The Best of Grandmothers’ Food Around the World

In honor of Mother’s Day: Gabriele Galimberti’s photo series “Delicatessen with Love” focuses on food that Grandmothers make all around the world. The photo series was born from a conversation with his own Italian grandmother, who was worried about what he would eat when photographing around the world.

Marisa Batini – Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy (The photographer’s Grandma)

“In that occasion I said to my grandma ‘You know, Grandma, there are many other grandmas around the world and most of them are really good cooks,” Galimberti wrote via email. “I’m going to meet them and ask them to cook for me so I can show you that you don’t have to be worried for me and the food that I will eat!’ This is the way my project was born!”

Ana Lucia Souza Pascoal – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Grandmas are from diverse locations ranging from Iceland to Fiji to Malawi. In each diptych, the featured Grandmother is pictured first with the ingredients to her signature dish, and then the completed dishes are shown. Some of the stories even come with recipes, including Ana Lucia Souza Pascoal’s Feijoada. You can see the whole 47-part photo series at Riverboom. You can also submit your own tribute to your Grandma’s cooking through the Twitter tag #grandmacooks.

Thilaga Vadhi – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Non-Newtonian Noodles

[Via Kottke] We were amazed to learn about Non-Newtonian liquids (which don’t behave like normal liquids at all) and their applications in cooking. Now his may seem like bizarre, but it turns out, the science behind making certain types of noodles depends on their non-Newtonian properties. The video above shows how the sweet-potato starch noodles alternate from being solid when struck, to freely flowing through the colander.

Omelette

Just a fun link for Friday: “Omelette” by Madeline Sharafian tells the tale of a dog, its owner, and food. Bonus points for having an Elis Regina song as the background music.

Food Photography by Richard Haughton

Root Vegetables with Truffle Vinaigrette, by Chef Eric Briffard, Le Cinq

London-based photographer Richard Haughton specializes in capturing dishes by some of the world’s most creative chefs. Feature Shoot has an interview with Haughton, where he describes his techniques.

Do you work with a stylist to create the images?
“I don’t, it’s not necessary with these kinds of chefs. I work directly with the chef, deciding the best visual point of view for a particular dish, the best kind of plate, the best presentation.”

Recipes for Rieska, Finnish Flatbread

We’ve been having all sorts of bread cravings here in Salvador, where there is good bread, but we are missing some carb-y favorites like pita and bagels. So in the interim, we’ve taken to finding exotic bread recipes form all over the internet to make when we get home. This recipe from Honest Cooking for Finnish flatbread – Rieska – caught our eye for its simplicity. We’ve seen a few different takes on this bread, whether from the inclusion of potato in the Honest Cooking recipe, to the use of rye flour, to a barley dough-only recipe. In any cake Rieska looks like it is the perfect base for a myriad of toppings.

Rieska as an accompaniment to chili - by dwwebber

FIFA, McDonald’s, and the fight for acarajé in Bahia

While we are in Salvador partaking in the city’s extensive acarajé offerings, visitors to Salvador for next year’s FIFA World Cup (possibly us!) will not have such an opportunity. For a series of complex reasons outlined by Jamie Anderson on his blog about life and culture in Salvador, the sale of acarajé will be banned within two kilometers of the refurbished Estadio Fonte Nova, the site of all the World Cup games here. Instead, McDonald’s – a major World Cup sponsor – will have full rights to all food distribution. As such, Bahia’s main street food – a major source of income for locals, and an integral part of the experience of Salvador – will be banned in favor of an American fast food establishment. Coca Cola’s recent billboard in support of baianas and acarajé (seen below) is a great commentary on the issue: Coca Cola claims it is working to “preserve this culture,” but what does it mean that a large corporate entity is working to preserve a culture of Afro-Brazilian street food? We’d like to think that acarajé is doing well otherwise, and will do even better if allowed to continue on its own terms.

Needless to say, we at ETW do not support the move, and you can do the same: sign the petition at Change.org in support of baianas’ right to sell acarajé during the World Cup.

