Column Things that a foodie didn’t dare say out loud, but was definitely thinking. 

While it might seem like all those people surrounding you on your grocery shopping trip are normal, if they all had though bubbles above their heads, you would know the truth. Thankfully, Foodie Underground is here to help with exactly that. The girl holding a basket full of chard and seaweed crackers? The guy pondering whether he should get the raw cashew butter or just go for comfort food and get the peanut butter? Yeah, they’re all on the same page. If you’ve ever wondered what was going through these foodies’ heads, here’s your answer.

1. “I can’t believe they don’t sell black quinoa.”
2. “Shit, it’s already 5pm, there won’t be any natural light left for me to photograph this when I get home.”
3. “I wonder if acai berries or goji berries would make for a better second kombucha fermentation?”
4. “Why don’t they have food-grade twine available yet?”
5. “They’re out of mason jars???”
6. “Just look at the price of Sriracha, I am so glad I make my own.”
7. “Ooh, dark chocolate covered cardamom and chipotle infused candied ginger for only $19.99. I’ll take three!”
8. “Quail eggs; that would make my Friday night handmade ramen better.”
9. “No more pomegranate? What am I going to put on my steel cut oats tomorrow?”
10. “Truffles! Normally I only get the white ones, but I guess I can make an exception…”
11. “The floral notes and the over pronounced acidity on that wine were just terrible last time.”
12. “Why is there never a non-fat goat’s yogurt?”
13. “Oh look, hand-churned butter with chunky sea salt!”
14. “I need a turmeric ginger infusion, I hope the juice bar isn’t closed yet.”
15. “I want a cupcake.”

Related on Foodie Underground

Good Food Isn’t Perfect: Foodie Underground

Things You Wish You Had Overheard a Foodie Saying: Foodie Underground

The 10 Types of Foodies and What to Do With Them: Foodie Underground

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Wally Gobetz

The post 15 Things the Foodie Next to You at the Food Co-op Probably Was Thinking: Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnLooking for fun things to do this summer that involve food? Look no further.

This week marks the summer solstice, which means your summer planning should be in full swing. Don’t know what to do with your summer months? That’s what Foodie Underground is here for. Every year we come up with a list of fun things to do with your summer vacation, all food related. Let the summer season commence!

1. Of all the things to do this summer, you should probably be making a kombucha cocktail at some point.

2. Write a short story about a vegetable.

3. Use olive oil instead of butter in a recipe.

4.Write a cookbook. Or at least a chapter of one.

5. Pick out your favorite summer food and paint a picture of it.

6. Make a rhubarb shrub. Your friends will love you.

7. Grind your own flour and make a loaf of bread.

8. Throw a dinner party in a field.

9. Make a set of greeting cards with your favorite food quotes.

10. Screw a mason jar onto your blender and make a smoothie. Yup, this actually works.

11. Get a burr grinder. Seriously, you’re still using a blade??

12. Make your own sriracha.

13. Find some friends and go clam digging.

14. Forage berries and make your own ice cream.

15. Sew your own reusable produce bags.

16. Make ice cubes with fruit in them.

17. Since last summer you mastered homemade marshmallows, this summer start infusing them with different ingredients. Lavender and honey anyone?

18. Get a beehive.

19. Take a camp stove to the park and make breakfast outside.

20. Make a set of chalkboard mugs for a friend.

21. Plan an outdoor food documentary festival.

22. Volunteer with a local food organization.

23. Make labneh.

24. Think of a country whose cuisine you know nothing about. Host a dinner party with food only from that place.

25. Stop buying nut butters and make your own.

26. Build a new kitchen storage system using old crates.

27. Two words: frozen watermelon.

28. Build a picnic table with built-in beer/wine cooler.

29. Herbal waters.

30. Host a disco soup party.

31. Open a lemonade stand for a weekend.

32. Make a dip using cashews. They’re surprisingly creamy.

33. Skip the Mexican restaurant and brew up a batch of your own horchata.

34. Pickle cherries.

35. Cook with lavender.

36. Make your own bitters.

37. Build a wine crate carrier on the back of your bike so you can put your vegetables in it when you shop at farmers market.

