foodmuseumblog

"Blood" from Rice in China

"Researchers in China believe they have found a way to produce and harvest large quantities of human serum albumin (HSA) -- a blood protein that is widely used in drug and vaccine production -- from ordinary grains of rice.

"It looks like an interesting technological step forward," Dr. Richard J. Benjamin, chief medical officer for the American National Red Cross, told FoxNews.com. "It could potentially produce large quantities in a reasonable time."

Via Discovery News

ps   For travel to rice paddies, have a look here.

 

Travelers on Simulated Mission to Mars Will Emerge Soon--What Did They Eat?

Six men in a "Basement" in Russia for 520 days straight are testing out a long (!!) flight to Mars.

Via Wired

".... The voyagers were sealed off from terrestrial life, each one allotted a private bunk room just 32 feet square and access to a common living room, a small gym, a greenhouse, and two minuscule lavatories. The crew’s food storage room is almost as big as their living quarters, and when they entered isolation on June 3, 2010, it contained every single calorie they would consume as they soared through “space,” then spent nine days on “Mars” (in this case a small pit of red sand) before returning and exiting a year and a half later."

 Food required for a crew of 6: 29,200 pounds.

But what did they eat??????

 

Back, Back, Backety Back from Fiji, NZ, OZ, Bali and HK: Rice and Mangosteens

 

 
Back from exploring some of the foods of Bali, we can attest that rice is primary, along with sweet potatoes intermingled with flowers, as well as chiles and other veggies. 
Rice feeds 50% of the world's population, of course, bolstered by America's many offerings to Asia, chiles and sweets among them. 
But oh, the mangosteen! A rare non-sweet perfect tropical fruit, its segments are hidden under a thick, maroon rind, and well worth the seeking. (Those at left were on sale in a huge Hong Kong mall supermarket.)

The mangosteen has only one fault; it is impossible to eat enough of it, but, strictly speaking, perhaps that is a defect in the eater rather than in the fruit. It would be mere blasphemy to attempt to describe its wonderful taste, the very culmination of culinary art for any unspoilt palate. 

--Eric Mjöberg, author of "Forest life and adventures in the Malay Archipelago" 1930

( NB Posting from this remarkable part of the world on a regular basis was well nigh impossible--WiFi was sorely lacking in NZ and OZ, other than in (!) McDonald's', posting was time consuming, and we had to pay for Internet access everywhere  until we reached Bali. Bali, the land of mega overseas visitors, marked a return to WiFi, and free access in many cafes and restaurants. ) 

Evening Meal, LAX

View Airline "Food" Options Before You Fly

Planning an upcoming trip, we came across this site, Airline Meals, that details what one can expect to be served on an enormous list of airlines. Food matters, right? Especially on long journeys.

Zowie.  This one makes the Best of 2011, week 18, economy meal via Thai Airways. 

Hopis Invite Visitors to Reconnect with Mother Earth

Via Felicia Fonseca, AP----"...it's here where the staples of traditional food -- corn, squash and beans -- flourish with what little water reaches the usually dry land.

It's a farming technique that has been practiced for centuries as part of a belief that a prosperous life comes through hard work.

Micah Loma'omvaya shares those stories on a tour he leads to the Hopi mesas that rise above the northern Arizona desert, giving visitors a glimpse of Hopi tradition and culture that's rooted in agriculture.

...Ceremonies, songs and cultural activities are tied directly to agriculture with prayers for rain and a fertile harvest. Prayer sticks with feathers hang from stones that support terraced gardens, and Hopi art commonly features rain clouds.

"That's the simplest of pleasures that we forget in our commodity-driven society when we want the latest iPod, vehicle and the best shoes," James Surveyor (the marketing and sales associate at the Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites on the reservation,) said. "That prayer, that ceremony, that belief is all intertwined with farming because farming is what the people are."

This type of focus on our continent's food heritage delights us, and reminds me to say, "Be Happy, Be Hopi." We'll definitely be signing up for a trip back through Hopi agriculture.