Nutelleria – the all Nutella restaurant

It is not a secret that we love Nutella. However, we are obviously not alone in our fandom of the Italian chocolate and hazelnut spread. The blog Pink Chocolate Break clued us into a new concept for the brand – 100% Nutella themed restaurants, called Nutelleria – now open in Bologna, Italy and Frankfurt, Germany. Here is a detailed report of a visit to the Nutelleria in Bologna – if only we had known to go there!

We launch our new series on the people shaping African cuisine with Chef Pierre Thiam

Reblogged from Africa is a Country:

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Welcome to the inaugural post of our new feature profiling African foods and drinks (plus other gastronomical related subjects); and the people on the continent and in the diaspora that are defining and reshaping our ideas and tastes of these. We'll call it "Africa is a Kitchen". To kick off the series, we will be speaking to a Chef in the diaspora who is defining African cuisine both on the continent and in the diaspora.

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We are very excited about Africa is a Country's new series - "Africa is a Kitchen" all about African cuisine around the world. The first feature is about Pierre Thiam, a successful Senegalese-born chef and restaurateur working in NYC.

AFAR’s foodie guide to Asia

So we’re still in the midst of our current trip, but why not make future plans for other great foodie destinations? We recently came across Afar’s “A Foodie’s Guide to Asia,” which covers eats in Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkok, Beijing and Chiang Mai. We are definitely bookmarking these lists for potential future trips.

Dishes from Bo.Lan Restaurant in Bangkok

The Uyghur Bakers of Kashgar, China

I recently came across this amazing essay (with recipe) about bakers in Kashgar, China. Kashgar is located in the far western region of Xinjiang, which is home to the Chinese Muslim ethnic group known as Uyghurs. Uyghur cuisine is completely different that what North Americans are familiar with as Chinese cuisine, and has more of Middle Eastern and Central Asian flavor. Bread, in particular has a central place in Uyghur cuisine.

Nan Bread from Kashgar, China by Life on Nanchang Lu

A Day in the Life of an Italian Deli in New York City

The Atlantic has a new short video that caught our eye about Walter Momentè, owner of the lunch-only Alidoro Deli in NYC. It’s fun and informative to watch how he preps for the day by sourcing fresh ingredients from all around the city. Looks like pretty good quality control – perhaps a lunch spot for our (or your) next NYC visit?

A Visit to Sicily on St. Joseph’s Day

St. Joseph’s Day is one of our favorite food holidays. It is easy to see why: just look at the spread on the St. Joseph’s Day Table below. La Tartine Gourmand went to Sicily in 2012 during the Festa di San Giuseppe shared some amazing pictures of the food for St. Joseph’s Day they discovered there. The pictures are amazing, and help to give a real picture of what everyday Sicilian Cuisine is like. While we’re happy to be in Rio, we wish we could be in Sicily today!

St. Joseph’s/San Guiseppe  Day Table  in Sclafani Bagni, Sicily by La Tartinr Gourmand

Pantone Food Pairings

Here is a fun food link for your weekend: Pantone food pairings. Artist David Schwen creates mock Pantone chips using foods that make perfect combinations: salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, etc. We have previously covered the intersection of food and the Panone Color Matching System here.

Vintage Food-Related Valentine’s Day Cards

Happy Valentine’s Day! Why not celebrate with some of these vintage food-related Valentines from the Vintage Valentine Museum: here are their collections of food-related cards and anthropomorphized food cards. For some more fun, here is an assortment of tea related cards from Tea with Friends.

