A Literary Culinary Journal
Brian is a Boston-based food photographer and writer. He is the creator of the food blog A Thought For Food, a collection of recipes, personal anecdotes and historical information pertaining to cooking.
His photographs are available for viewing on his photography site, Brian Samuels Photography. Brian’s work has also been featured on Saveur , The Kitchn , Tastespotting, and FoodGawker.
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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 video
If you’ve ever had to the good luck to taste Joël Robuchon’s mashed potatoes, made with the variety Ratte, you probably daydream about them often enough. This here explains how to make them. Click Swiss Info to watch a video that explains how to make them.
Gawker says more than 10,000 tons of potatoes will end up in Swiss troughs this year. The dry spring and warm autumn made them too big to meet the standard sizes that can legally be sold in supermarkets.
Ever wonder how many calories are in those KFC mashed potatoes and gravy? article calculates “680 calories, and an even more shocking 2130 mg of sodium per serving.”
Potatoes from the New World most likely saved Europe from a famine in 18th century. This Smithsonian 
is a fascinating history of the potato and how it changed the world, and full of interesting facts.
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by Tamar Chamlian
Quinoa is a health food addict’s best friend. I have a love affair with it.
If I were to tell you that it could be used in 101 ways, yes there would be. I’ll keep it simple to start, however, by listing 5 easy, quick-fix ways to incorporate this magic grain in your everyday meals.
Do you want to know what so “magical” about quinoa? Its glory is that it is high in protein and fiber, yet provides you with lots of long-lasting, balanced energy.
But I don’t only like quinoa because of its nutritional values. I also like it because it is easy to combine it with other ingredients when cooking.
I often come home after a long day and the just the thought of thirty minutes in the kitchen making a big homemade meal overwhelms me. And can my digestive system really handle a big heavy meal?
The quinoa is sitting there, set, ready to go in just 10 minutes (and sometimes even less).
Here are my 5 easy, healthy quick-fix dishes:
Quinoa is revolutionary in the world of cereals and grains. It is chock-full of nutrition and fiber.
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by Jonell Galloway
The Guardian says Ferran and Albert Adrià, the culinary visionaries of El Bulli, will be performing the superstar restaurant’s cocktails at Tickets in Barcelona, paired with a “greatest hits collection” of food: Parmesan ice cream, Iberian ham “airbag-uette,” mango leaves with marigold, yogurt pistachulines, and steamed brioche with mozzarella. So what next, Ferran?
Click here to watch the video.
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The world’s first vegan strip club: Will topless dancers really be able to teach customers at Casa Diablo to shun meat?, The Guardian
Shared Meals, Shared Knowledge, The New York Times
Angela Hartnett’s wood pigeon salad recipe, The Guardian
Energy Shots: The Next Big Thing in Marketing Caffeine to Children (Marion Nestle), The Atlantic
Prevent Alzheimer’s, Cancer: The Positive Effects of Drinking Coffee, The Guardian
How to make dandelion and burdock beer – dig for victory and a very British root beer, The Guardian
The Pawpaw: Foraging For America’s Forgotten Fruit, NPR
Pinch Me – A Culinary Dream Tour of Germany, Doc Sconz
The Danish food revolution: How the Danes went local, sustainable, and DIY, Culinate
Baked Sweet Potato Fries, She Wears Many Hats
Cheese flavour map charts cheddar/blue/regional/goats cheeses by how nutty/earthy/tangy/savoury, British Cheese Board
Feeding frenzy: Who’s behind the unsavory food stamp parodies, grist
Kraft recalls Velveeta mac and cheese, may contain wire bristles, Digital Journal
Book Review: “25 Years of Recipes from ‘The Art of Eating.” (Julia Child called the founder, Ed Behr, a cultist!), Zester Daily
Shrimp Po’ Boys with a Spicy-Sweet Remoulade, Feast on the Cheap
Gandhi Tour developed in India, Time
Grilled Halloumi and Turkish Fig salad with Persian Pomegranate, Shiyam Sundar
« Bio-logique » : Sur la logique de production et de consommation du « bio » aujourd’hui en France, exploratrice de saveurs
NO-GO zones for coal seam gas projects should be set up to protect high food-production areas, Victorian farmers say (Australia), Weekly Times Now/Slow Food Melbourne
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by Jonell Galloway
The Swiss Cookbook, by the famous but fictional Betty Bossi, the equivalent of Betty Crocker in the U.S., can make a good addition to a cookbook collection for those who want to cook Swiss dishes but can’t read French or German. It makes a great Christmas gift, and is handy to have in the house, whether you’re a gourmet cook or just an occasional one.
The recipes are organized by region. In a land with four languages and such cultural diversity, this is a necessity. There is a brief description of each region and its cuisine, along with attractive photos. Each recipe is accompanied by a photo.
The ring binding and glossy pages make it practical to use. The Swiss Cookbook is appropriate for Swiss people as well as for expatriates, because it gives a good overview of traditional Swiss cuisine and contemporary cuisine using Swiss ingredients.
It is an attractive gift for most anyone interested in food.
It can be ordered online from the Betty Bossi online shop, and is also available in many supermarkets in Switzerland.
Related articles
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by Jonell Galloway
The video Miracle Water Village in India is a wonderful story and lesson for the rest of the world. Shiyam Sundar says: “As the world reels under the threat of unrelenting climate change, erratic monsoons and fast depleting groundwater reserves, The Miracle Water Village narrates the inspirational story of impoverished farming community in India that reversed its fortunes through its visionary model of water management.”
Click here to watch the video.
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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 Jonell Galloway
The word “fondue” means literally “melted” in French. In Switzerland, fondue is made by melting cheese with white wine, pepper, garlic and kirsch (cherry schnapps).
Photo courtesy of Fribourg Tourist Bureau.
Different regions use different cheeses and have different recipes however. In the canton of Valais, no starch, butter, or eggs are added, while in many other regions they are used for thickening. Today, many people use corn starch.
Fribourg fondue is different from other cantons in that it uses Fribourg Vacherin cheese. Both Gruyère and Fribourg make what is referred to as “half and half”, meaning they use half Gruyère and half Fribourg Vacherin cheese.In central Switzerland, it is common to use Gruyère, Emmental and Sbrinz, a hard cheese from central Switzerland that is claimed to be the oldest cheese in Europe.
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Meet Jonell Galloway, a freelance writer and editor specialized in French cuisine. 