FYI  Check Hopi Tours or call 928 206 7433--tours leave from Moenkopi Lecay Inn & Suites, via Experience Hopi.

 

Stumbling Across the Red Hot "Hot Tomato Cafe" in Fruita, Colorado

Whoa! Cruising through the small town of Fruita, CO, today, after changing drivers, on our way from Ouray to Moab, Utah, we began to see bikes everywhere--actual bikes, bike signage, bike sculpture, and finally, a funky-looking bike w/tomato sign for an eatery that simply drew us in. Hot Tomato Cafe.

Then the friendly staffers, the vibrant feel, and the Granny's Pesto Pizza sealed the deal. We bought, we ate, we swooned, we reckoned that the locals, who began to stream in about 5:30, felt the same way.

What a find, especially when not looking for anything at all. ( To eat, that is. We were in search of fruit production stories from the area. More on that to come.)  

Turns out Fruita, a town settled as a center for fruit-growing---who knew?---is today a major mountain bike center, and the cafe itself was the inspiration of a biker and a biker/bike photographer.

Did they know that the tomato is a fruit?

Likely they did. They live in Fruita, so yes.

 

 Here is the inestimable Granny Pesto, a pie with feta as well as mozzarella, thin-crusted and generously loaded with basil-rich sauce and multitudes of tomato.

We intended to take the pizza--2 giant slices-- with us on down the road to Moab, for eating later. Having taken it "out," we sniffed the box, opened it, and sat in our parked vehicle, scarfing it down right then and there, offering bits of crust to our eager terrier  whose vocabulary includes the words "pizza night."

Guest Foodie Blogger: Meat-Based Treats, San Francisco

Intrepid Greeniac, farmer, and bon vivant, Sam Smith of Shelburne Farms, Vermont, shares random offerings he encountered in San Francisco.

"The best breakfast ever!   Three kinds of smoked meat in a paper cone, from Boccalone at the Pier." 

Or are they all "tasty salted pig parts?" Boccalone is the salumeria offshoot of Incanto, a SF Italian restaurant. Salumi is Italian for cured meats, mostly pork-dervied, with the "sal" of course referencing salt.

Later, at a bar in the Mission District, more meat for Sam--the fabled BLT Bloody Mary, often but not always made with bacon-infused vodka. Note the charred curve of bacon on the side.

A nauseating concept to those of us who feel meat has its place, but not in a tall glass, slurped up with a straw. But, yes, Foodie recalls a collegiate era of Singapore Slings. The drink had a raffish beginning at Raffles Hotel in Singapore, in 1915, and by the late 1960's contained a mad swirl of Cointreau, cherry brandy, pineapple juice, gin, and more... OMG, no wonder we were all losing our cookies in Times Square that fateful night.

( Thanks, Sam---and send me your foodish findings/notions, people!)

Glossy (National) Geographic Edibles

 This handsome mega-book weighs far more than most of us will eat today, and, alas, it fell open to an entry titled "French Fries in Ghent."  ( No!) Those of you who know me and this blog well understand that we speak of Belgian Fries, particularly if zeroing in on a Belgian city.

Anyway--It's Food Journeys of a Lifetime--500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the World, created by National Geographic. Over 300 pages, it's filled with the rich photography the National Geographic is known for. It's also one giant cliche---paella in Spain, baguettes in France, feijoada in Rio. Anyone who has traveled has eaten these things.  Sake in Japan, wine in Sonoma.........you get the picture.

Even though it lists websites,  recipes, and suggests places and concepts of interest to the alert traveler, it is decidedly a book for those who have not yet begun to travel, or those who want to contemplate travels completed. But, to give it credit, it has taken on the entire world of eating, an absurdly gargantuan task.

The most interesting sections are the book's top 10's--and in one of them, our own country's top edible, apparently, is the hamburger.

(Crayfish are big in Finland, as this photo attests. )

Moon Food for Thought

Noting the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, I remember well where I was when I heard the news. I was eating dinner, chicken Kiev with green beans,  in the garden of a  restaurant in Iran, in Kermanshah, having just been reunited with my fiance, a Peace Corps volunteer whom I had not seen for over a year.

