Journalist Eats Things That Weren’t Meant to be Eaten

by Josh Lew on

Has the eating of strange foods gone too far?

Sure, Andrew Zimmern might be brave, but does he really know what he’s putting in his mouth? While the Bizarre Foods guru (or his producer) usually provides a bit of background on what he’s eating, you have to wonder, is it considered a normal food in whatever “exotic locale” the show is currently being filmed in?

Phil Lees of The Last Appetite points out that you can’t always believe what people tell you.

A journalist named Sean Thomas found himself in Cambodia. He penned an “eating weird food” article for a U.K. newspaper. Aside from the fact that his article is rife with the gross over-generalizations typical of a parachute journalist, Lees, an old hand in Cambodia, points out that Thomas ate some things that were not meant to be eaten. The poor guy chowed down on a dried frog and compared it to a eating a dead mermaid. The problem: in Cambodia dried frogs are not meant to be eaten as a snack. According to Lees, “Dried frog is for medicinal purposes and occasionally, a rice wine additive. Complaining about the way it tastes is a little like eating a few spoonfuls of straight cloves, then writing them off as useless as a foodstuff.” One has to wonder if this is just an isolated incident or if more of the “I’m eating strange food” shticks are also ill-informed.

“No Reservations” season 4, episode 18: Egypt

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Location: This week Tony finds himself in Egypt, home to the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx and plenty of other tourist stereotypes. Egypt is one of the world’s great cradles of civilization as well as a crossroads of many cultures (and great cuisine) from all points north, south, east and west.

Episode Rating: Three bloody meat cleavers out of five. Bourdain indeed delivers the unexpected when it comes to Egypt. Some interesting culinary discoveries but also some “snoozefest” segments that could have been left on the editing table. Also, I must say…you came all that way and didn’t go to the Great Pyramids? I don’t care how jaded you are towards tourists – how do you skip that?

Summary: Egypt is the kind of place most of us know at least a little something about. Whether you’ve already been, or it’s the trip of your dreams. most of us with an urge for exploration and discovery reasonably know what to expect. Ancient pharaohs, the Nile, papyrus, mummies. But then again, we are talking about Anthony Bourdain here…

Bourdain sets a manifesto from this episode’s outset – he’s going to skip the prototypical Egyptian tourist spots. Why you might ask? He doesn’t want the view to be cluttered by all of those tourists. But still, one has to admit the man has a unique method to his madness. Much like a Egyptologist cracking open a pharaoh’s tomb for the very first time, Tony’s urge to push his boundaries leads us into some interesting culinary crevices. Was Tony attacked by mummies? Does he eat more camel like in the Saudi Arabia episode? Read on to get the full story.There seems no more obvious place to start an Egyptian visit than in Cairo, the country’s largest city and one of the biggest of any across the Middle East. Of course, upon getting off the aircraft in a foreign country, my usual first instinct is to find something to eat. And Tony is no different. He heads straight to his element – the backstreets of Cairo for a breakfast of the local favorite, fuul. Basically a mix of mashed fava beans, simmered slowly with oil, garlic, chili pepper and a few other spices, fuul is typically served with the ubiquitous flatbread. It’s a filling meal, especially for the many poor Egyptians who will not have another meal until dinnertime.

Having satiated his post-deplaning hunger, Tony heads to the famous Khan el-Khalili marketplace. It is just as you might picture the many vast bazaars that dot the cities of the Muslim world – tiny shops selling all manner of handicrafts, tiny curios, antiques, clothing and of course, spices.

It is precisely these spices that have brought Tony here, and he meets up with Dr. Sayeed of the American University of Cairo to tell him more about this ancient and venerable industry. Egypt was conveniently placed at the crossroads of the ancient world, between medieval Europe and the spice plantations of India and Far East. As these many spices came through Egypt, they revolutionized the country’s cuisine. Dishes like stuffed pigeon are a direct outgrowth of this fact. Tony takes his history lesson to heart and sits down for a stuffed pigeon lunch with his teacher. The bird is stuffed with (what else?) spices then simmered until tender, rolled in more spices and then seared in a pan until carmelized. Is pigeon good? Absolutely yes, says Tony. All you city dwellers, go grab that bag of feathers sitting on your windowsill and throw it in the broiler. Tony says it’s good!