38. Ask your grandmother for her five favorite recipes. Write them down.

39. Bake a chocolate chip cookie serving bowl.

40. Have a rosé and socca night and dream about being in the south of France.

41. Dry herbs.

42. Use dried herbs in your own tea blend.

43. Put your homemade tea blend into homemade tea bags.

44. Cure and store garlic.

45. Oh, hello cold brew cocktails.

46. Grill fruit.

47. Grill greens.

48. Grill avocado.

49. Preserve lemons.

50. See if there are five things in your kitchen that you can live without. Minimize.

51. Print with fruits and vegetables.

52. Use a soda can to make a cookie cutter.

53. Put fruit in your second kombucha fermentation.

54. Stop buying vanilla extract and make your own.

55. Make seed bombs and throw them somewhere that needs some brightening up.

56. Do your own flavored salts.

57. See if you can make a baguette.

58. Drink local.

59. Find a farm you can go and work on.

60. Start an herb garden.

61. If you have a backyard, dig a fire pit.

62. Roast corn in your new fire pit.

63. Make ice cubes out of coffee to use in your cold brew.

64. Forage seaweed.

65. Design a chicken coop.

66. Start using hemp seeds in recipes.

67. Makes popped amaranth instead of popcorn.

68. Read a book on food policy.

69. Pretend like you’re a kid with a lunchbox again and make fruit leather.

70. Paint a set of plates.

71. Get to know your edible flowers.

72. Make tahini.

73. Visit a local cheesemaker.

74. Save your glass jars and use them to serve dessert.

75. Write fortunes for fortune cookies.

76. Make a meal using zero processed ingredients.

77. Infuse something with pine needles.

78. Churn your own butter.

79. Bake your own tortilla chips.

80. Micheladas.

81. Shandys.

82. Shock yourself by making one-ingredient ice cream.

83. Grow herbs in mini planters on your bicycle.

84. Instead of goji berries, buy blueberries.

85. Experiment with kefir.

86. Make a picnic kit (utensils, plate, durable glass) that’s ready to go at the drop of a hat.

87. Go to an estate sale, buy old tea towels, and sew them into napkins.

88. Build your own grill.

89. Forget kale chips and move on to CHARD CHIPS.

90. Soak peaches in bourbon.

91. Go to a U-pick.

92. Do a wine tasting 101 class.

93. Buy spices so you can make your own za’atar.

94. Build a worm composting system.

95. Make your own peanut butter cups.

96. Use avocado to make chocolate mousse.

97. Make zucchini noodles.

98. Brew sun tea.

99. Get your a sourdough starter going.

100. Think of 100 more things to do because you went through this list in less than a month.

Related on EcoSalon

Foodie Underground: 101 Summer Bucket List Items for Foodies

Foodie Underground: 100 Things to Do With Your Summer Vacation

20 (More) Fun Things to Do Without Spending a Dime

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Anna Brones

The post 100 Fun Things to Do this Summer if You Love Food: Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnAren’t some food recipes simply overdone?

I love recipes. I love looking at cookbooks. I even write recipes. The internet abounds with recipes, which should make someone like me thrilled. But as time goes on, I have decided one thing: there are few internet food recipes that I like.

A handful are good, but I find myself doing more eye rolling than exclamations of “I want to make that!”

Cooking should be fun. Instinctual even. A recipe should be solid, not trendy. After all, we don’t need more food porn, we need more real food.

Some recipes are overdone – just Google “kale chips” – and others have a cult following that has me wondering if we care about food or if we care about things that just look cute.

And because of that I have come up with the official list of overdone food recipes. Some are recipes we could live without simply because the foods themselves are nothing complicated, and others are recipes for foods we should never make again.

1. [Insert dish here] top With a Fried Egg

Add an egg to anything and it’s delicious. But a recipe with an egg added to it is far from revolutionary. In fact, shouldn’t putting a fried egg on top of something simply be instinctual?

2. [Insert topping 1here ] and [insert topping 2 here] Toast

A homemade tapenade spread on a good piece of bread is one of the tastiest snacks out there. But does it need it’s own recipe? It’s toast, people. Toast. Even your college-aged cousin who is living off of peanut butter and rice knows how to make toast.

3. [Insert leafy green here] and [insert fancy fruit here] Smoothie

Smoothies are delicious–a good way to start a morning. But are smoothie recipes revolutionary? Congratulations, you know how to use a blender. And how to combine flavors!

4. Cakes Baked in Things

A perfectly decent cake, put it in a cute object and you get a ruined recipe. I’m looking at you, mug cakes.

5. Unicorn Poop Cookies

No. Absolutely not.

6. Cookie Shot Glasses

This is sort of like Cakes Baked in Things. Except that you’re baking cookies in the shape of shot glasses. I miss batches of regular cookies.

7. Things on a Stick

Cake pops, brownies on a stick, fried chicken on a stick? Ah yes, because you woke up this morning and thought to yourself, “I know a creative ingredient to add: a stick!” Unless you go and forage some twigs, then maybe we can get excited.

8. [Insert sandwich/wrap/etc here] with Mashed Avocado

“So you take a fork, mash the avocado and add it to your dish. Amazing isn’t it!?”

9. Crazy Cupacke Fillings

“Don’t worry sweetheart, it’s healthy because it’s broccoli in a cupcake!”

Related on EcoSalon

Less Food Porn, More Food Please: Foodie Underground

Why Are We Food Porn Obsessed?

The Glucose Overdose of Cupcakes

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Taryn

The post Overdone Food Recipes We Really Could Live Without: Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnThe official Foodie Underground summer bucket list guide to your favorite season.

So you checked off last year’s list of food-related summer bucket list? Good. Now here are 100 more things (plus an extra one, because 101 is just more fun) to keep you busy all summer long.

