A Literary Culinary Journal
This list is a very basic list indeed, but since there is not much available in English about Switzerland and its food, I thought it would be helpful to pass the link on to you.
Click here to read.
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by David Downie
North of Genoa’s historic harbor — the celebrated Porto Antico — spreads the recently pedestrianized Piazza Caricamento. It’s most imposing and significant building is 
, for centuries the HQ of the Banco di San Giorgio — the bank that gave “banking” its name, and helped make Genoa one of the world’s richest cities. The frescoed palace — part medieval fortress, part baroque mansion — now houses Genoa’s port authority. Few visitors think to visit the interior, which is open to the public and worth a peak. Frescoes, high ceilings, antique furniture and plenty of salty atmosphere are to be found.
The square is backed by Sottoripa and Via Turati, two shopping arcades lined by mom-and-pop stores of all kinds: fry shops, cafes and bars.
One of my favorite shops along Sottoripa is Armanino, a specialty foods boutique founded in 1905. The Armanino family still runs this narrow, deep cavern. Celebrated for its wide variety of candied fruit, handmade by a candy-maker in Savona, Armanino also offers scores of highest-quality Ligurian specialty foods. You’ll find Santa Rita brand dry pasta, unfiltered extra virgin olive oil from the Frantoio di Borgomaro and many other small producers, Savona anchovies bottled in olive oil, authentic artisan-made bottled pesto and flours derived from chickpeas or chestnuts, perfect for traditional Ligurian recipes (and naturally gluten-free to boot).
Even older than Armanino (though a relative newcomer to the city’s medieval neighborhood) is nearby Klainguti, one of my favorite cafés in Genoa. Klainguti opened for business in 1826, the brainchild of a pair of Swiss brothers — which explains the utterly un-Genoese name. The Klainguti brothers were pastry makers. They had planned to sail to America from Genoa to make their fortune. But they literally missed their boat, opened a shop here instead, and the rest is history.
Klainguti’s is a tale of sweet success, from the archetypal Swiss butter cookies and rich cakes (including the caloric but irresistible “torta Zena” made with rum-flavored zabaglione cream, sponge cake and almond paste) on up. Another centuries’ old classic is the “torta Engadina” (a variety of German dark chocolate cake, filled with heavy cream and assembled from layers of light sponge cake made from almond flour).
Just over a decade ago two new, affable owners—also brothers—named Sauro and Fabrizio Ubaldi, plus Fabrizio’s son Luca, took over Klainguti. They trimmed the proverbial sails of this flagship café and got it flying along the Mediterranean circuit again after decades of doldrums.
Everything at Klainguti is made in house. The gobeletti are goblet-shaped apricot-jam cookies and they are very good. But there are also chocolate-dusted meringues made to look like miniature porcini mushrooms. The Falstaff is a croissant stuffed with hazelnut paste. Local legends claim it was one of composer Giuseppe Verdi’s favorites. Verdi was a regular at Klainguti whenever he was in Genoa, which was often.
The larger-than-life Verdi was a jumbo-sized individual and reportedly had no trouble dispatching giant portions of whatever he ordered. Those who can’t even imagine gobbling an entire torta Zena can get a fair idea of its excellent flavor by ordering a patatina rosa instead. These pink, baby potato-shaped confections explode with rummy zabaglione.
Klainguti’s outdoor tables are set up in the pocket-sized Piazza di Soziglia, a charming spot in the bull’s eye of the center of Genoa’s medieval alleyways. This is the perfect place from which to watch the multi-cultural, multi-racial Mediterranean world walk by. In case you’re hungry for the savory side before hitting the desserts, Klainguti also serves light lunches and many snacks. Don’t miss the cozy, handsome little backroom decorated with antique crystal chandeliers and colorful stone floors. It’s a good place to get out of the weather, whether hot or cold.
For addresses and opening hours, and much more on Genoa, its history, culture, food, wine, hiking trails, treks, guided tours, restaurants, food shops, best coffee, best focaccia and more, keep reading WanderingLiguria and pick up our books, Food Wine Italian Riviera & Genoa and Enchanted Liguria: A Celebration of the Culture, Lifestyle and Food of the Italian Riviera.
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by Jonell Galloway
We are celebrating in Switzerland. Last week, we had our first-ever Slow Food market with the big man himself opening the show: Carlo Petrini, the founder, talking about the concept of retour à la nature, or return to nature, one of the basic concepts of Slow Food; “the Terra Madre network of food communities, defined by place of origin; as well as how that all meshes with the values of Swiss artisans and consumers,” says Kerrin Rousset of My Kugelhopf. “Slow Food unites the pleasure of food with responsibility, sustainability and harmony with nature.”