Pastry Post-Doc: The irresistable desserts of Momofuku Milk Bar

Momofuku Milk Bar by Robyn Lee

Meet Christina Tosi , the acclaimed chef of NYC’s Momofuko Milk Bar, who is known for her unique, whimsical and nostalgic desserts. We visited Milk Bar in 2010 and fell in love with Tosi’s creations, especially the cereal milk ice cream and the crack pie. However, we are not in NYC every weekend, so we are looking forward to recreating some of those recipes at home. For some of the cookies, there are even official Milk Bar mixes, and Serious Eats did a test of the mixes against Milk Bar-bought cookies (the compost cookie mix was a hit). Tosi came out with a Milk Bar Cookbook that has some of the delightful recipes from the store, which has further inspired bloggers.  Milk Bar Project is a blog dedicated to cooking their way through the entire cookbook. For other Milk Bar fans, we have found a number of recipes online we wanted to share with you. Feel free to share more in the comments section! Which are your favorites? I’m most looking forward to making the birthday cake, a riff on the childhood classic Funfetti.

Momofuku Milk Bar Cakes and Pies – by Gary Wong

Cookies

• Corn Cookies
• Blueberries and Cream Cookies 
• Compost Cookies
• Chocolate Chocolate Cookies
• Confetti Cookies
• Cornflake and Marshmallow Cookies

Cakes and Pies

• Birthday Cake and Banana Cake
• Crack Pie & Mini Crack Pies
• Cinnamon-Sugar Cookie Squares & Gooey Butter Cake Squares
• Brownie Pie
• Pistachio Cake
• Grasshopper Pie

Other

• Cereal Milk Ice Cream
• Pretzel Ice Cream
• Liquid Cheesecake
• Birthday Cake Crumbs
• Cornflake Crunch

Decoding the Dim Sum Menu

In the latest issue of the Lucky Peach food journal, there is an awesome guide to deciphering Dim Sum, the classic Cantonese meal where a large and diverse selection of small plates is selected from roving carts. Sometimes the sheer volume of dishes can be a bit intimidating, and if you don’t know what to order, you may feel a bit lost. Though it is especially useful for newbies, even experts may find a tip or two inside Lucky Peach’s guide.

Dim Sum in Hong Kong

Canada: Artisinal cheeses from the rare Canadienne cow

Culture magazine had an interesting post about an effort to revive the rare Canadienne Cow, one of the oldest breeds in North America. The Canadienne cow was brought to Canada by French settlers in the 16th century, and though it was initially popular, it was gradually replaced by other varieties. Canadienne cows are now relatively rare, except in pockets of Quebec. However the Canadienne cow is making a comeback. Along with promoting the Canadienne cow comes the revival of unique cheeses only made with Canadienne milk, including the varieties made at Fromagerie Charlevoix.

Sukiyabashi Jiro: The $20-a-Minute Meal

Recently, I posted about the wonderful documentary film about sushi expert Jiro Ono, Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Via Kottke.org I found an account of A Life Worth Eating’s recent visit to Jiro’s restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro, where the entire meal lasted a mere 19 minutes, with a tab of $380. You can check out the entire stunning meal on Flickr.

A scene from Sukiyabashi Jiro

The Red Bees of Brooklyn

Red Honeycomb from the Red Bees of Brooklyn

Typically bees make honey from the nectar of flowers, but apparently sometimes they develop a taste for some stranger foods. Enter the red bees of Brooklyn. Some beekeepers in Brooklyn caught notice of the unusual bright red color of the bees and their honey, and sought to figure out just what the bees were consuming. As it turns out, instead of dining on the usual feast of clover and other wildflowers, these bees were eating high fructose corn syrup and red dye runoff from a nearby maraschino cherry factory. Though bright red honey is pretty cool, it is not exactly a match made in heaven, with both the beekeepers and the cherry factory not quite sure what the next step is. We love trying different varieties of honey, and we’d be curious to taste some red honey – for the first time today we even tried pumpkin honey – however, we have to report that it doesn’t taste anything like pumpkins!

El Bulli’s Ferran Adrià on the Cover of Wired

El Bulli’s Ferran Adrià is known for his mind-bending molecular gastronomy, so it’s no surpise that ths creative and innovative mind is featured in Wired Magazine UK - he is also giving a keynote at the 2012 “Wired Event” in London. For those lucky enough to be in Boston, Adrià will be giving a lecture on October 3rd.