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From Talk
Posted by mongoose, March 13, 2008 at 7:32 AM
In the past few years I've spent a great deal of time in Denmark, which essentially does not have a homelessness problem, so each time I return to NYC, I find the sight of people begging on the street really painful.
When I see these people, it's hard not to give money--that's what they want, right?--but if they have so little, I imagine that they probably go for the cheapest food going. That's GOT to be depressing (yes, I know some of them spend their money on drugs and alcohol, but I doubt they all do), since one of the marginally affordable pleasures is eating well.
So I find myself ducking into the nearest decent bake shop, and getting something nice for them to eat, too... just a change, you know? to make them feel a bit more human.
I know that if food was just fuel to me, I wouldn't have this reaction, regardless of how badly I felt for the homeless, or how much hardship I'd personally experienced.
As fellow people who care about food, do you also find yourselves reacting in a similar way to that which I've described?
From Talk
Posted by mongoose, February 29, 2008 at 9:25 PM
I'm back in NYC for a couple of days, and would love to hear of any recent and much-enjoyed food-related finds you may have come across in the last few months... it seems as if things are changing even faster than usual, these days, and a lot of my old favourites are just GONE.
From Talk
Posted by mongoose, February 24, 2008 at 12:33 PM
I'd heard of body shots, but never really gave the concept much thought; then, a friend of mine mentioned 'body sild' ('sild' being Danish for 'herring'), but I though he was joking, and promptly forgot all about it.
Then I heard recurrent references to it, and realised that people are actually doing this, which struck me as odd. When I asked my boyfriend about this, he said it seemed a 'natural' extension of 'body tequila' (evidently the most popular body shot in Denmark). This definitely deserved elaboration, so i persisted. He pointed out that the most traditional Danish liquor is 'snaps', and one normally has this with herring. So, pounding back a shot of snaps, then consuming pickled herring off somebody's cleavage is just a perfectly natural outcome of being seriously hammered.
Hm.
I told him I was going to put this before the SE community, as I was curious as to your overall reaction (and now, so is my boyfriend :D): Is this a uniquely Danish phenomenon, or do parallels to this exist in elsewhere?
N.B. This is NOT intended as negative criticism of a cultural phenomenon; I'm simply a bit surprised and amused, and quite curious, as, although I sometimes like sild on rye bread, I would REALLY hate to have a clammy slither of it draped over any portion of my anatomy. I think. After all, I've never considered this while drunk...
From Talk
Posted by mongoose, February 16, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Have any of you been drawn to works of fiction that include recipes (e.g. Laura Esquivel's 'Like Water for Chocolate', John Lanchester's 'A Debt to Pleasure'), and if so, have you tried them, and with what results? Any overall feelings about such works? If their recipes were/are any good, would/do you include such works in your 'kitchen library'?
From Talk
Posted by mongoose, February 16, 2008 at 12:30 PM
redhead raised an important point about citations (this was originally going to be a reply, but I realised that it didn't answer anything, but raised another question), but I was wondering about the extent to which it's alright to post recipes on this site.
I've noticed many of the recipes say 'adapted from': Does this mean we need to make a minor tweak, and then cite something as 'adapted from'? I tend to be very precise about the recipes I pass along to others, so I have misgivings about this.
So far, I've simply held off from posting recipes, and have stuck with 'recipe x' from Y's book, 'z'. If the source is not necessarily an easy one to find (e.g. out of print), I feel bad doing this. What are the ground rules for posting recipes, apart from accurately citing the source in full?
From Talk
Posted by mongoose, January 20, 2008 at 7:16 AM
This was on the west side of Lafeyette Street, and a block down from Spring Street.
I'm no longer in NYC, and only go back about four times a year, so I don't know when--or why--the shop closed. From the look of it, it's been a while, and I only made the discovery when I went there to buy THE best marzipan I know... and was foiled.
I Googled the name, but nothing came up for a new location, so I think it's just gone... unless anyone knows better?
Incidentally, if anyone knows of a place that stocks this marzipan (I cannot remember the name, but the quality is so outstanding, it must have other fans), I'd love to know. It is an Italian brand, comes in small a foil packet sealed at both ends, paper label, and is organic.
From Talk
Posted by mongoose, January 19, 2008 at 2:40 PM
Have any of you ever participated in the slaughter (not hunting, but hands-on slaughter) of an animal for food? Did the experience affect you, and if so, how?
When I first began coming to Denmark, I stayed on a small biodynamic farm. A good portion of their meat came from their small flocks of free-range chickens and sheep.
On two occasions I was there when they slaughtered some of the chickens. I didn't do the actual slaughter—not a job for the untrained—but held the birds in place (and, yeh, turned my head away, and also prayed I wouldn't get a finger or something chopped off).
On both occasions, this left me shaking like a leaf.
I was raised as a lacto-ovo vegetarian (for ethical reasons). When I left home, I reverted to eating meat. In all honesty, I cannot supply a truly objective rationale for killing animals for food. On the other hand, I also believe that if they are raised and slaughtered humanely, this cannot be classified as cruelty.
My own experience with slaughtering chickens didn't change my views, since I’d had to sort through those a long time before, when I stopped being a vegetarian. Still, whenever I shop for meat I cannot help wondering if the animal died as painlessly as possible, or if it was, essentially, tortured to death. And this does affect what I buy.
After reading the article about Jamie Oliver slaughtering a chicken on television, I wondered what your experiences were with regard to this subject, and what views you held as a result.
From Talk
Posted by mongoose, December 29, 2007 at 10:46 AM
I've eaten at 'City Bakery' since they were at their original location on 17th Street, and over time, it became THE place where I met friends; the baked goods were lovely, the atmosphere pleasant (particularly up in the balcony), and the location very central. The shop had an air of effortless, yet unrelenting efficiency that characterised similar establishments in Italy, where I grew up. I cannot precisely remember when things seemed... changed.
Suddenly, the staff was very different, more evocative of a Dunkin Donuts than a moderately upscale bake/coffee shop. The sense of efficiency was gone. The baked goods were frequently heavy or soggy, as if they'd been rushed into the oven without adequate rising time. The seats of some of the stools broke from their posts, and were not replaced. I came to dread going there. Last time (late November 2007), at least, the naked seat-post had been replaced with ordinary stools.
I know another branch of the bakery opened in LA, and the negative changes do date back to about the time that the owner was no longer around on a full-time basis; I also know that new business makes heavy demands of its owner. Still, it seems a shame to drop the ball on what was a really good thing.
Has anyone else noticed this? Any thoughts as to whether this slide is likely to be long-term?
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