A Literary Culinary Journal
These fruit trees in blossom with the cow in the verdant fields of Lower Normandy and the church steeple in the background could almost be a Pissarro painting. The Impressionists made this sort of village scene familiar to us all. It’s almost like going home.
Photo by JF Lefèvre.
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“Biscotti” (pronounced “bee-scoat-tee”) are relatively new to me. Actually, a few years ago (about 6 years ago) I had no clue what they were. That is quite understandable if you consider the fact that I’ve lived all my life in Switzerland and never travelled to Italy (I passed through that country when going to Greece, but I doubt that this can qualify for holidays) nor to America where this speciality is widespread…
I was introduced to these Italian cookies when I received James McNair and Andrew Moore’s “Afternoon Delights” for my birthday in 2003. It was love at first sight. The very second I lay my eyes on the picture that illustrated their “Almond Biscotti” recipe I knew that I had to bake them immediately in order to satisfy my curiosity. Since then I have not seized being a big fan of this crispy treat.
Before I moved away from home and started cooking for myself, I had never really tasted any Italian pastry apart from “Amaretti Macaroons” and knew absolutely nothing about “Biscotti”. Here in Switzerland, the only biscuits that can be compared to them are oven-dried brioche slices called “Zwiebacks”. Although they taste more like sweet bread than cookies and are far from being as sweet or having an identical shape, I always enjoyed eating those delicious rusks.
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by Jonell Galloway
Reflections of the sestiere of Canareggio in the canal, taken from the Ponte di Gheto Novo, literally the “new ghetto bridge,” leading from Canareggio to perhaps the oldest Jewish ghetto in the world.
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I’m Jonell Galloway. I grew up on Wendell Berry and food straight from a backyard Kentucky garden.
The library and my grandparents’ garden and table were my favorite hangouts as a child, and the rest of my life has evolved around them. My house is like an overflowing library, and the “fruits” of my kitchen delight the palates and noses of our family, neighbors and friends.
I had a vision of promoting the loves of my life, food and writing, so I founded the non-profit website The Rambling Epicure in 2009.
My viewpoints about food and writing are mine and are only influenced by my reading, travels and first-hand knowledge. I believe in real food grown in a caring, loving environment without industrial processing. I don’t promote anything – no restaurants, no writers, no brand names – that I don’t truly believe in.
The people I frequent often have the same philosophy, but that is not exclusive. Many are writers and artists who uphold similar ideals and seek similar goals; many are fellow travelers in life.
If you’d like to become part of my world and share my personal food and travel adventures, you can follow me here:
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Food writing and word mastering have always been my line of work. The Rambling Epicure promotes the best food writing by the best writers in the field. In May 2014, respected writer Elatia Harris and I joined to form a food writing community: The Rambling Epicure, Mastering the Art of Food Writing, where you can follow our very active Facebook discussions, writing, and reflections on writing. Our community is inhabited by people like you who want to become a food writer, who seek to improve their food writing, or who are already professional writers in search of a like-minded community, and others who simply like reading food literature.
Click here to follow us. The Rambling Epicure, Mastering the Art of Food Writing
If you’d like to receive the new Rambling Epicure newsletter focusing on food writing, let us know.
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April 8, 2014 The flowers are in bloom in the canal town of Annecy in France
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I’m Jonell Galloway, a freelance food and travel writer, editor and consultant.
I created The Rambling Epicure in 2011. It is a daily international food ezine, joining the voices of professional food and travel writers from around the world who talk about the art of mindful and sustainable eating, drinking, traveling and living, with an emphasis on good writing and spectacular photos by some of the best in the business.
Based in Switzerland, The Rambling Epicure food writers and artists promote a mindful, responsible approach to real food shopping, cooking, and eating, as well as food politics, safety, history, art, literature and philosophy.