The waiter came out and gestured at the moon, clearly visible from our table. "Your Americans are walking around up there," he said. We looked more closely at the moon, symbol to lovers, object of poetic fancy, and felt both exhilarated and vaguely depressed.

"People are tromping around on the moon, " I said.  Apollo Eleven carried a particularly unpoetic fellow up there to the land of green cheese, who read aloud a corny line as he stepped from the lunar landing module ladder onto the dusty moon surface.

Much chatter ensued later among the literati, as to the need for a writer, a poet, to visit the moon and report back with a bit more descriptive precision.

Thus far, this has not occurred.

( Moon pot roast from Apollo 17, 1972. )

Wildly Assorted Food ( and Drink) Notes

Hmmm.

•  I am glad the Obamas enjoy dining out at tasty places, worldwide, absolutely. Just thinking of the B's huddled within the WH walls, munching away, prisoners of Dubya's policies, puts me off my feed.

• Spam making a comeback in these troubled economic times is so nauseating that....you may recall there was a Spam Cam trained on an opened can of this junk a few years ago, waiting in vain for it to "go bad."   Lentils anyone? Cheap, healthy protein.

• Depressed? It could be a food allergy, in particular, gluten.

And now, the happy food news from my bin garden here in the American Southwest.

First of all, the spicy Asian micro greens have been superb.  My cukes are climbing up their helter-skelter trellises, the tomato plants are robust, their protective marigolds gleaming. The eggplants are looking healthy, and the zucchs, plus two unknown squashes, show great promise.  I seem to be too late for the carrot seeds I had on hand, I recently decided I was not a huge radish fan, so other than a basket of mesclun coming along nicely in the shade, more or less, that's it.

No chiles! Who knows why not...? I completely forgot about my love of banana chiles and pasta. Damn. Maybe the Home Despot still has some of those plants.

We do have basil, sage, chives, mint, and nasturtiums. And I may grow some radishes after all, so as to harvest the spicy flowers for use in salads.

Meanwhile, I am buying up two huge clusters of chard each weekend at the Farmers Market, while they last. And garlic, lettuces, cherries, and strawberries, honey,too, all local, of course. Did I mention blueberry turnovers from the Swiss baker there?

As for Drink----the joys of Brazil's national drink, caipirinha, were introduced to me recently at still terrific Zia Diner in Santa Fe. How I missed this when actually in the country of Brazil several years back is beyond me, other than that our little foodie family was on its way "around the world in 5 weeks" and not spending wildly on hooch.

In any event----yum.  Several pieces of crushed lime, sugar,  ice cubes, and cachaca, alcohol always described as rum-like rather than rum, perhaps because it is derived from fresh sugarcane juice, as compared to molasses, itself a by-product of sugarcane.

This simple beverage is so delicious and refreshing the woman I was dining with had to restrain herself from finishing my drink when I went to the loo. Now that's friendship, people.

Best of Britain To Feed Downing Street G20 Guests

For those of us curious about what Brit Celeb Chef Jamie Oliver is preparing to serve at Downing Street for this evening's big wig dinner, here's the word from The Guardian:

"The politicians and their wives will begin their meal at Downing Street with a starter of organic Scottish salmon served with samphire and sea kale, and a selection of vegetables from Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

For the main course, Oliver has plumped for slow-roasted shoulder of lamb from the Elwy Valley in north Wales, with Jersey Royal potatoes, wild mushrooms and mint sauce.

Dessert will be an old teatime favourite – bakewell tart and custard.

Vegetarians at the meal will be offered a goat's cheese starter followed by lovage and potato dumplings for the main course.

Pork has purposefully been left off the menu to avoid awkward moments with the Muslim guests, such as the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Only the contents of the bread basket have a vaguely foreign flavour – Oliver has chosen to serve Irish soda bread.

