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I'm really interested in understanding why world food prices have gone up, as I've read in several news articles in the last few days. Paul Krugman's blog today offered an economics explanation. He writes: <blockquote>"Overall grain production is down — and it’s down substantially more when you take account of a growing world population. Wheat production ... is way down. "You might ask why a production shortfall of 5 percent leads to a doubling of prices. Part of the answer is that some kinds of demand are growing faster than population — in particular, China is becoming a growing importer of feed to meet the demand for meat. But the main point is that the demand for grain is highly price-inelastic: it takes big price rises to induce people to consume less, yet collectively that’s what they must do given the shortfall in production. "Why is production down? Most of the decline in world wheat production, and about half of the total decline in grain production, has taken place in the former Soviet Union — mainly Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. And we know what that’s about: an incredible, unprecedented heat wave." --<a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/soaring-food-prices/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Soaring Food Prices"> Soaring Food Prices</a></blockquote>

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I'm really interested in understanding why world food prices have gone up, as I've read in several news articles in the last few day...

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17.43

Cooking Cartoon from xkcd

Cooking Cartoon from xkcd

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12.46

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News from the Guardian: " Food prices hit record high: UN food price index up 3.4% from December, the highest level since the organisa...

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10.24

In Real Life

Some important government pronouncement on food just told us to eat less. Marion Nestle approves -- see <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2011/01/2010-dietary-guidelines-finally-get-tough-on-obesity/70540/">2010 Dietary Guidelines Finally Get Tough on Obesity</a> and <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2011/02/getting-beyond-jargon-a-close-look-at-the-new-dietary-guidelines/70589/">Getting Beyond Jargon: A Close Look at the New Dietary Guidelines.</a> There are lots of open questions. Most people with a weight problem already know that they eat too much. The government didn't need to do research on their behalf. They also know that the diet industry only helps around 10% of them, and that most weight loss is temporary. And that doctors don't have any really effective strategies. Nor does the government. Then there's another little detail, as stated in the L.A.Times: "The fast-food industry didn't get the memo" -- <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fast-food-calorie-20110202,0,6031639.story" target="_top"><img alt="'Eat less,' U.S. says as chains super-size their fast food" class="headlineThumb" height="105" src="http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/storylink/2011-02/59167211-01181728.jpg" width="187" /></a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fast-food-calorie-20110202,0,6031639.story" target="_top" title="'Eat less,' U.S. says as chains super-size their fast food"> 'Eat less,' U.S. says as chains super-size their fast food</a> The article offers a ton of details on how fast food chains aren't on the same page as the government. If they were, fast-food representatives told the reporter, they'd be out of business. So here comes another litany of menu choices with thousands of calories and oodles of all the things the government says not to eat, including (though named only by Marion Nestle) the SOFAS -- SOlid Fats and Added Sugars. People want strong tastes: that means salt and sugar. People want good value: that means huge portions. Meat. Cheese. Gallons of coke. Fries. Well, tomorrow is Groundhog Day and again I'm thinking of that movie about being trapped in the same repeating nightmare over and over. Which reminds me that we're having a blizzard so there's not a chance that the Groundhog will see his shadow; probably no groundhog in most of the country will even be able to get out of his hole. But that's irrelevant to fast food.

In Real Life

Some important government pronouncement on food just told us to eat less. Marion Nestle approves -- see 2010 Dietary Guidelines Finally Get...

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20.16

Aurelio Zen eats a hamburger

Ratking is the first in a series of police procedurals starring detective Aurelio Zen. The author, Michael Dibdin, continued with around a dozen other Zen novels. Aurelio Zen is an honest and dedicated crime fighter in the rottenly corrupt atmosphere of Italian politics and policing. In Ratking, he solves a kidnapping, implicating members of the victim's family; however, all the perps get off. Dibdin follows many precedents in crime fiction, including the use of meals to punctuate the pace of the investigation and to illuminate Zen's character and his relationship to the people he interviews. Earlier detectives like Maigret, Hercule Poirot, and even Sherlock Holmes had quirky food preferences; the convention continues in works by Donna Leon (Commissario Guido Brunetti) and Andrea Camilleri (inspector Salvo Montalbano) and many others. Ratking has one slightly offbeat food theme: during the course of the novel, Aurelio Zen's relationship with his American girlfriend Ellen is hitting a low point. She comes to see him in Perugia, the site of the kidnapping where he is temporarily posted. They go on a picnic, but the weather is bad and they are forced to eat in the car: <blockquote style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">"Ellen started to unwrap the food: a mound of ricotta, slices of cooked ham, olives in oil, half a loaf of bread. On a warm sunny day in the open air it might have been idyllic. Eaten off sheets of wrapping paper balanced precariously on their shivering knees, the cheese looked a disgusting white excrescence, the ham pale and sickly, and the olives slimy. Even the wine, a heavy red, was a failure." (p. 182-183)</blockquote>At the very end, Zen returns to his home base in Rome and Ellen invites him for a simple dinner, where he tells her how he solved the crime. Although she said the food would be simple, he's a bit shocked to see "Findus 100% Beef American-style Hamburgers" on the label of a "shiny packet." She broils the meat and warms some buns. Then: <blockquote style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">"She served the hamburgers wrapped in paper napkins, and brought a liter bottle of Peroni beer from the fridge. The hamburgers were an unhappy hybrid of American and European elements. The meat, processed cheese, and ketchup tried to be as cheerfully undemanding as a good hamburger should, but were shouted down by the Dijon mustard, the pungent onions, and the chewy rolls. "Zen began dismantling his hamburger, eating the more appetizing bits with the fork and discarding the rest." (p. 257-260)</blockquote>Of course she then tells him her plans for the rest of her life -- which don't include him. I enjoyed this tightly-plotted and suspenseful novel. I also read Cosi Fan Tutti, a later Dibden-Zen work, but found it a little too contrived, especially the effort to reproduce in modern Naples the plot of the Mozart opera of that title. My friend Sheila recommended this author, and told me that the Zen novels are currently being made into a BBC TV series in the UK. They will also air on PBS. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1618371/">IMDB</a> lists 3 episodes so far, all this year -- I eagerly hope to watch them.

