by Jonell Galloway
Click here to keep up with the latest in world food and wine news.
Photo by Prerna Singh
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The Rambling Epicure’s Food News Daily: International Food News and trends, October 1, 2012
by Jonell Galloway
Click here to keep up with the latest in world food and wine news.
Black and white chocolate cocktail dress, Salon du Chocolate 2011, Zurich, Switzerland.
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Food News Daily: International Food News and Trends
Click here to keep up with the latest in world food and wine news.
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Meet New Zealand Celebrity Chef Annabel Langbein
by Amanda McInerney
The celebrity cooks and chefs of the United States, the UK and Europe are frequently familiar to Australians too, but I sometimes wonder if the reverse is true. We’ve bred some truly remarkable kitchen talents down here in the antipodes — both in Australia and New Zealand — and we well and truly have our share of local celebrity chefs on TV shows and cookbook shelves. While the international Masterchef franchise has blazed across our screens and spawned an entire new crop of culinary household names, there are plenty that have been steadily and consistently doing their kitchen/foodie thing without all of that fanfare and I’m taking this opportunity to introduce you to one of them.
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What we’re reading today: GMO labeling, Nancy Hachisu – Japanese Farm Food, Chocolate is Healthy
by Jonell Galloway
Click here to read our roundup of today’s international food news.
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Daily International Real Food News and Events, Culinary Travel
by Jonell Galloway
Keep up with daily international sustainable food news and events plus culinary travel, wine festivals, village fêtes, etc.
Click here to read our hand-picked food news, updated daily.
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Eat Drink Blog 2012 – Australia’s National Food Blogging Conference
Here in Australia we sometimes feel a little left out of things. As I check out conferences and happenings in the world of food writing, blogging and photography, I frequently envy the short travel distances that those in the Northern hemisphere enjoy to get to any number of exciting events. Here we have three options – we can ‘grow our own’, pay thousands of dollars in airfares & spend many, many hours traveling to get to international events, or simply miss out.
In 2010, a group of passionate Melbourne food bloggers got together and produced Australia’s first-ever national food blogging conference — Eat Drink Blog. It was much appreciated by those who attended and declared a success. Last year I attended – and hugely enjoyed – the second national Australian food bloggers conference. I travelled to Sydney for the event and took the chance to put faces to some of the names whose writing, recipes and photos I had been enjoying, and to meet plenty whom I had yet to come across in the ether. We spent a terrifically informative day picking up writing, photography and SEO tips, networking and, of course, eating, and I came away vowing to make every effort to get to the next one. Apparently the gods agreed with me on that as, while I was on my recent holiday in Italy, an email from the organisers of last year’s event winged its way into my inbox asking me to be involved in putting this year’s event together in Adelaide, South Australia.
Last year’s event was extraordinarily well planned and coordinated, completely sponsored, and a unanimous hit with the attendees so we knew we had a pretty tough act to follow. However, we South Australian food types pride ourselves on our food and wine credentials. We have a remarkable array of both commercial and artisan food producers and are not called the wine state for nothing, so we were sure we could put on a pretty special event.
A couple of weeks ago we very proudly announced the program for Eat Drink Blog 2012 and I think we’ve managed to pull together a remarkable array of local, national and international talent to share their knowledge and skills with bloggers from all over Australia. With confirmed speakers including a nationally award-winning photographer, internationally recognised Australian food bloggers and, the icing on our cake, Dianne Jacob — author of “Will Write for Food” — our conference will comprehensively cover food writing, social media, career opportunities, restaurant reviewing, SEO, ethics, blog design, photography, photo editing, food styling, and legal matters. In addition, the delegates will have the opportunity to visit some of South Australia’s premium wine and food regions, sampling the specialties of the regions, spend some time touring the iconic Adelaide Central Market and enjoy a gourmet dinner featuring the very best of our local produce and beverages.
Oh, and it’s all still fully sponsored, so all the delegates have to pay for is their travel and accommodation!
So maybe it’s time for the rest of the world to be just a little envious of us?
For full details of Eat Drink Blog 2012 check our website here.
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Geneva: Rock ‘n Roll Spanish Wine Tasting
Wine Defender Geneva is sponsoring a wine tasting on August 9, 2012, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Cave Do Bem, located at 14, boulevard James Fazy. The tasting will feature Spanish wines with tasty tapas and rock music provided by Bye Bye Chicken Head DJ, preceded by a tribute to Chavela Vargas. The cost of admission is 10 CHF.
Cave Do Bem is located just 2 minutes from the Cornavin train station. It is advisable to reserve ahead of time. Tel. 41 (0)76 273 88 27.
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Part 3: What is Fermentation?
“Fermentation is one of the oldest and simplest means of preserving foods. It requires no particular kind of climate, no cooking, and so no expenditure of fuel: just a container, which can be a mere hole in the ground, and perhaps some salt or seawater,” quoted from the ever-insightful Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.
- Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen”
The third article in this mini-series is going to be scientific and a little bit nerdy. Get ready to learn the nitty-gritty behind fermentation.
Fermentation begins in the vegetable or fruit. The naturally-occurring microbes in the food proliferate under the right conditions – namely, under the lack of air. At the same time, these beneficial microbes suppress the growth of harmful microbes that rot the fruit or vegetable. The good microbes metabolize the plant’s sugars and carbohydrates before the bad microbes get a chance. In a way, fermentation is a “controlled-rotting” process: the difference between sauerkraut and rotting cabbage is which microbes are allowed to grow.
When protected from air, these microbes get to work producing lactic acid, alcohol, carbon dioxide, and other compounds and nutrients.
Ferments can be made by crushing the vegetables or fruit until enough liquid is let out, ensuring that the vegetables are covered and protected from the air. Usually, though, the vegetables need a little bit of help: salt draws out the liquids, sugars, and other nutrients, and so ferments are often dry-salted or submerged in a salt-and-water brine before being stored in a covered container.
Crushing: wine is also a form of fermentation
As the plants ferment, much of the material remains intact, hence crunchy kimchi and sauerkraut as opposed to being mushy or slimy (two problems which usually signify contact with air; check out a great troubleshooting link). As the vegetables ferment, not only do they retain their vitamins, but additional nutrients are formed in the process: namely Vitamin B, folate, and the production of enzymes. New flavors and aromas begin to develop, and continue to age and change for as long as you ferment your food.
The salt concentration of the brine and the temperature during fermentation are the two main components that determine which beneficial plant microbes flourish and, consequently, the flavors and aromas that result. Vegetables with a low-salt brine and fermentation under low temperatures will produce mild but complex flavors with Leuconostoc mesenteroides. Fermentation done in high temperatures will produce almost exclusively lactic acid bacteria, from the Lactobacillus plantarum microbe. Also, fermentations undergo a dual process: they produce the first microbe, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, which is then taken over by Lactobacillus plantarum during the second stage of fermentation.
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ROSA’S MUSINGS: SPICE UP YOUR DISHES WITH HOMEMADE FLAVORED SALTS
Salt is the policeman of taste: it keeps the various flavors of a dish in order and restrains the stronger from tyrannizing over the weaker.--Margaret Visser
Salt plays an important role in our daily life. Not only is it a vital substance for all living creatures, as it regulates the water content of our body, but it is also makes food taste better. Nobody can survive or cook without sodium chloride.
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