Sarkozy wants French cuisine on UNESCO World Heritage list

by Anna Brones on

We write a lot about UNESCO World Heritage sites here at Gadling, so I was amused to find out that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is attempting to get French food on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Basically Sarkozy wants to preserve the traditions of French cuisine; in his opinion the UN should protect the right way to prepare classic regional French dishes like foie gras, tarte aux pommes and soufflé.

“We have the best gastronomy in the world — at least from our point of view. We want it to be recognized among world heritage,” Sarkozy said at last month’s Salon de l’Agriculture — the same place that he flipped out and swore at someone.

Sarkozy’s proposal to include la cuisine française as part of UNESCO’s World Heritage list is in response to a two year movement by French chefs who fear that traditional French cuisine is being threatened by the global food industry. I don’t think anyone would dare argue that French cuisine isn’t an integral part of the country’s culture, but France isn’t alone. What about Indian curry, Spanish paella and or German bratwurst? Why should France be the only one to deserve culinary protection?

Not all Frenchies agree with their president however. A food critic at Le Figaro said if French cuisine were to be listed, “opening the door of a restaurant, making a soufflé rise, shelling an oyster, will become part of cultural activity like going to sleep at the opera, yawning at the theater or slumping over James Joyce’s Ulysses.” Interesting.

New reality show: Americans go to a foreign country

by Iva Skoch on

It is kind of sad when a country needs to wrap a reality show around foreign travel. At the same time, if this is the way to get more Americans to travel abroad, more power to ABC.

ABC has ordered a new unscripted show from the producer of “Hell’s Kitchen” in which Americans go to a foreign country to compete in challenges. The series might be called “Big in Japan” (sorry, Matthew) and is supposed to combine reality and game show elements as contestants adapt to another culture while competing.

This could either be A) really funny or B) totally boring, filled with stereotypes (the stupid ones, not even the funny ones), such as the one about the ugly American walking into a sushi bar demanding a peanut butter sandwich and such. Oh, no. I just created a monster!

If I had to bet money on it, I would go with B.

[via TV Squad]

Fresh fruit, Costa Rican style

by Jeremy Kressmann on

One of my most vivid travel memories was the first time I tasted fruit in Costa Rica. I was staying with a host family, and upon arrival they served me a plate of pineapple as a welcome snack. Nothing could prepare me for that first bite. It was sweet and tangy beyond belief, like a piece of sour candy that had just been plucked straight off the plant. I certainly did not lack for fresh produce growing up in the snowy climes of the Midwest, but your average pineapple in Chicago has traveled thousands of miles to reach the basket sitting on my kitchen counter. Not exactly ideal conditions for ripening and flavor.

After pineapple, I sampled several other interesting produce items like the tamarind, which is often consumed in liquid form and has a flavor I found similar to apple juice. But my favorite fruit snack during my visit was the Costa Rican mango. Other Gadling bloggers like Karen have sung the praises of mangoes before, and I have to agree. The great thing about many Central American countries like Costa Rica is they like to add an extra “kick” to their mango snack. After cutting the fruit into slices, they throw it in a plastic bag and add in a mixture of lime juice, salt and chili powder. The sweet, the sour, the savory and the spicy all rolled into one; there’s no other flavor like it.

Lucky for us North Americans, this delicious mango snack is sold by street vendors in many major urban areas – I recently discovered it for sale here in New York. Or you can make your own – I can’t promise it will taste as good as eating it in the tropics, but I’m sure it’s still delicious.

Traveling the day after St. Patrick’s Day can be hellish

by Iva Skoch on

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, to all of you aside from the guy who sat next to me on an EasyJet flight from Prague to London a couple of years ago (the morning after St. Patty’s day) and almost threw up in my lap.

He had a black eye and body odor of a dying donkey. I am trying to make peace with you man, I really am. I also hope I never have to be stuck next to you for 90 turbulent minutes.

Tomorrow morning must make one of the worst days to fly anywhere, especially around Europe and especially on a budget airline from a destination known for its cheap liquor. Honestly, I don’t think i will ever fly out of Prague on March 18 ever again.

Thanks, kittyroara, for the lovely photo. By the way, do you ever fly budget airlines to or from Prague?

Is the Guinness really better in Ireland?

by Catherine Bodry on

Yesterday I wrote about the 5-minute process for pouring a perfect pint of Guinness. That fanaticism alone should be a clue to the quality of Guinness in Ireland — any country willing to wait five minutes for its drink is a true aficionado. When I lived there, I found many Irish to be passionate and very specific about how Guinness should be drunk. Once a stranger stopped me in a pub because I was drinking a pint that hadn’t fully settled — he was that concerned about it.

I frequented a two-story pub in Galway, and another regular, an older Irish man with watery blue eyes and a red nose, would only get his pints from downstairs. “The Guinness has to travel too far up the pipes to get upstairs,” he informed me. He believed that the Guinness was purest and freshest the less it has to travel.

That opinion holds true for geographical location as well — it’s a widely-held belief that Guinness tastes best in Ireland, and specifically Dublin, where the brewery is located. I have to agree — the drink is just richer there. In the States my pints always taste flat and watery.

So why is that? I did a little research, and here’s what I came up with:

  • The popularity of the drink in Ireland means that kegs aren’t sitting around long. Therefore, the Guinness is almost always fresh — and certainly more fresh than overseas since it doesn’t have to travel as far.
  • The lines are cleaner — pub owners in Ireland are visited every three weeks by a Guinness representative who flushes the lines to Guinness kegs.
  • Guinness should be served at room temperature — an oddity to us who associate the pleasures of beer drinking with its coolness on a hot day. I’ve noticed that most bars in the States tend to chill their Guinness along with the rest of their beers, which definitely changes the flavor of it.

Some other theories that I had a hard time verifying:

  • The water at the Dublin brewery is better than the water where most Guinness brewed for export is made (in England).
  • Guinness taps in Ireland are pressurized with nitrogen, while taps in the US (and elsewhere, I assume?) are pressurized with carbon dioxide.

What do you think — is the Guinness really better in Ireland?

Thanks to John Udell for some Guinness facts.