gigantic, I mean that it weighs close to 4 pou…
"The Lunch Room" -- a Vegan RestaurantVegan hash and bagel with cashew spreadToday for lunch we tried The Lunch Room, a new vegan restaurant at Kerrytown near the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. Very convenient as the market today was host to the Kerrytown bookfest where we started our morning. We were quite hungry and appreciated the quick s…
What's in your lunch box? An extended answer.Elaine writes about lunches at home and at school:I just wish someone would make me the Bon Appetit lunches--an awful lot of work even for a retired person. I usually eat at home, often one of the Yoplait yogurts that you decry for their lack of good nutrition, a piece of fruit and some bread and b…
What's in your lunch box? Another answer.Evelyn wrote about what's in lunch boxes packed at her house:I read your blog entry about packed lunches, and I think maybe I don't agree with some of it. Pesto-Chicken Rolls from Bon AppetitFor example that Bon Appetit article -- maybe a little pretentious, but I am going to show it to Alice, becau…
What's in your lunch box? First answer.Arny wrote on my FB page:"This is my 60th consecutive year of going to school. When I'm not on sabbatical, I nearly always bring a lunch bag. Nowadays it's usually a small insulated bag that lasts a year or two. I still use a couple of baggies; I haven't made an effort to find the right containers f…
What's in your lunch box?Mona Lisa Lunch Tote from CafepressSchool started yesterday, so I've been thinking about what goes in all the lunch boxes and lunch bags all over the country. I remember from childhood the smell of a lunch in a brown paper bag. When I was in elementary school, I went home for lunch almost every day.…