[Flickr: Spy On Pea] Yesterday, our new nut columnist Lee Zalben wrote about Kung Pao chicken, exploring the use of nuts in this and so many other Chinese dishes. He casually mentioned the peanuts in his Kung Pao dish, which set off a mini debate. What about cashews? Or are peanuts more common? We tweeted and Facebooked the question, and the consensus seems to be with peanuts. "traditionally, only peanuts are used" (@kattebelletje) "Peanuts or no nuts. Never cashews." (@GarySoup) "peanuts for sure, says the girl who grew up in a Chinese restaurant" (@aliciac) Chinese cuisine mystery-solver Jenny 8. Lee directed us to this New York Times piece by Howard W. French from 2005. Apparently in south-central China, the...
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Culinary Abortions from Japan is a hilarious blog written by a Canadian documenting the food failures of Japan—"failures" including off-putting flavors, poorly named items, excessive packaging, or all of the above. While the wrongness of these foods may mostly be culturally relative, I can't argue against individually wrapped cashews joining the list. It's not like the cashew is a giant mutant worthy of its own bag; the description reads, "Aside from a light gown of salt, it rests naked within its deplorable womb of plastic." I suppose it's good if you have a major portion-control problem, though....
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