A Literary Culinary Journal
by Simón de Swaan
I will not eat oysters. They’re alive when you eat them. I want my food dead – not sick, not wounded – dead.–Woody Allen, 1967
Woody Allen an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen’s films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema.
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The Rambling Epicure is now available in an easy-to-read format on your smartphone.
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It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.–Adam Smith, 1776
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title “The Wealth of Nations,” is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, it is a reflection on economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and argues that free market economies are more productive and beneficial to their societies. The book is a fundamental work in classical economics.
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Happy is said to be the family which can eat onions together. They are, for the time being, separate, from the world, and have a harmony of aspiration.–Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden (1871)
Charles Dudley Warner was an American essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.
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“David Korten explains that our existing industrial agriculture system receives essential public subsidies (and tax supports) that offset the real costs of energy, and food production. Without these supports, the global food system would no longer be economically viable. Who are the true beneficiaries of a food system that separates the eater from the source of their food? The large agribusiness corporations. Korten argues that both “peak oil” and climate change makes it imperative that we transition to a more localized food economy to insure continued access to adequate food supplies.”
It’s time we took our future into our own hands by supporting our local economies, learning to grow our own food, and generally rebuilding local food systems, by making the well-being of human beings more important and central in our lives than corporate earnings.
Click here to listen to The Capitalist Threat to Democracy, Part 1.
Click here to listen to Capitalism’s Threat to Democracy, Part 2.
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by Jonell Galloway
Quote from Wendell Berry‘s Bringing it to the Table, On Farming and Food, introduction by Michael Pollan
In the time when my memories begin –the late 1930s — people in the country did not go around empty-handed as much as they do now. As I remember them from that time, farm people on the way somewhere characteristically had buckets or kettles or baskets in their hands, sometimes sacks on their shoulders.
Those were hard times — not unusual in our agricultural history — and so a lot of the fetching and carrying had to do with foraging, searching the fields and woods for nature’s free provisions: greens in the spring-time, fruits and berries in the summer, nuts in the fall. There was fishing in warm weather and hunting in cold weather; people did these things for food and for pleasure, not for “sport.” The economies of many households were small and thorough, and people took these season opportunities seriously.
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by Jonell Galloway
Better eat all the chocolate you can now. Seems global warming is going to hit West Africa, and it will affect chocolate production. Chocolate will only be for the rich in the not-so-far-off future.
Chocolate art in all its forms: photo exhibition of odd chocolate creations.
Chocolate is the star at Le Cordon Bleu Australia this month, and they will be exhibiting October 19 to 21, 2011, at the Paris Expo, held at the Porte de Versailles.
Roundup of chocolate events in Britain’s chocolate week.
Psychology Today says the feel-good chocolate effect only lasts 3 minutes.
Check out BBC Good Food’s wealth of chocolate recipes. There’s something to everyone’s taste, and recipes go from easy to difficult.
Just discovered: Death by Chocolate, by Alan Nolan, a comic writer.
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by Simón de Swaan
Good food is in effect the basis for true happiness.–Auguste Escoffier, c. 1912
French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer August Escoffier (1846 – 1935) popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a legendary figure among chefs and gourmands, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine.
Three of Escoffier’s most noted career achievements are revolutionizing and modernizing the menu, the art of cooking, and the organization of the professional kitchen. Escoffier simplified the menu as it had been, writing the dishes down in the order in which they would be served (service à la Russe), referred to Russian style service. He also developed the first à la carte menu. His books are still used by culinary students and chefs alike.
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by Jonell Galloway
This is one of the best and most comprehensive lists I’ve seen about high-quality chocolate adventures around the world. I want to go them all!
Click here to read the entire article.
The evidence continues to build a factual basis that dark chocolate is actually good for you. See the related articles:
And in Peru, they’re still finding new varieties of chocolate. Exciting future for chocoholics! Click here to read.
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Interestingly, when the Oreo was first introduced by Nabisco in 1912, it used a much more organic wreath for its emboss, later augmented with two pairs of turtledoves in a 1924 redesign.
To follow the evolution of the Oreo cookie’s embossing, click here.
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Meet Jonell Galloway, a freelance writer and editor specialized in French cuisine. 