Aurelio Zen eats a hamburger

Ratking is the first in a series of police procedurals starring detective Aurelio Zen. The author, Michael Dibdin, continued with around a ...

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07.44

The History of Rugelach

Joan Nathan can make food sound irresistible -- and her article "<a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/57109/tale-of-two-treats/">A Tale of Two Treats </a>" in Tablet Magazine today really did it. She traces the history of two types of baked goods, rugelach and schnecken, in German, German-Jewish, American-Jewish, and American history. She writes: <blockquote style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Schnecken are the predecessors to the American sticky bun, the sweet roll, the iconic rest-stop treat Cinnabon, and the delectable pecan roll that I used to eat at <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/passions-pursuits/drakes/">Drake’s</a> in Ann Arbor, when I studied at the University of Michigan. The popular <a href="http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=910">Settlement Cook Book</a> documents the evolution of this pastry: The first edition of the cookbook, issued in 1901, includes a recipe for “Cinnamon Rolls or Schnecken”; the 1920 book contains two versions, the original and one for “Cold Water Schnecken“; but by the 1940s the Settlement Cook Book had edited the name of the treat down to simply “cinnamon rolls,” and still later editions find the same yeast dough appearing as pecan rolls baked in muffin pans.</blockquote>I too remember Drake's sandwich shop, a declining favorite in Ann Arbor for many years until it closed in the early 1990s. Sadly I remember most vividly how for its last years, it was so poorly staffed and maintained that a display of Halloween candy corn sat fading in the window throughout all seasons, until it finally closed. Never mind. I loved Nathan's descriptions of delicious pastry.

The History of Rugelach

Joan Nathan can make food sound irresistible -- and her article " A Tale of Two Treats " in Tablet Magazine today really did it....

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08.27

What Mimi Sheraton's Family Ate

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggdqA4uhEUeMmlsYJrCUn5Llnz3oAwJSxLKvInECnpocFNi0xplsK7fZfe-UD2yLs5fcnHlFr-m1Vb2iZRecg9mUicVcH9eszep3rLV_A8pZetYh0hLGRxdIU7VVvy4dYyIcnIeOr54WCB/s1600/sheraton.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566517436628289746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggdqA4uhEUeMmlsYJrCUn5Llnz3oAwJSxLKvInECnpocFNi0xplsK7fZfe-UD2yLs5fcnHlFr-m1Vb2iZRecg9mUicVcH9eszep3rLV_A8pZetYh0hLGRxdIU7VVvy4dYyIcnIeOr54WCB/s400/sheraton.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" /></a>Mimi Sheraton grew up in a family that mixed traditional Jewish food with all kinds of American food. Her mother Mrs. Solomon made hot cereal on cold mornings, her own version of chopped liver, hamburger patties with egg and onion in the meat, tomato and herring sandwiches, stuffed chicken neck, sweet-sour salads, and shrimp salad. She made boiled potatoes, challah French toast, Hamantashen, and also Seafood Newburg. Her grandmother was a remarkably skilled baker, but most of her recipes were in her hands and head, and were never recorded. Mimi Sheraton's brief reminiscences -- like her description of the progression of foods her mother gave her when she was sick in bed -- are very enjoyable, though the recipes are the main content of this book. My own mother made many of the same dishes -- both the ones from the Jewish tradition and the ones from the American tradition. Like Mrs. Solomon, she even had envelopes full of dog-eared, food-splattered recipes that she wrote down from friends' phone instructions, newspaper and magazine clippings of recipes, and only one cook book. Despite having similar food up-bringings, though, Mimi Sheraton became a highly respected food writer and New York Times restaurant reviewer. And I didn't. I'm glad I found a nice used copy of From My Mother's Kitchen and added it to my collection. I hope I get around to trying some of the recipes, which reflect a type of home cooking that's often neglected in the spotlights of TV food and celebrity cooking that dominate newer cookbooks. One more thing: Sheraton generally seems to keep her age a deep dark secret. But she gave it away: she was nine years old when she fell in love with Clark Gable in the movie "It happened one night." The movie appeared in 1934. So now I know.

What Mimi Sheraton's Family Ate

Mimi Sheraton grew up in a family that mixed traditional Jewish food with all kinds of American food. Her mother Mrs. Solomon made hot cerea...

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07.29

Food city area

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Aurelio Zen eats a hamburger

The History of Rugelach

What Mimi Sheraton's Family Ate

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