1. Learn about natural wines. It helps with the headache the morning after, trust me.

2. Make a cake with kale in it.

3. Find 10 different ways to use rhubarb. To start: rhubarb and mint.

4. Make your own yogurt.

5. Roast your own coffee.

6. Infuse something with geranium.

7. Write a story about a food experience.

8. Ride your bike to the market or grocery store.

9. Plan a dinner party with food sourced from within a 50-mile radius.

10. Try to buy all local for one week. And I mean all.

11. Eat lunch on a sailboat.

12. Grow your own lentil sprouts.

13. Stuff your face with ice cream cake. The vegan kind of course.

14. Make your own sorbet.

15. Two words: kombucha smoothies.

16. Make your own chips out of anything other than potatoes and sweet potatoes.

17. Start a vintage cookbook collection.

18. Go through your grandmother’s or mother’s recipe cards.

19. Plan a picnic on a bridge.

20. Serve wine in actual wine glasses and not mason jars.

21. Make your own picnic basket.

22. Learn how to homebrew.

23. Volunteer on a farm.

24. Don’t look on the internet for a recipe for an entire week and see what happens. Constraints breed creativity.

25. Put seeds (sunflower, poppy, sesame, hemp, etc.) in your salad.

26. Go geoduck hunting.

27. Sew your own reusable produce bags.

28. Make a beer cocktail.

29. Pick berries.

30. Host a “homemade BBQ,” ie: homemade ketchup, homemade chips, homemade sausage, homemade buns.

31. Skewer berries on a toothpick, freeze them and place them in glasses of bubbly for a more festive drink.

32. Beer slushies.

33. Serve a chocolate cake topped with salt and vinegar chips.

34. Make a dish with lavender.

35. Design your own coasters.

36. Date a farmer.

37. If that doesn’t work, date a vegetarian.

38. Find a video projector, hang up a white sheet and watch a food documentary outdoors.

39. Pretend you’re a wine connaisseur. Better yet: just drink the wine you like.

40. Plan a road trip in search of good street food.

41. Keep a coffee journal.

42. Go through all of your kitchen supplies and reduce them by half. You really don’t need it all.

43. Beach picnic.

44. Park picnic.

45. Mountain picnic.

46. Backyard picnic. You don’t have to go far after all.

47. You need to stay hydrated, add fruit and herbs to a pitcher of water to add a little flavor: cucumber, thyme, lemon, apple, etc.

48. Bake something for your neighbors, just because.

49. Read a food book that isn’t a cookbook.

50. Grab a glass jar with a screw on top, pour in some sugar, add in a vanilla bean. Voila: vanilla sugar. Good for sprinkling on summer pies.

51. Master campfire bread.

52. Cut watermelon into cubes, freeze. Eat.

53. Visit a vineyard.

54. Visit a brewery.

55. Visit an urban garden.

56. Improve your table manners.

57. Start juicing.

58. Spend at least five minutes on this website.

59. Serve ice cream or sorbet in something other than bowls, like lemon shells for example.

60. Grill s’mores with your own homemade marshmallows.

61. Go vegetarian for a week. Just to see how you feel.

62. Never serve store-bought guacamole ever again.

63. Build a beer bottle holder for your bike.

64. Make a berry pie, but make a crust with ground hazelnuts instead of a regular one.

65. Produce batches and batches of your own Nutella.

66. Keep an ongoing collection of food quotes.

67. Write a poem about food.

68. Teach someone how to cook.

69. Buy an ingredient at a farmers market you have never tried before.

70. Eat salad for breakfast.

71. Grill zucchini.

72. Make goat cheese ice cream.

73. Put a dash of salt in your cold brew coffee.

74. Find a tree. Build a treehouse. Host a dinner party in it.

75. Put something other than water in your ice cube trays.

76. Guerilla garden.

77. Plan your summer vacation around food destinations and not tourist sites.

78. Cheese tasting night.

79. Pick blackberries and infuse some vodka.

80. Eat a meal blindfolded.

81. Go crabbing.

82. Use zucchini instead of pasta.

83. When you can’t take a vacation, host a round the world dinner party.

84. Cook with saltwater.

85. Start seaweed foraging.

86. Experiment with chilled fruit soups.

87. Roast your own red peppers and serve them on everything.

88. Go to a food festival.

89. Master a sangria recipe.

90. Make a classic dish from all 50 states.

91. Put fruit in your sparkling water.

92. Build your own fire pit and cook something over it.

93. Expand your spice collection.

94. Bottle cold brew in a mason jar and give to your friends.

95. Learn how to make your own fish tacos.

96. Go a week without referencing a cookbook.

97. Make mead.

98. Put basil into a sweet dish instead of a savory one.

99. Consider learning how to pit cook.

100. Eat outside at least once a day.

101. Keep your own sun tea on hand… at all times.

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Ginny

The post Foodie Underground: 101 Summer Bucket List Items for Foodies appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnA step-by-step guide to faking it in the food world.

The scene is starting to feel familiar. You’re eating a dessert out of a mason jar and you have spent the last 15 minutes listening to a conversation about the merits of mezcal in cocktails. “I just really can’t stand the taste. Put a drink in front of me and I can definitely tell you if it has it in it or not,” you overhear, and you internally swear for not having a good comeback.

A comeback that was just a little more…in-the-know.

Really, you just want to throw your cucumber and ginger-infused cocktail in that person’s face, but then again, the meal was good, and if you play your cards right, you can probably get someone else to pay for it. Wait for it…”I just love treating my friends to good food,” says another table-mate. You’re finally in the clear.

