Maine Lobster Festival and DFW

by Erik Olsen on

Sure it’s a long way off…127 days to be
exact…but I figured this was a festival that you wanted to know about. The Maine Lobster Festival is held every year around August time in the
small Maine town of Rockland. During the festival, the town turns from a sleepy little hamlet into a riotous
celebration of everyone’s favorite red (when cooked) crustacean. This year’s Maine Lobster Fest takes place from August
2-6 and I can tell you personally, that it is a hoot. There is music, drinking, dancing, and literally tons of lobsters
are cooked to succulent perfection. Dip yours in butter or mayo or eat it plain. Yum.

But there is one
caveat. The lobsters are cooked alive in pots of boiling water. Now if that bothers the animal lover in you, you are
not alone. In fact ,part of the reason I bring this up is that I just re-read David Foster Wallace’s treatise
(pdf) on animal cruelty, a superb, if uncomfortable essay on what it means to bring great pain to animals, even those
with lesser-developed nervous systems. Personally, I don’t have much problem with the idea, but the essay here
made me think twice…OK…once…twice…now where’s my damn lobster! Munch, swallow, yum.

Delicious, Mouth-Watering Kangaroo

by Adrienne Wilson on

There have been many a time where the words "I’ll eat anything" have tumbled from my tongue
usually following a ferocious growl from my stomach, but sometimes I go back on my exaggerated outcry for food. I won’t
anything. I won’t eat lobster, crab, liver or even liverworst. I once wrote on a napkin while dining in Madrid to never
eat another crawfish so long as I live. (I still have the napkin.) And I don’t care how good your mother makes it, I’ve
tried them all and the taste-buds don’t agree. However, this piece isn’t about me and my pabulum dislikes. It’s about
the things people will eat.

Take Marjie Lambert who writes for the Miami Herald about her dining adventures in Sydney, Australia. In
the beginning of her journey for fine dining with an unusual assortment of all things edible she found herself
consuming a large number of seafood dishes. Mahi Mahi, shrimp-fried dumplings, Balmain bugs and barrimundi all made way
to her palate, but she had eyes for other things. Things like kangaroo. She keeps the
details on trying the roo brief, but doesn’t deny it’s delicious taste though it was too spicy to really distinguish
the real kangaroo taste. If it’s your first time in Australia, don’t expect to find the animal on every menu. It is
considered a novelty dish.

Reading this makes me wonder. Would I too eat kangaroo? Does it really taste
like beef? I suppose I could take a Joey down if I had to, but they’re so gosh darn cute!

Chopping Trees for China's Chopsticks

by Neil Woodburn on

Ever wonder how many disposable chopsticks are manufactured every year for China’s
1.3 billion strong population?  The answer is an incredible 45 billion.  While this number is certainly
impressive, it quickly becomes depressing when you realize that each pair is made from the wood of poplar and birch
trees.  This raises a secondary, more horrifying question: just how many trees are cut down to supply this massive
demand?  25 million full-grown trees are hewn and butchered every year by Chinese chopstick manufacturers.
 
It looks like someone in the Chinese government has finally done the terrifying math because this week
a 5%
tax will go into effect on all disposable chopsticks.  It’s not much, but the hope is that it may cut
down on the number of trees cut down.  This is a slightly better solution than the one originally proposed by the
government; remove the chopsticks altogether and let the people eat with their hands. 

I’ve got one word that might help save 25 million trees: FORKS!  I hate to mess with tradition, but with
so many environmental problems and deforestation occurring around the planet, I think we can use those 25 million
trees. 

That being said, bring your own dining instruments if you travel through China.  Although many restaurants
will provide you with chopsticks, they will be wooden and reusable.  The slivers and crannies of such
unhygienic tools are perfect for harboring the germs of all those who used them before you.  Bon appetite!

 

Friday Funny: McSweeneys

by Erik Olsen on

Ah, McSweeney’s. Always good for a Friday chuckle. This piece by John Hallman takes a somewhat Python-esque look at the travelogue. Entitled Traveling Europe In Style With Auckland Dingiroo, Dark-Age Tourist And Critic Of Food And Drink, the hilarious satire pokes fun at food critics, travel writers and plague sufferers alike.

My favorite graph (among several):
Whether it be from the wrath of God, fleas, or the stagnant, foul-smelling water emanating from the city’s wells, nearly half the population has disappeared since I visited last. In spite of the smell of death, which has yet to entirely recede from the air, it did not take me long to appreciate what it was that keeps me coming back again and again to this little Frankish gem along the Seine.

Thank god for Friday, and McSweeney’s.

Top 50 Foods to Eat Before You Die

by Erik Olsen on

In the
spirit of the book, the 1000 things to Do before You Die, a glorified Lifelist book (which, I confess, I wish I’d written), the good folks
at Slashfood bring us a wonderful post on the Top 50 foods to eat before you
die…

Well, actually the list comes from the BBC..and those Brits know something about food, don’t
they?…and comes from a voting effort to get viewers and readers to list those food items they most enjoy. Now, I
apologize, but I have to say the list is rather lame. Check ot the top ten items:

   1. Fresh
fish
   2. Lobster
   3. Steak
   4. Thai food
   5.
Chinese food
   6. Ice cream
   7. Pizza
   8. Crab
   9.
Curry
  10. Prawns

Thai food? How general is that? See what I mean? Now, if they’d said, Red Curry
from Topaz Thai on 56th Street, well, now we’re talking. So while I offer the link, I  will say up front I’m rather
disappointed in the list.