Oliver said: "I'm very, very proud of my country and its food traditions and I know that the guests at Downing Street will be in for a real treat.""

Samphire? It's a seaside plant in the UK that is named after St.  Peter, French version, St. Pierre. According to this, samphire is mentioned by the Bard in King Lear, a dollop of lit I must have missed back in the day.

BTW  Spouses will dine separately from the annointed leaders, but partake of the same meal.

( Tks to http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/products/herbs/samphire/ for photo.)

Random Road Thoughts--Wash 'n Dris.

Traveling in Florida these past two weeks, eating in the car and on benches with views,  reminded me of Wash n' Dri towelettes.

Yes, children, there was a time before aloe-infused, baby soft wipes, wipes with lavender scent, wipes with  emollients for every skin type. Once there were only lemon-scented finger bowls for the posh, for the unposh, one's water glass and a napkin. A random garden hose? Perhaps our 1950's mothers brought wet rags in the car on picnics, because those deviled eggs were messy--who can remember?

Yet I do recall the sudden appearance of tiny, folded up wet paper, in individual packets. Wash 'n Dris probably first caught my attention on Cape Cod, at fish places our family frequented. The packets were for the lobster-eating grown-ups, in truth, but kids were drawn to them because of their cleverness, their sharp scent--alcohol and water--and their portability. Parents like mine pocketed several at a time, and passed them to me to keep close at hand. My mother likely loathed the cutesy "'n" and the misspelled "Dri," of course, but the product itself was a winner.

The towelettes of ancient history,  as well as those that still appear occasionally today, cannot compare to the wipes of the anti-bacterial, allergy-aware 21st century.  The WND's were scratchy, too wet, and too small. Still, they were/are ideal for international travelers who like carrying something small for a quick cleanup of Bayonne dark chocolate mouth syndrome,  and backpackers who learn to "shower" nicely with one towelette, folded over and over, and then reinserted in its packet, to be carried back out of the wilderness and into a proper receptacle.

Fat David, Plus, Foodie is Baaaack; Also, Usage!!

Back, at last, after a long time away, and a road trip across these USSSS of A from St Petersburg to Albuquerque, a journey not noted for its fine cuisine, alas. So while I organize my foodie thoughts, experiences and pix, and prepare to resume, I thought you might enjoy this lovely image at left, forwarded to me, origin unknown. Clearly Dave has returned to his pillar in Florence after a few weeks holiday in the U.S.

Oh--also---consumed with following the Dem primary on line, I am once again urging all bloggers and posters to understand that "loose" means untied or unconfined,  while "lose" means go down to defeat. Also--"led" is the past tense of "lead", as in "she led in the PA polls by 20 points a few weeks ago."  And "lead," the noun, is the stuff appearing in all those Chinese-made toys. Thank you.

SSF Mainiacs Visit Fabled Indian Farm

The Summit Springs Farm-ers, ( you may recall their ongoing effort to erect a large greenhouse on their spread,) recently have returned to Maine after an incredible 5-week trip to India, and their spokesperson on all things ag, John Sayles, sent us this report:

" One of the most rewarding experiences of the trip was a visit to Navdanya, an organic research farm and seed bank about 10 kilometers outside the city of Dehra Dun in the Indian state of Uttranchal. The 20-acre site was founded in the 1980’s by Dr. Vandana Shiva, a scientist, environmentalist, and activist, “to support local farmers, rescue and conserve crops and plants that are being pushed to extinction and make them available through direct marketing.” The Navdanya website also notes that the farm is “actively involved in the rejuvenation of indigenous knowledge and culture. [Navdanya] has created awareness on the hazards of genetic engineering,  ( and)defended people's knowledge from biopiracy and food rights in the face of globalization.”

After looking through the small bookstore and administrative center, we walked around this unique farm with a guide. In small plots, different combinations of crops are grown together to see how they do. One plot may have carrots and onions together; another may have carrots, onions, and coriander (cilantro). Crop density is also studied. One plot of wheat has been intensively planted, and another less so, and another even less, but perhaps also interspersed with another grain or even another variety of wheat. Dozens and dozens of these plots cover the farm’s open spaces. Nearby is an orchard, and in the opposite direction is the seed bank.