Ok, we’re “stuffed” now with pigeon. Is it too soon to mention dinner? Why no in fact, and Tony has linked up a with a local Egyptian businessman to make sure the gluttony train keeps on moving. They visit fast food chain Abou Tarek to get a taste of local specialty kushari. Kushari is practically the Egyptian national dish – as Tony points out, to not try it while in Egypt would be like going to New York and not eating at a deli. The simple meal is composed of a starchy mix of rice, spaghetti, black lentils, chickpeas and then topped with fried onions. The choice of topping sauce is a matter of personal taste – a tomato-cumin, vinegar-garlic and hot sauce are all on offer.

To wrap up his night, Bourdain and his Egyptian companion go to a traditional Egyptian cafe to drink tea and smoke from hookahs. Though Tony has given up smoking, he can’t resist a pull off the old hookah pipe. The editors got a little too cute here – was the Bob Marley-style reggae music in this scene really necessary? He’s smoking flavored tobacco, not ganja!

Too much urban living can make anybody anxious, so Tony takes his cue to get outta town for some Egyptian-style R&R. The Bourdain crew stops at a small farming village along the Nile River Valley. The town is emblematic of the narrow slice of land which runs along this fabled body of water – the fertile silt of the river provides the perfect soil for all manner of agricultural products.

Tony visits the home of a local family to eat. To get the meal ready, they head to the roof, where they keep their livestock. Tonight’s menu includes duck, freshly made bread, freshly made cheese and freshly made butter and a local soup made with a plant called Melokhia. It is a warm and friendly outing – the food delicious, the people friendly, the setting – majestic. All is right with the world in Anthony-Bourdainland.

The final portion of Tony’s Egypt trip is a visit with a group of Bedouins. Though the word “bedouin” frequently conjures visions of robe-clad peoples riding on camels, modern-day bedouins defy easy categorization. For one, their transportation of choice is now Toyota Land Cruisers. To celebrate his visit (when isn’t a visit by Anthony Bourdain cause for celebration???) the bedouins prepare a feast of lamb.

The animal is killed according to proper principles – they dispatch it with the head facing southeast towards Mecca and all blood is drained before dressing the carcass. While the animal cooks, Tony spends an inordinate amount of time waxing philosophical about the desert – its emptiness and solitude and stark beauty and blah blah blah. If he didn’t have so many tattoos, I think I might have mistaken him for a desert-bound version of Thoreau. Tony, it’s quiet, empty and picturesque, we get it! When it’s time to eat the lamb, they accompany it with rice and some “sun bread” – hardened bread that travels well a
nd is softened in water for consumption. Mmmm mmmm!

That’s it. No visit to the Pyramids. No visit to the Sphinx. For some tourists, that’s a failure. But then again, for Anthony Bourdain, famous landmarks are not really his narrative and a famous place like Egypt was really no exception. Instead, we find an unexpected side of Egypt. A place where cuisine is dictated as much by thousands of years of precedent as it is by the country’s remarkable crossroads of cultures and influences.

Leaky mushrooms cause Ryanair flight diversion

by Grant Martin on

With the new onslaught of baggage check fees upon us, many people are looking to creative ways to package special items into their carry on. My friend Bruce tried to bring back a cooler full of lobster on one transcon trip a few years back. That ended up tipping over and leaking water all over the guy in front of him.

Something similar happened on Irish carrier Ryanair earlier this month. A passenger trying to transport frozen mushrooms stowed a package in the overhead compartment, but briefly after takeoff the package melted and sauce dripped all over an adjacent passenger.

In this case, however, this passenger had an allergy to the sauce and started to have an adverse reaction. Complaining of problems in his mucous membranes, the passenger became ill and the crew decided to divert into Frankfurt to offload the passenger and send him to the hospital.

Take heed, transporters of food, a little bit of vacuum sealing always helps to keep your food fresh, protected and in its place.