As much as you cringe at the word “foodie” – and don’t we all? – there are moments where it’s worth pretending you’re one: getting your meal paid for, scoring a date with someone who knows how to cook well, getting directions to a new restaurant scribbled on a napkin, finding someone to solve your dilemma of what to make with your leftover greens.

1. Class Up Your Water

Serve your water in a pitcher and put something in it. Cucumber, apple, blackberries, raspberries, vanilla beans; anything that will add a touch of flavor and show that you’re someone who can make even a glass of water taste unique.

2. Put Almond Meal in a Cake

Start easy and just replace a quarter of a cup or so. When you say “[insert name of cake] Almond Cake” it just sounds more intriguing.

3. Use a Formula

When you get invited to a dinner party and your friends are brainstorming what to make, pick a savory ingredient, like an herb or a cured meat – and a sweet ingredient like fruit – and then nonchalantly suggest putting them together. “Hmm…I don’t know…what about something with sage and blood oranges?”

4. Don’t Wrap Things in Bacon

So cliche. Unless of course it’s artisan. Otherwise opt for prosciutto.

5. Employ Key Expressions

Start with our vocabulary list and pick up lines, then make sure you say “locavore,” “artisan,” and some obscure French ingredient in every single food-related conversation you have and you will be good to go.

6. Befriend a Farmer

When you actually know the name of the guy you bought your eggs from, you will immediately one-up all your food-loving friends, no matter how many restaurants with “&” in the name they have been to lately.

7. Turn Into Food Paparazzi

Forget the ideal lighting, whip out that phone and start Instagramming your food porn. Don’t forget to hashtag your ingredients.

8. Add a Spice

Whatever you were planning on making for dinner, throw in some cardamom, fennel, anise or caraway. Then tweet about it.

9. Eat Kale Chips at Least Once

They’re easy to make and the fact that you haven’t had them yet really is just unacceptable.

10. Stay Current

Keep up to date on the current food trends and news, and find a few that you hate, then pepper your conversation accordingly. Examples: bacon sundaes, cinnamon challenge and bone luging.

11. Keep a Journal

Write down your food musings. Oh wait, on second thought, please don’t.

12. Embrace Olive Oil

Just keep a little travel-sized bottle on hand at all times and next time you’re out for ice cream, drizzle a little on top.

13. Take Your Leftovers to Work in a Mason Jar

Salad looks so much more appetizing when it’s in an individual glass serving.

14. Only buy Americanos From Places That Roast Their Own Coffee

And please be sure to make sure that they’re ethically sourcing their beans. Better yet, find a coffee roaster that delivers by bicycle.

15. Know the Names of Three Food Blogs

And who writes them, what they tend to make and which recipe was recently published that you “just can’t believe you had lived without.”

16. Memorize Specialties

Think of three places you have traveled to, nationally or internationally. Then figure out what their specialty dish is, and even if you’ve never had it, don’t be afraid to ask “have you ever had *** in ***?”

17. Carry a Spork and a Pair of Chopsticks for Eating at Food Carts

Only your own cutlery will do.

18. Make Your Own Wine Labels

The $5 stuff just got so much better, if you printed it with Helvetica, that is.

19. Put Coconut Water Ice Cubes in Your Cocktail

Why go for regular H2O when you can have something that’s the l’eau du jour?

20. Eat Good and Real Food. Always.

Cut the word “foodie” from your vocabulary and appreciate food for food’s sake. Because when all is said and done, it’s just that simple.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

The post Foodie Underground: Quick Fixes to Pretend You’re a Foodie appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnWhy cardamom is your new best friend.

High end ramen, breakfast for dinner, sparkling water: We spend a lot of time discovering and discussing food trends on Foodie Underground. It’s a dichotomous pursuit. There are the evenings spent complaining to friends about how fed up with the foodie world I am (bone luging, really? yet another cupcake store, must we?). Naturally, in the next sentence, I’m going on about my sea salt and olive oil polenta cake in the oven.

“Sea salt, Anna, really?”

“But sea salt is really good in cake. I swear.”

Pause.

“Want to try this cardamom chocolate cake instead?” Tease all they want, I know they’re not going to turn it down.

No matter how much your friends roll their eyes at a foodie’s obsession, one can always quell their serving of sass with what one cooks up. Appreciation for good homemade food is universal.

But about those trends. Today: cardamom.

Go take a look in your spice cabinet. What do you see? A half-empty container of powdered ginger that’s more yellow mass than powder? Vietnamese cinnamon you haven’t used since that botched chai recipe in graduate school’s chai-and-soy-I-don’t-do-coffee days? Turmeric that you don’t dare use because…well, because it’s so damn technicolor?

Get rid of them – all of them – and make room for cardamom, your new spice of choice.

I have a personal long-standing love affair with cardamom, it being the basis of practically every Swedish baked good ever created – thank you, Vikings. It has been a longtime staple in my culinary adventures, but lately I’ve noticed that whenever I see a restaurant that employs one word for its name (or two words connected by an ampersand in Helvetica of course), I can be certain there will be cardamom on the menu. Cardamom is the food world’s latest It Spice.

