Stomachs on legs are proud to present

After Maytel's amusing panning of Chez Panisse et al, I couldn't resist adding the above photo, which comes from the New York Times this week. It's an image from a Berkeley kindergarten. I love how sushi makes it onto the kindergarten radar.

Locavore is a word that has always made me shiver a bit: needlessly labeling a one-dimensional aspect of being a consumer.

Anyway, Robert Sietsema's first installment of his series on eating locally and cheaply (if not organically) in NYC, is quite interesting.
And his motivations are laudable. Down with ten dollar chops, I say! (They remind me too much of New Zealand).

Strolled past this the other day.


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The village pet store and charcoal grill

He may by all appearances to be obsessed with Thai food, however Austin Bush, of Real Thai fame (now Austin Bush Photography Food Blog) and a close pal of David Thompson secretly whips up Italian comfort food at home just like the rest of us.

I know he just sent me photos of his dinner.

Swiss Chard Frittata


Grilled Eggplant Pasta


Austin says "The chard fritatta was actually really nice. The pasta simple, but good too. I think I'm going to make just about everything in that Bittman piece soon."

This from a man that stares at me blankly when I say I can't eat Thai food for every meal. It does look yummy though

Found! For the high-brow among you, the website The Anthropology of Food blog, written in English and French because, why wouldn't it be?

Welcome Anthropology of food, the webjournal dedicated to the social sciences of food. Anthropology of food is an open access bilingual academic journal in French and English. Since 1999, this journal is produced and published by a network of European academic researchers sharing a common intellectual interest in the social science of food

My sister once enquired loudly at a family get together whether it would be possible for us all to do something together aside from eat.

Dead silence....stunned looks...finally someone ventured....."like what?"

We've always eaten together, a lot, it's what we do. I like it but I can't attest to this latest and unlikely sociological study on the linkages between family meals and reduced drug and alcohol use.

"Want to bond with your broody teenagers? Try eating dinner with them five times a week. A poll has found this keeps them off drugs and alcohol - and the teens also enjoy it.

The survey reaffirmed previous studies that found teenagers who ate dinner as a family five or more times a week were less likely to use drugs, smoke, or drink alcohol than peers who ate with their families twice a week or less."

Another duff study, I reckon, like the whole wine and heart disease study, which is largely unsubstantiated due to the fact that wine drinkers tend to belong to higher socio-economic groups and thus lead healthier lives...

I don't believe that children that eat with their parents more are less likely to use drugs, they're probably just less likely to get really out of it just before dinner

I pity the fool who fucks with the mouse.

Whoever said that Fusion cooking was dead obviously forgot to tell the chefs of Bangkok




hmmm chicken larb pizza and sauteed fried rice with strawberries....

Tell me what is your worst fusion horror story?

Chicken and cranberry and camembert pizza always takes the prize for me...

So, I now find myself further and further west - this time Dubai. The disneyland for adults, where all things artificial can be found, if not valmorphanized from sand, then transplanted from Germany, UK, France, Russia, Philippines, India, and yes even little old New Zealand.

In fact I found myself watching a polynesian folk band with accompaning dance troupe this evening. Transporting us all by Air Polynesia to the many destinations of the Pacific. Now being a young Kiwi man, I couldn't help but have a good old yarn with the performers. It had been a while since I had been greeted with such a phresh-as accent. Even my dear friends Maytel and Hock are eclipsed in comparison. So as I listened to Harry from South Auckland, strum away some bar chords, I was to learn that one of the dancers, a Rarotongan New Zealander, hailed from Brotown's finest Morningside. She, being a worldly 18 year old, was discovered at a hangi where she was performing in a dance-off; Morningside Next Top Model, or something to that effect. The other dancer hailed from Flaxmere, near Hastings. Both towns renowned for their cosmopolitan lifestyles.

However my time has not been simply occupied by conversations with my fellow suburban compatriots. Earlier in the week, I found myself eating white asparagus, kartoffelsalat, lieberkase and sauerkraut and drinking 1 litre steins of Maibock a rye-based beer from Bavaria. Yes that time of year had once again arrived, Bavarian Maifest. Some good old-fashioned knee-slapping drinking, Munchen-style, complete with kitschy Bavarian singers - lulling you away to the uber-sweet melodies of the Black Forest. After the third stein I completely forgot I was living in an Islamic nation, which is devoid of any forest. Such is the magic of Dubai, in creating such illusions and fantasies in a way that not even Walt Disney himself could beat.

However, my experience of listening to a troupe of Filipino singers sing the songs of Tuscany and Umbria whilst dining in an Italian trattoria and hitting the slopes of one of the world's largest indoor slopes, where temperatures outside reach 50 degrees, whilst inside they are minus 10 - took this illusion a little too far (Just like Disney did with Tim Allen in the Shaggy Dog).

So there it is, Dubai, ruled by a conservative minority - (many of which drink various fine wines from plastic pepsi cups in restaurants), yet dominated by people from a multitude of countries, many of which frankly couldn't give a toss about the local culture and decide to implant their own into the vast desert landscape. And to hell if a few innocent camels die in the name of lush fresh white powder snow!