What’s next…the cheese bar?

by Jeffrey White on

I’m going to really try to not be too snide here, but occasionally one stumbles onto a “travel story” and must let out a little sigh, given all the other possible subjects in the world that might have made a worthy 1000-word feature story.

Forbes Traveler brings us its latest survey of the best restaurants in America to go for…cheese.

I am trying here, dear Gadling readers.

First off, the article by its very existence implies that Americans’ knowledge of the cheese world pretty much stops with Kraft Singles. But there is a more sinister implication to such a piece: Is cheese becoming the next arena for the snob?

I make allowances for oenophiles, who can be truly insufferable, simply because I like drinking good wine too much, and if you have one or two in you regular stable of friends you are far more likely to get hooked up with some good stuff free.

Beer fanatics and connoisseurs of other spirits (whiskey, tequila, sake) can be tolerated (same reason as above).

My best friend is somewhat of a “foodie,” or so the term goes these days, and yet his exacting standards on many cuisines and restaurants somehow does not allow the overall joy of eating a meal together to seep from the table.

I’m not so willing to accept cheese aficionados into the fold, though.

To be sure, the world of cheese is as varied as that of any specific spirit, with distinct origins, scents and tastes to consider. I even like the cheese plate (or cheese course) that caps off a lot of European meals, though it was hard for me to get used to consuming so much dairy after the real task at hand.

My objection to such a piece is that I feel another snob trend is very much afoot, and I’m not sure there’s room for it. (A secondary objection might just rest in the fact that I can’t imagine pitching to an editor such an article along the lines of, Hey! Where can you go for the best cheese in America?!)

Cheese snobbery is probably already among us, I realize that. And it will be harder to deal with. After all, the chief antidote for dealing with a drink snob is to, well, drink more. I’m thinking of a Kingsley Amis line right now that says something along the lines that a booze bore begins to make sense after the third round.

So, you can dull your senses in this case.

But what happens when the person across from you has his nose dancing across a piece of smoky Auvergne gaperon? Or English Caerphilly?

Soon, he (or, to be fair, she) will start telling you that the next time you’re in Louisville, you must sample Kenny’s Kentucky Blue cheese at the venerable Seelbach Hotel. Or that the scrumptious Virginia cheese plate at the Inn at Little Washington is to die for.

What will take the edge off this? Fondue? Hey, it’s got schnapps…

Postscript: I didn’t pull the above reference of Auvergne gaperon out of my own knowledge of cheese. It’s highlighted in the ridiculous Forbes story about cheese I reference, as presented at La Panetière in Rye, N.Y.

The piece says that this noble cheese goes particularly well with “the 1914 Château Latour brought up from the award-winning cellar.” If you want more evidence that such silly features are out of touch with most travelers, consider that the wine mentioned goes for, oh, about $3,000.

However, if you’re willing to bring me in on that bottle, then I’ll listen to you talk about cheese all night long.

St. Paul to Party All Night for RNC

by Josh Lew on

If you are looking for an all night party, head for the Twin Cities next weekend.

Seriously. It’s the RNC, but even if you are affiliated with another political party, be it of the mainstream or fringe variety, it might be worth the trip.

In a bid to bring more convention dollars into the area, St. Paul’s city council decided to allow bars to stay open until 4 a.m. That’s two hours past the usual last call. The catch: the bars would have to pay a hefty fee to the city.

But, because there haven’t been many owners willing to pay, Saint Paul is consider lowering or even waving the fee.

Yes, you’re right. That means there will be plenty of places where you can play drinking games with Wolf Blitzer and hit on Mrs. McCain until 4 in the morning.

But the scene in MSP isn’t really about politics. It’s about more important things like patios, nice weather and beer.

The Twin Cities are full of beer lovers and therefore, a good brew is never far away. Sure, the hard bitten political journalists might stay with the usual low-ball of scotch, but there are plenty of spots with local microbrews and Belgian beers with easily mispronounced names on tap.

And, because it’s early fall, the weather is neither hot and mosquito-infested nor freezing. Drinking on the patio is a favored local pastime at places like The Happy Gnome (pictured). Hopefully, convention-goers won’t be taking over places like this. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll simply be joining in the fun.