This spice deserves any accolade a food lover gives it. It’s versatile, delicious and sexy in everything from desserts to main courses. Yes, it’s expensive, coming in after saffron and vanilla, but there’s good reason that this India-born spice is the new épice du jour.

Here are five reasons you should (and will) fall in love with cardamom.

1. Cardamom is exotic. It is sexy.

Cardamom has a distinct and complex flavor. Bonus: Anything you put the spice in is automatically going to sound more alluring that the original version.

Just read the following variations out loud:

Orange ice cream. Orange cardamom ice cream.

Roasted potatoes. Cardamom roasted potatoes.

Saffron macaroons. Saffron-cardamom macaroons.

And so forth. Thanks to this spice, you can instantly turn yourself into a creative, culinary genius, which of course will be a hit for your food-related dating endeavors. It’s marketing, baby! (Fortunately, the product backs up the hype.)

2. Cardamom goes well with coffee.

“Must be some Scandinavian thing,” a friend of mine responded to a comment I had made about never being able to put too much cardamom in my coffee.

I’m not certain putting cardamom in coffee is an actual Scandinavian habit, but my Swedish-born mother has been doing it since before I can remember, and she buys cardamom in bulk quantities to ensure that we never run out. Having the economic sensibilities of every other food-loving twentysomething, I always fill a plastic bag up when I go home to visit my parents to avoid having to purchase it myself.

Add a pinch (or two, or three) to your morning brew and let it work its magic. You’ll quickly understand my obsession.

3. Cardamom is both sweet and savory.

The beauty of cardamom is that it goes just as well with pastries as it does in a lamb tagine.

For a quick and easy sweet tasting cardamom recipe, try my favorite Cardamom Cake.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 7 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk

Instructions:

-Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add in butter with your fingers and mix until crumbly consistency.

-Add in egg and milk and mix until a batter consistency.

-Pour into a greased 9.5 inch circular baking pan. If you want to, sprinkle with sliced almonds or orange zest. (The one pictured above uses Swedish Pearl Sugar, which you can buy at IKEA or import food stores).

-Bake at 400 F for about 30 minutes.

4. You can get creative with cardamom.

I have found that any recipe that requires any element of spice can be adapted to include cardamom. Food52 ran a contest with cardamom inspired recipes, resulting in everything from Bellinis to granola.

If you have yet to go out on a foodie limb, cardamom could just be your gateway spice. Start small. Add a little cardamom to your hot chocolate, for example. Then graduate to more complex creations, like cardamom in a butternut squash soup.

Just remember to go easy; too much cardamom and your recipe will taste more like medicine than food.

5. You can please omnivores, vegans, the gluten-intolerant and your grandmother. 

There’s a cardamom recipe for everyone.

The Meat Lover: Cocoa Cardamom Steak Rub

The Vegan: Cardamom Macadamia Nut Pancakes

The Europhile: Fig and Cardamom Spiced Tiramisu

Your Conventional Grandmother: Cardamom-Spiced Meatloaf

The Bacon Lover: Sugared Cardamom Bacon

The Gluten Intolerant: Cardamom and Orange Quinoa Cookies

The Bartender: No. 4 – a cocktail with gin and cardamom

Now get yourself to the grocery store and stock your spice cabinet. You have delicious to do.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Image: Veganbaking.net, Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: 5 Reasons to Love Cardamom appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnInternet dating for the food loving crowd.

It was the usual, Friday afternoon internet surf: half an hour spent scouring blogs, trying to track down some new recipes. As I scrolled down the Eater page a banner ad on the right side caught my attention – impressive, given my usual blindness to anything that looks like advertising – “Eater Dating.”

A site completely devoted to online dating for foodies?

Yes.

I cringe and marvel at the idea all at once. As it turns out, Eater Dating is the brainchild of bar and restaurant site Eater and the online dating site How About We. The difference from regular online matchmaking services? How About We is all based on suggesting an intriguing first date, which fits well if you’re trying to find someone that’s just as food obsessed as you are. Imagine the possibilities:

“How about we try the new food cart?”

“How about we drink bourbon out of mason jars?”

“How about we get wheatgrass smoothies and then hit up the tempeh reuben joint?”

“How about we buy some fennel and make our own sea salt shortbread?”

“How about we cure our own pork in our kitchen pantry and live happily ever after?”

I’ll stop there, since “Pick up Lines for Foodies” is a whole other column waiting to happen.

The crossover between food and love isn’t new. Jamie Oliver has his own dating site, in collaboration with Match.com. Even OkCupid has a foodie test, because god forbid you put “foodie” on your online profile and don’t actually fit the correct description. (The fact that you actually have never purchased artisan cheese at the market would be so disappointing to your future beau.)

A good friend of mine immediately insisted that I join Eater Dating, just so that I could report from the trenches; turn Foodie Underground into Foodie Love Underground. No, thank you. Online dating mixed with self-professed food snobs? That sounds almost worse than cupcakes.