Click here to read the rest of Kerrin’s roundup, with a distinct emphasis on the sweets (of course).
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by Jonell Galloway
Sweet potatoes are a traditional part of a American Thanksgiving dinner. Every family has its own favorite or traditional recipe. Here’s mine, in all its simplicity.
I love sweet potatoes for their natural flavor and texture, so I simply scrub them really well and bake them, with the peeling on, at 200° C / 400° F until they’re soft enough to eat. The time depends on the time and variety of sweet potato. I then cut them crosswise into chunks (still leaving the peel), put them into a serving dish, and slather them with butter with sea salt, which I buy from my cheesemonger.
No marshmallows, no brown sugar, no maple syrup, just au nature.
It’s interesting to watch Europeans’ reactions to them. At first they’re puzzled, but on their second bite, they usually find them interesting and like them.
Note: If you peel them, they will dry out in the oven.
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by Renu Chhabra
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.–George Eliot
Fall is a perhaps the earthiest of seasons. Crisp air, fallen leaves, and trees changing hues make it a season to savor before winter sets in. For me, it’s a pleasant reminder of the holiday season ahead. But most of all, fall brings us an abundance of harvest.
The first thing that comes to my mind is pumpkin – the good old orange ball, greeting us at farm stands and grocery stores. Big, small, mini, round, and some not so round — they all whisper, “Take me home with you!” How can you ignore these scrumptious beauties? Even though they are not the easiest of fruits to peel, if you can win that battle, there are endless ways to enjoy them, sweet or savory.
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I am not a lover of sweets, in fact most of the time I dislike them, which is quite a handy thing for my figure.
Still, sometimes, nostalgia takes over. I remember my great aunt’s fresh coconut layer cake, with the layers stacked high like a cathedral, and how the white coconut reminded me of angel’s wings. I remember moist chocolate layer cakes from childhood birthday parties. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, popular when I was in college. As a little girl, how pretty the name “red velvet cake” sounded. Gingerbread with hot butterscotch sauce on a cold winter’s day, made by my best friend’s mother on Saturday afternoons.
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by Jonell Galloway
A recent Huffington Post article revealed that in 1980, Donald Rumsfeld was head of G.D. Searle, as well as part of Ronald Reagan’s transition team, along with Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., later to be named head of the FDA. Hayes, not having experience in food additives, allowed Searle to reapply for approval of the use of aspertame, which had previously been banned because “it might induce brain tumors.”
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I read the Daily Green every day, but today’s slideshow list of 19 tips for saving the earth, improving your diet and health and saving money, all at the same time. Watch it immediately! Just click here.
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Nobody knows Liguria better than David Downie. In fact he knows it so well, he’s just launched a new site about it, Wandering Liguria, to add to his exquisite Food Wine Burgundy and Food Wine Rome guidebooks for the thinking man who wants to avoid places frequented by busloads of tourists.
A picture-postcard faux fishing port, Portofino is the Riviera’s most glamorous time warp: the villas of the super-rich perch on pine-studded promontories jutting into the Mediterranean. Billionaires like Silvio Berlusconi spend precious leisure hours here. “Precious” is the operative word.
Five hundred years ago one irreverent overnight traveler noted that in Portofino “you were charged not only for the room but the very air you breathed.”
Click here to read more of David’s Gadling article on Portofino.
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by Mónica Pinto
It all started centuries ago in the Portuguese convents. The nuns used to starch the habits with egg whites and, consequently, they ended up with huge quantities of egg yolks, so they started making a variety of rich and delicious sweets, mostly using egg yolks and sugar, in fact lots of both. Sometimes they would add almonds and a small list of other ingredients, but the egg yolks and sugar were always the main ingredients of the Portuguese convent sweets.
Papos de anjo, in English, would be something like, “angels’ stomachs” or “angels’ bellies”, and they are one of the most traditional of Portuguese sweets. They start as sugar-free, fluffy little egg cakes, round and smooth, just like the nuns imagined an angel’s belly, but then they are covered with a very sweet and aromatic syrup that makes them a melt-in-the-mouth treat, a delicacy for people with a very sweet tooth.
Enjoy!
Click here for Metric-Imperial converter.
Pastry:
6 egg yolks
1 egg white
Syrup:
Serve at room temperature.
I’m a food photographer and stylist with an Art & Design degree. I live in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, near the sea with my husband, my two boys and my dog. I love home cooking from around the world and have a very special interest in traditional Portuguese cuisine. I love to cook with fresh herbs, edible flowers and fresh vegetables. Some I grow organically in my kitchen garden. Others I buy from local farmers markets. I’m the author of Pratos e Travessas a blog about cooking, food photography and food chronicles.
Meet Jonell Galloway, a freelance writer and editor specialized in French cuisine. 