We sponsor this non-profit project through freelance writing, editing and publishing; custom-tailored culinary tours, cooking classes, and tasting events; recipe development and testing; book reviews and sales of recommended books and products, and seminars and workshops on the various subjects we cover. Thank you for supporting us by clicking the Sponsor Us button in the right-hand sidebar.
You can learn more about my personal career path in my LinkedIn profile. I’ve been rambling around the world eating food and writing about it for over 30 years now, so there’s a lot to tell.
I ramble mainly in Switzerland and Europe, looking for good food and restaurants. My articles are available on TheRamblingEpicure.com, 10Best.com/USAToday, GenevaLunch.com, Paris Voice and TheRamblingEpicure.tumblr.com.
I studied cooking at the Cordon Bleu and La Varenne in Paris, and wine tasting here, there and everywhere in France and at CAVE S.A. in Geneva and Gland. In France, I worked for some years as a contributing editor for the English edition of the GaultMillau guide and as a food translator, while I ran a small cooking school in a château near Paris. I now live in Switzerland, where I have learned to love the earthy Swiss food and wine. One of my many interests is promoting Les Artisanes de la Vigne et du Vin as an ambassadress for this Swiss women wine producers association and Slow Food, of which I am an active member.
Apart from various restaurant guides for France and Switzerland recently published books include: Ma Cuisine Méditerranéenne in collaboration with Christophe Certain (in France) and Le tour du monde en 80 pains / Around the World with 80 Breads published by Orphie, in collaboration with Jean-Philippe de Tonnac (part of the French and all of the English) (covers history of bread around the world), André Raboud (Swiss sculptor), Edipresse.
My cooking method is “spontaneous cuisine.” Lessons consist of writing out a tentative menu based on seasonal, local products; going shopping for the products, and adapting the menu according to what is available and fresh; going to the wine seller to select a wine to go with the menu, then going home and cooking all afternoon with my students. The day ends with a candlelight dinner at the château (in the past), and now, at my chapel converted into a house in Chartres or in your home.
I give Mindful Eating seminars and therapy for those who have problem relationships with food and eating in general, helping them reconstruct their lifestyle and relationship to food and eating.
Specialties: French, Swiss and Italian cuisine with a bit of American influence. I believe in healthy, natural, sustainable cooking in the spirit of Slow Food, so all my articles, recipes and classes have this emphasis.
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by Rosa Mayland
Some people are not afraid of the cold and others regard it with utter contempt. Even though I can’t say I savor every season or mid-season of the year, I nonetheless definitely prefer the fresher season as I hate sweating excessively or getting sunburned like a shrimp on a barbie.
Sometimes I wonder if those predispositions are linked to my DNA or whether is it just a personal preference. What if our genes influenced our manner of conducting ourselves and our traits of character? Hmmm, that is quite a difficult question to answer, but I believe that if our health can be defined by our bloodline, then there are chances that our emotions, temperament and identity are also outlined by it.
You see, my father’s ancestors were Swiss mountaineers who might have had Danish or English origins (my family name is NOT Swiss at all). Then, on my my mother’s side they came from the rugged areas of Northern England where Viking settlers made themselves at home and also from European Russia, a place which is known for its dreadful cold.
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by Rosa Mayland
Summer fades; the first cold, Northern air
Sweeps, like hatred, through still days –
The August heat now gone elsewhere,
To Southern, bird-filled coasts and bays;
Amid constricting vales of cloud,
A pale and liquid Autumn sun
That once beat down on an empty plain
And may again. And may again.
— Trever Howard, Autum
Lately, I’ve been in an unusually nostalgic, and in a rather morose state of mind. No matter how much I love autumn and look forward to cooler weather, seasonal mood swings always hit me hard when the summer ends. I guess it is something natural/biologic which each of us experiences to a certain degree. This time though, the “blahs” hit me a little harder than usual and I guess this is partly because last week, on the 13th of September, my English grandmother would have celebrated her 85th birthday, that is if she had not passed away last March…
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Meet Jonell Galloway, a freelance writer and editor specialized in French cuisine. 