Ultimately, food can be sexy, but dating the foodie crowd? You can only take so many discussions about the merits of sparkling water and urban wineries. As Felicity Cloake of The Guardian put it, “does a foodie really need another foodie to be happy?”

I am not so sure.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” If there are two of you with a love for food, there may not be so much room for the actual love part. And by that same token, if you’re in the business of dating, and you’re schmoozing foodies, you better know what you’re getting yourself into.

There is also the Swedish site Restdejting, which launched last year, that not only aims to find people true love, but ensure that food doesn’t go to waste. An initiative of farmers’ cooperative Lantmännen, it brings together eco-conscious singles who want to share their leftovers, or whatever ingredients they just can’t seem to put in their dish of the night. You enter what five ingredients you have laying around, and with the help of social media, hope some other food lover in the near vicinity is in the mood for the same thing.

Genius, considering the fact that anyone who has pickled herring, lingonberry jam, and an extra bundle of dill and hardtack on hand and ready to offer up is probably soulmate material. Scandinavian food is in, after all. Plus, if you’re breaking it down to simple ingredients, there’s not really any room for food pretentiousness; you just want to make sure that cute guy down the street doesn’t have to eat a fillet of wild-caught salmon alone.

The results speak for themselves:

“I never thought I would find love in the refrigerator. But there it was, hidden all the way in the back behind an egg carton…”

Maybe love is as easy as your favorite ingredient. If it doesn’t lead to love, at least you have delicious food to show for it.

After all, isn’t it better to eat good food alone than bad food together? That may depend on who you’re talking to, but much like Harriet Van Horne wrote in an issue of Vogue in 1956, “cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”

Which means no matter where your love life is at, the least you can do is commit to making excellent food.

Maybe then you can at least avoid internet.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Image: decafeined, Alexis Soon

The post Foodie Underground: When Food Equals Love appeared first on EcoSalon.

Column2012 is the year of sparkling water.

A new year, a new chance for greatness. You’re a couple of days into your resolutions by now, if you’ve made them. You open the refrigerator and glare at the reserve bottle of rosé. But no, you will not succumb to cravings, for in the new year, you’re going to want to skip out on the notes of raspberry and oak and opt for undertones of liquid and wet instead.

Recently, I found myself at a sparkling water party, featuring the bubbles of three different continents and some 10 countries. Though the event was to raise funds for a good cause, the environmentalist in me couldn’t help but cringe, and not just when the bubbles tickled my nose. On the other hand, or perhaps I should say in the other hand, the foodie in me giggled!

Specialty sparkling water has taken the same route as wine did in the days when shoulder pads were still acceptable in the workplace, leaving longtime favorites Perrier and San Pellegrino in the dust. Still on the green bottles? You might as well be chugging Two Buck Chuck.

It’s time for a change, and change this year is going to start with your sparkling water cellar. Isn’t that refreshing? It could also be cooling, or even energizing. At the very least, it will add some effervescence to your everyday routine.

The possibilities with sparkling water are endless, and unlike its sparkling alcoholic counterpart, it won’t leave you with a headache. It’s even good for your teeth. Besides, Paris puts it in their water fountains. Sort of socialist, really, but the idea is still nice.

With a nose for bubbling trends, trust Foodie Underground to guide you through the business of consuming packaged, pricey water with only the most prudent use of puns:

1. Start your research by consulting an expert.

Just as you wouldn’t pair your fennel filet mignon with an accompanying Cabernet without the guidance of a sommelier, consult a sparkling water expert until you feel comfortable navigating the carbonated world on your own. Feeling like I was drowning in a vast new pool of bubbly information, I did just that, speaking with sparkling water expert Michael Mascha. Says Mascha, “The good thing if you become aware of premium bottled waters is that you don’t have to choose one best water. You can enjoy many different waters for different occasions and food pairings. As always one should be aware if the water is naturally or artificially carbonated.”

2. Choose your regions according to personal taste.

Just like wine, the terroir of a sparkling water is so key, and you’ll have to decide if you’re more of an Alps kind of foodie or have a little more low-key, New Zealand style. Notes Mascha, “I love sparkling water and prefer it with tiny and small bubbles but sometimes a bold sparkling water can be the best match.”

3. Invest in the right stemware.

It’s just as rude to serve sparkling water in the wrong glass, like a tumbler or cup, as it is to pour someone a mug of wine. As Mascha has noted in a previous interview, you need a special glass: “A water glass needs a stem and straight sides to distinguish itself from wine glasses, though they should be of the same quality as the wine glasses used.”

4. Learn the correct vocabulary.

To fully understand the nuances of all sparkling waters, educate yourself in some the basic vocabulary, put together by Mascha on his site, Fine Waters:

Balance – Balance refers to the strength of your carbonation, and can vary anywhere from still to effervescent to bold. This is what you will want to consider when pairing with various foods, the bolder bubbles perfect for highlighting crispy pre-dinner appetizers.

Minerality – Amount of mineral dissolve in the water become the gauge for the water’s minerality. The higher a mineral count, the more distinct a water’s taste, making water with low minerality comparable to white wines and higher minerality similar to bold red.

