I'm reading a fun little book called Fierce Food by Christa Weil. It's an alphabetized list of exotic foods like armadillo, blubber, and yuba (some kind of tofu? I haven't gotten that far) At first I was wondering why there weren't any photos, then I realized it's better with the classy half tone illustrations. It would be full of wacky images like the one I snapped a couple of weeks ago somewhere in Chinatown. Those yolks could be Balut, 16 day old duck embryos, as described in Fierce Food.
Weil matter-of-factly delivers food facts like, “Gelatin is, essentially, the glue that holds the skin and bones together.” Regarding corn smut(huitlacoche—a mushroom tasting fungus that grows on corn)the closing passage on p62 cracked me up:
“In an attempt to deflect attention from huitlachoche's dubious appearance and smutty origins, promoters have dubbed it Mexican truffle, Aztec caviar, or maize mushroom. Please. If we must use nicknames let's stick to black excrement, in honor of pre-Hispanic farmers who knew good shit when they saw it.”
While reading it on the subway, I missed two stops. It's perfect for the subway or Sunday morning on the can. Happy Easter, Dad!
Here's my entry for Fierce Food: while running errands, I saw that one of the maple syrup farmers at the Green Market was selling an item that I've never seen before. Maple sap! For a buck, I got a small cup of what looked like water. Surprisingly, or not, it actually tasted like water, too. You would think that it would be sweet, but no. Without concentrating the tree juice with heat, you can't taste the sweet. When I said it was the blood of the maple tree, Ted corrected me and said it was more likely the pee of the tree.
Perhaps, but blood has more nutrients and sap must have minerals and obviously sugars that feed the tree. If I were a marketing person, I'd call them electrolytes. Let's note it now, maple sap will be the next sports drink. Right now, the Coconut Water people are shaking in their shells.
4 comments:
Have you read Tom Parker Bowles (yes, Camilla's son, but also a food critic!), The Year of Eating Dangerously? Also about some fierce foods....
I heard about it on the radio, but I'll definately check it out!
Electrolytes have to have free ions (e.g., salts). Sugars are not electrolytes - they are organic compounds and do not disassociate easily.
oh right on. that makes sense. gatorade uses all that corn syrup to hide the salty taste. thanks for reading!
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