We took a short walk down a tree-lined lane with bright green parrots flitting about overhead, to reach the seed bank, a modest rectangular building with an adobe appearance. We all took off our shoes and filed in. Over 300 varieties of rice are kept here in metal boxes, plus about 70 varieties of wheat, numerous other grains, and vegetable and fruit seeds. It is probably the most extensive private seed bank of its kind in all of India. The building itself, though, was much smaller than expected, quite modest, and decorated with lively paintings of flora and fauna on the walls. Outside, the spirit of experimentation and variety continued with the compost area. We saw four or five different composting methods being tried, everything from pit composting to compost bins with removable sides to elaborate composting trenches designed to make the worms happy.

  Our friend and traveling companion, Nicole, is an amateur herbalist and was thrilled to spend some time with the farm’s herbal guru. He showed us around his modest plots of medicinal and cooking herbs and also allowed us a peek into his rooms where he dries and prepares the herbs. All of this was followed by an excellent buffet-style lunch in the farm’s mess hall. We took a brief look around the farm’s library and bookstore and purchased a few books, including an Indian cookbook, before thanking our new friends and hitting the road for the drive back to our ashram in Laksman Jhula. The Navdanya experience was moving, inspiring, and thought-provoking. I would love to return for a longer stay and perhaps do some volunteer work there as a way to help this noble effort. "

For more information on the remarkable visionary Dr. Vandana Shiva, a physicist trained at the University of Western Ontario, click here.

(Pix by shaggy, baggy Farmer John who can be seen just above on the right.)

Road Food--The Good, the Bad and the Unmentionable

Yesterday lunch was the gustatory highpoint of our trip to St Pete thus far. We are currently trying to digest the rubber scrambled egg, decent but oily biscuit, and tasteless pancake served up by the roadside joint I always call Country Kitchen. ( To their credit, they offer real butter, and actual Canadian maple syrup. Too bad the food that lies under such ingredients is so flabby.)

But Shaggy's, a seafood and drop dead marina-views-place perched on pilings--the restaurant moves, gently--on the Gulf at Pass Christian, Mississippi, was a treat. It is one of the only establishments serving up anything on this coast flattened by Katrina. I mean flattened--a few new places across the coast road from the water have risen up, and a couple more clearly have been rebuilt--but there are dozens of foundations sporting For Sale signs along that route between Bay St Louis and Gulfport.

I ate a first, for me---crawfish spicy mashed potatoes, on which was perched a huge crab cake. The combo was girdled with a perfect roux. Oh yes.

The unmentionable?   ---------------------------------------------

Musings On Food for Dogs And Dogs As Food

Yesterday I treked through Costo with a membership-holding friend, the first time I had been there in over a year.  In the olden days before Trader Joe's arrived in town, I might have picked up maple syrup, smoked salmon, Cabot cheddar cheese in big blocks, giant bags of salad, maybe some red snapper, but this time, I walked out with kitchen trash bags and a large box of organic chicken doggie treats-"No wheat, no corn, no by-products!"--from Castor & Pollux, Lincoln, Nebraska.  ( The dawg approved.)

Later that night I read an excerpt in The Week from a piece by Steven Rinella in Outside magazine about his quest to eat dog, in Hanoi.  He eats grilled strips of sesame crusted dog, dog feet ( I blogged once about the dog feet platter that whipped past those of us at the vegetarian table at a banquet in China), even plain old boiled dog leg. And he is not happy, though he knows much of the world does eat dog. ( Apparently native people of the Americas once were hound chow hounds, if you will.  )

On his final day of eating dog---you can read the entire story here---he reports:

"I'm trying to will myself into a nonchalant attitude—just a guy in a restaurant eating his meal. I can't do it. I'm forcing it down, and it is not enjoyable. At this point, I've answered for myself the question I wanted answered: If your culture and your culinary curiosities go head to head, culture's going to win. It'll win even if you're rooting against it."