Vintage – Unlike wine, sparkling water doesn’t need time to improve. But its age or vintage does affect its taste, with younger waters having less time to absorb minerals and therefore having a lower minerality, which in turn gives a lighter flavor.  Note however that age is less of an indicator of minerality than local geology.

5. Educate your friends.

You can’t enjoy sparkling waters from around the world in your bedroom alone, so ensure that you’ve got company by spreading the sparkling water word. You could become a water sommelier, though there’s currently no organization offering accreditation. Explains Mascha: “This is a project of love and passion and the best way is to experience as many different waters as possible. Being a foodie helps and being used to matching food and wine is a plus. It’s not a rocket science rather an opening of new experiences.”

6. Recognize the retail opportunity.

Mascha notes that sparkling water is popular in Europe but less so here in the States. It’s a problem of noise. “I see a huge potential in the U.S. with many people discovering sparkling water with smaller not so aggressive bubbles as Perrier. Right now Perrier is a synonym for sparkling water and most Americans don’t like the loud bubbles.” With many Americans catching on to the street food craze, one potential market opportunity might be to start a sparkling water food cart.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Image: EverJean

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ColumnSnobs, Europhiles and Organivores: You know who they are. Here’s how to cope.

When your friends start texting you photos of what they made for dinner and include only a list of ingredients, you know you have a food problem: You’ve turned into that person. If you’re lucky, things will hold at that manageable minimum, but inch one crumb further, and you might soon be labeled a Food Snob, or worse, the in-house Europhile. Because for every style of food under the sun, there’s a food personality to go with it. We’ve put together a guide to help you that’s just perfect for navigating, and sometimes placating, the wide world of foodies.

1. I Made it Myself!

Taking a cue from Martha Stewart, this is the friend who effortlessly whips together coq au vin at the drop of the hat, any hat. Is there anything they can’t do? Yes: Admit that cooking takes time. Although you are used to them effusively detailing their latest creation – “Who knew fennel would be so good with figs?” – the truth is they’re completely frazzled when they find they have over-committed themselves once again and now are up to their elbows in half made canapés. Unfortunately, Trader Joe’s mini quiches are not an acceptable substitute, so the only answer is an overdose on homemade espresso shots. Hors d’ oeuvres and the jitters, every time. Rx: a large glass of rosé.

2. The Organivore

“It’s finally farmer’s market season again! I just don’t know how I’ve managed all winter without kale.” Beyond filling their basket with root vegetables and cold pressed olive oil from the next valley over at the weekly market, the Organivore is also known to always opt for the kind of authentic eateries that serve wine in Mason jars unironically. Nevermind if it’s organic falafel; the Organivore will inquire as to whether the yogurt in the house-made tzatsiki is goat’s milk or cow’s milk and which local farm, exactly, it has come from. Rx: Focus the conversation on the polenta.

3. The Europhile

“I was eating Nutella before you could even buy it in the States,” they say, pronouncing the word “Nutella” in the European accent of their choice. This is the friend you’re happy to take along to the French bistro because they’ll know exactly how to order, but you’ll cringe when you realize they plan on studiously avoiding English throughout the entire meal. Rx: Never bring them a bottle of wine as a gift.

4. The One Upper

“You like this calamari? Do you? Yeah? It has nothing on the raw octopus I ate on my last trip to Southeast Asia. I said to myself, ‘if you can get past the squirming tentacles, this will probably be the best thing you have ever eaten.’ I was totally right.” If you find yourself forced to spend time with this person, give wide berth to any exotic or international cuisine as you will only set yourself up for a shame session. Try a good café for lunch and get sandwiches. This way, you’ll only have to hear about the excellent baguette with real Brie that your globetrotting friend once consumed on the banks of the Seine itself. Rx: This foodie is your Wikipedia of food. Keep her busy recounting categories, techniques and definitions.

5. The Snob

“The pork. belly. last. night. was. horrendous.” Soup is returned because it’s not the right temperature, wine pairings lacking “nuance” are rife, and if the meal does not begin with two pounds of freshly steamed mussels, you’re in for disaster. Since the Snob has not used his own kitchen, keep your mouth shut and enjoy the fact that when the food apocalypse comes and his favorite restaurant can’t import raw Danish butter or the Barolo anymore, he’ll be asking you how to make eggs for breakfast. Rx: Let him pick up the tab.

6. The Anti-Snob

“Foodie culture has totally taken over this city. At least there are still food carts keeping it real,” says the anti-snob while ordering a wood-fired pizza smothered in truffled gorgonzola, figs and prosciutto. Anything that’s served in a cart, from a trike or out of a small window – preferably in a back alley – is acceptable. Dating tip: You’ll be hard-pressed to get the anti-snob to treat you to a three course dinner, but on the bright side, she’ll fill you up with more food cart crème brulee than you could ever dream of. Rx: Let her pick up the tab.

7. The Avoider

“No thanks: I’m off gluten right now. Also, could you put the cream sauce on the side? I’m avoiding dairy. There aren’t any traces of nightshades in this, are there?” Be it dairy, gluten, corn, soy, meat, wheat or anything with a high glycemic index, the Avoider strictly follows the advice of the latest health book they have tracked down, much to the chagrin of those with actual food allergies. Rx: Give them a gluten-free vegan cupcake with sprinkles and they’ll be thrilled.

