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Yummy yummy Umami
Why a leftover lamb bone turned a bean stew into an ecstatic event
A Stateless Dinner
So American “Chinese” isn’t really Chinese. Well what’s “Indian,” or “Italian” for that matter?
The Long March of General Tso
Don’t Try This At Home: (No Chinese chef would dare!)
Chicken chop suey is an American creation
I’ll freely admit to being a sucker, at least occasionally, for the sweet and starchy Hunan/Canton/Sichuan fare — cooked by people who were not chefs in their home country — that we know as “Chinese” on these shores. But now [...]
Combat Rations
Lunch with the French Special Forces
Okay, at the prompting of Hungry Pat, another cuisine posting.
Quick quiz
Which army would you be in if your Meal Ready to Eat pack contained the following:
Potted Meat of Mackerel Stewed Beef Indian chicken and rice
Nope, as “squaddie” as that sounds, it’s actually one of the menus dished out in French ration packs. [...]
Eating Sandals in Red Hook
Other people’s pupusas
Okay, I’ll tell you, because I trust and respect you. And actually, because the Gothamist alreayd told you about it two years ago.
The best-kept food secret in Brooklyn is a sandal. A huarache to be exact. Or at least that’s the vernacular in which you have to order the oblong corn-flour [...]
Foul For Love
The thing about chowhounding, is that sooner or later the New York Times always catches up and turns your favorite little outer-borough mama’s-kitchen haunts — that you either happened upon or were clued into by more energetic and committed chowhounds than yourself — into Zagat contenders. And so it comes to pass that Tanoreen, [...]
Singh Country
How about a nice cup of chai?
Hollywood’s traditional idea of a New York cabbie is probably Robert De Niro’s alienated Vietnam vet Travis Bickle, or the wiseguy Jews, Italians and Poles of the 1970s TV hit show “Taxi.” But those stereotypes couldn’t be further from today’s reality. According to the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, [...]
What Makes Food Jewish?
Originally published in the Anglo-Japanese magazine Eat in August 2000
There’s nothing more Jewish than fish on Fridays. Or so I thought, growing up in a household that tucked into pedestrian fried hake and chips every week after blessing the meal with the Sabbath “kiddush” prayer, wine and challah bread. If we were lucky, of course, [...]
Catering Camp David
Only Clinton had an appetite for a deal
Published in the Tokyo-based magazine Eat in September 2000
Just what were those crafty Americans up to? The only soupcon of information tossed out to a ravenous pack of journalists after the first day of July’s failed Camp David peace summit was this: The previous evening, President Clinton, [...]
Impostor #1: Tikka Goes to India
Back in the heyday of the dearly departed Anglo-Japanese food culture magazine Eat, I wrote a regular monthly brief (among other things) identifying dishes that profess a false “nationality.” Herewith, the first entry, on Chicken Tikka Masala, Britain’s national dish:
Globalization has brought fried chicken, pizza and burgers to India, so it should come as no [...]
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Beheading Barack
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Sound Advice for the Next President
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Guest Column: Alastair Crooke warns of a dangerous fantasy that persists in Western capitals in which the West faces an "onslaught" from "radical Islam." The problem is that this intersects all too tragically with a the persistent belief in Washington and elsewhere that by applying its overwhel...Cuisine
Yummy yummy Umami
Why a leftover lamb bone turned a bean stew into an ecstatic eventHousekeeping
'Lost' Entries on Rootless Cosmopolitan
Previous entries that now register as "not available" are ones that got left behind in a server migration. We're working on retrieving themUnholy War
U.S. Pours Gasoline on Gaza Fires
Once upon a time, Israelis and Palestinians looked to the U.S. to intervene at moments of heightened confrontation to mediate between the two sides and contain the damage. The Bush Administration, however, has proved entirely incapable of playing this role, because its own interventions are hidebou...Annals of Globalization
Honey, I Shrank the Superpower
In a snide reference to Bill Clinton's 1992 promise to "build a bridge into the 21st century," Barack Obama recently quipped that what Hillary Clinton really offers is a bridge back into the 20th century. Yet, a bridge back into the last century may be what all the major candidates are offering when...New York Moments
The Debka Made ‘Em Do ItFrom Tony's Archive
A Playground Lesson for Bush
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The Rebel Grace of Patti Smith
