The logistics of food is endlessly interesting when you step outside the reach of the robotic hands of supermarket distribution. Along with the produce, transport is what adds a degree of regional variation to most markets. One of my most enduring memories of one market in Cambodia is seeing a Toyota Camry, whose backseat had… Continue reading Eggs, Penang
Category: Cuisine
posts listed by national or regional cuisine
Anglia Shandy
“Brewer”:Guinness Anchor Berhad (Diageo/Asia Pacific Breweries-Heineken). One of my dreams was to become Asia’s leading reviewer of canned shandy, the worst thing to happen to beer since the discovery of shandy. Today that dream is horribly realised. GAB Says: “The real shandy. Malaysia’s pioneer shandy, since 1978, recently took on a new and refreshing image… Continue reading Anglia Shandy
Satay
Chicken satay from Gurney Drive, Penang
Tek Sen, Penang
This is deep-fried pieces of boneless chicken coated in a crispy shell of batter, covered in mayonnaise straight from the jar. It’s a dish that the world’s food writers conveniently overlook when they heap well-deserved praise on restaurant Tek Sen in Penang because it doesn’t fit the clean narrative of tradition or authenticity that drives… Continue reading Tek Sen, Penang
The end of food reviewing
I’ve just read all 94 reviews of Melbourne restaurant Chin Chin on Urbanspoon. Few are longer than a hundred words and a handful of photos, so you don’t come away feeling any great sense of achievement. If I was to then describe Australian restaurant review bloggers in a single word, it would be “compliant”. In… Continue reading The end of food reviewing
Warning to Coles shoppers: ROBOTS TOUCH YOUR FOOD.
You know what the average shopper at Coles Supermarket fears? Robots. Giant robots who touch their food. This secret informs their latest sleight of hand that boasts that their home delivered food is “Hand picked, hand packed and hand delivered”. Screenshot from http://www.coles.com.au/Shop-Online.aspx/ (full page, 28 June 2012) This was originally spotted in the wild… Continue reading Warning to Coles shoppers: ROBOTS TOUCH YOUR FOOD.
Is authenticity xenophobic?
My favourite Mexican cookbook is Marilyn Tausend’s Cocina De La Familia because it is not devoutly Mexican. Tausend isn’t Mexican and collated her recipes from interviews with home cooks across America rather than in Mexico. Recipes come with the location that they were collected and the Mexican state where the recipe or cook originated. It… Continue reading Is authenticity xenophobic?
When fried chicken went awry
He still puts on a white linen suit every morning, rides in a chauffeured white Cadillac, visits Kentucky Fried Chicken’s white column headquarters and plugs his “finger lickin’ good” chicken around the country. But Harland D Sanders, everyone’s favourite Kentucky colonel, is disturbed about what has happened to his chicken and to America’s dining habits.… Continue reading When fried chicken went awry