8. The Blogging Food Pornographer

“Let me get just one more shot. Wait, can you move the fork just a little to the right? Can we change the lighting at all?” Although they run a traffic-laden culinary corner of the internet, your blogging food porn addict just can’t give it up. Ever. Food apps, a huge Instagram following, two lenses for the DSLR at every meal…the list goes on. Rx: Ask them to explain Tumblr.

9. The Bacon Lover

“I don’t eat meat. Except for bacon.” Just like the internet, the Bacon Lover is crazily obsessed with anything that smells of fried pig fat. If you’re invited over for brunch, prepare yourself, as their kitchen is sure to have a lingering bacon smell that you’ll never get out, no matter how hard you scrub. Rx: Be sure to bring a change of clothes with you.

10. The DIYer

“Try some of this homemade kombucha! I don’t even go near that high priced stuff at the co-op anymore.” Not to be mistaken for I Made it Myself, the DIYer is a little more low key with their cuisine. Think sprouting greens on the windowsill, homemade pesto and ricotta salata. All labeled. Rx: Give the gift of a new Sharpie.

Are you one of these 10? Consider yourself and your foodie reputation warned.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: KaiChanVong, Anna Brones, Bolshakov, striatic, lisaclarke

The post Foodie Underground: The 10 Types of Foodies (And What to Do with Them) appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnIs tea the new coffee?

My father has always had a tea obsession.

He is known for brewing batches for way too long – above and beyond the recommended steeping time, resulting in the kind of strong, black tea that is on the verge of undrinkable. My mother and I sit on the couch, taking each sip with a slight cringe and rolling our eyes at each other while my father sits in his reading chair, oblivious to the fact that anyone could have a lower tolerance for that kind of tea strength. Just as I can’t go a day without good coffee, my father can’t be left without a substantial pot of tea. He has special mugs for various blends and there’s an entire shelf above our kitchen windows that holds an assortment of metallic tea tins, all full of loose leaf.

As a child, on weekend trips to the city we would always stop at his favorite tea house so he could buy tea in bulk. As a semi-bored 9-year-old, I explored the attached book store wondering why they couldn’t just serve hot chocolate; I wasn’t ready for a dozen types of Oolong. But somewhere along the line, these jaunts created an appreciation for good tea in me, preferably black.

Tea culture is different from that of coffee, or any other warm drink for that matter. I am reminded of this by the quote that hangs by my father’s reading chair:

To the right, books; to the left, a tea-cup. In front of me, the fireplace; behind me, the post. There is no greater happiness than this. – Teiga

Coffee might be our fuel for the day, but tea is the calming element that we need to unwind with.

The United States isn’t high on the list of global tea drinkers – a whole 0.2 kilograms per person annually, compared to Britain’s 2.3 – and the drink has nothing on its caffeinated counterpart. In 2010 the tea industry in the U.S. accounted for $7.7 billion, whereas coffee stood at $47.5 billion.

But just as you can buy 12 ounce bags of coffee beans for $60, premium cups of tea have been known to go for double digits, and specialty tea culture is on the rise. Just a couple of weeks ago, I found myself nursing a concoction of Bourbon and Lapsang Souchong; I phoned my father immediately upon exiting the bar. If tea that tastes like a campfire is making its way into strong whiskey drinks, we should take notice.

Is tea the new foodie drink of choice? Although we’ve been drinking it for over 5,000 years, tea has taken a new turn in the food world. Rooibos has been deemed the “new pomegranate juice,” there are whole online communities devoted to discussing the drink, antioxidants have never had so much positive marketing, design bloggers are making their own tea bags, and don’t even get me started on the matcha craze. Sidenote: for the best matcha latte, check out The Fix in Nevada City.

Tea is striking it big time, and there’s a personality for every cup of it, just like there is for coffee. If double Americanos define the hip and edgy crowd, so do specialty black teas and the aforementioned Rooibos, while the fruitier blends attract a similar crowd as the double foam, no sugar, mocha something or other. Think about the first impression you’re making next time you share what’s in your reusable tea mug with a built in infuser. Not that I would ever pass foodie judgement on anyone.

And unlike those pumpkin spiced lattes that you guiltily love yet can’t seem to find the time to make at home, in turn forcing you to keep frequenting that coffee shop, getting creative with tea recipes is as easy as throwing some spices together. Start easy with a recipe like Coconut Mango, and if you’re really feeling up for it, whip up a few batches of Chai. A homemade tea blend not only says you’re on the cutting edge of foodie-dom, but you’ll end up with a nice hostess present to give at the next dinner party. So much more creative than that bottle of wine you were debating on sassing up with a fun ribbon.

Tea just might be finding its foodie stride, and in our overworked, stressed out culture, might be just the calming agent we need. I think Lao-Tzu said it best:

Drinking tea, eating rice, passing time as it comes; looking down at the stream, looking up at the mountains.

That’s a mindset we could all drink to.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Tea Steeps into Foodie Territory appeared first on EcoSalon.