So---Even extreme eaters like Rinella cannot easily block memories of furry family pets while trying to reconsider them as food. 

And then there are feathered pets---I first gave up eating chicken when our zany, alert pet hen, Harold, wandered into my kitchen in Belgium one evening. Chicken breasts about to go in the oven for dinner were on the table. I picked her up for a cuddle, in the manner she liked, and realized ( duh!) that her scrawny little chest was an unsettling reminder of the breasts I had just dredged in flour.

Since that time over 30 years ago, I have indeed eaten some occasional chicken--the rosemary-infused organic roast chicken perfected by my pal on the Hudson River, for example--and the inadvertent hen that I try to skirt in one dish at my local Thai buffet, and, of course, I feed chicken to my pet.

If you get to know most any animal at all well--a dog, a pig, a lamb, a hen--then it's so...

"I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens."  Issac Bashevis Singer

( Dog pictured was the recipient of the organic chicken cookies, not a meal.)

In Case You Missed Cinnamon Roll Day...

We raised him right! Son of Foodie reported in from Goteborg, Sweden, that yesterday, October 4, was Cinnamon Roll Day. Apparently Kanelbulle Dag was dreamed up by the baking industry in 1999 and Swedes have been suffering through the day once a year ever since.

Said SOF of the kanelbulle: " It was so huge and good." With Swedish coffee, no doubt.

The kanelbulle pictured is also large enough to shield babies from the elements.

Fishless Florida and No Albanian Specialties

As has happened to me before in Florida, I was standing dully in front of the fish section at a typical supermarket noting the lack of anything from Florida, fishwise.  Farmed salmon from Chile, tilapia, Idaho trout....Rita the fish  person then regaled me with the entire Florida fish saga--(there isn't any in supermarkets--but that just goes along with the fact that frequently there isn't any Florida produce there, either--) and suggested I had two options--Florida Gulf shrimp or Cedar Key oysters, and she was out of the latter.

I took the shrimp.  I will do it up with fresh linguini, garlic, a tad of NM red chile, some basil,white wine--you get the idea.

Then I stopped at a fruit/veggie stand run by an Albanian guy. This time I found a few bearably priced items, including, amusingly, very inexpensive Macintosh apples, presumably because they are NOT ICKY SWEET. ( Pardon me.)

He also carries feta from France, Greece, the US and Bulgaria but not Albania. In fact when pressed about Albanian food specialties by your intrepid reporter, after a long pause he said flatly, " We eat like Greek. Exactly like Greek."

( BTW Note to Self--Follow Up---Wikipedia reports there's a huge fan base forAlbanian cuisine ( whatever that may be) in Liverpool, England.)

The only Albanian product he sells is bottled water....I went off into a dreamlike state, recalling once years ago gazing across from southern Italy at unvisitable More Communist Than Thou Albania, shrouded in fog...

How many Albanian Leks does the bottler make on each bottle shipped to Florida? Why are we  Amurricans dumb enough or snobby enough to purchase water from distant parts of the world, Fiji, for example?

I bought some Bulgarian feta in order to reach the $5 mark and use my debit card.

( Thanks to http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/al.html for this image of the robust Albanian flag.)

Munching on Mazzaro's', With A Visit to Come

I haven't even stepped foot in Mazzaro's Market yet, the legendary Italian deli in St. Petersburg, FL, and already I am swooning--because--last night Foodie Spouse, whom I am visiting in St Pete--( he's on a job)- surprised me with delectable calamari salad, breaded grouper with horseradish, eggplant involtini, and bread---a traditional yeasty wreath bread--along with a mighty fine Pinot Grigio, as crisp as the supper required.

Apparently Saturday is the not-to-be-missed day, when people gather from all over town to have coffee, and begin leisurely breakfasts that meander into lunchtime, along with wine tastings.

Mazzaro's started out as a coffee roasting operation in a warehouse section of town....did I mention the fresh pasta offerings?