book review – Darin Cook

The Great Immigrant Road Trip

Fusion is not new in the restaurant world. Even though Chef Edward Lee fears it has become a culinary gimmick, he knows the concept had profound meaning when it originated in a restaurant in Florida under the gaze of one of his heroes, Norman Van Aken. Real fusion is attuned to the everyday cooking of families who set roots in a new country and harmonize immigrant traditions with local cuisine. These are the types of recipes, restaurants, chefs, and families that Lee searched for from the nationalities sprawled across American cities when writing his book Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine. He found himself in cities where “there is nothing about this place that screams ‘culinary paradise’ ” and stumbled upon diners and cafes that “will never make it to the top of a Zagat list” (57); yet these were the places he found made-from-the-heart, cultural cuisine that surprised him into falling in love with unique dishes. Whenever Lee has clam pizza in Connecticut he contemplates “the slow and gradual interconnection of two cultures, in this case, Italian and New England.” He further writes, “When you look at the evolution of American cuisine, you always find this tension between tradition and innovation, a tension that produces the foods we crave most. It is in the intersection of the home we leave and the home we adopt that we find a dish that defines who we really are.” Read more

Rustle Up Some Grubs

When it comes to using insects as food, a cry of “Bring on the delicacies” comes from certain cultures, whereas others need to be near-to-death starving before considering bugs for dinner. Two recent books, Edible: An Adventure into the World of Eating Insects and the Last Great Hope to Save the Planet by Daniella Martin and Eat the Beetles! An Exploration into our Conflicted Relationship with Insects by David Waltner-Toews, have taken steps beyond these polarizing camps by arguing that entomophagy (the eating of insects) has a lot going for it: a plentiful wild supply, far less resources required to farm them, no butchering involved, and high nutritional value. Read more

Historic Mixology

June 5, 2018/in eatdrink magazine, Magazine Articles /by Darin Cook

If David Wondrich had not already won a James Beard Award for Wine & Spirits writing, his book could be nominated for a fake prize in the Longest Title category with its full title being Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to “Professor” Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar, Featuring the Original Formulae for 100 Classic American Drinks and a Selection of New Drinks Contributed in his Honor by the Leading Mixologists of our Time. For our reading and drinking pleasure, Wondrich plays the role of cocktail history authority by paying tribute to the old school style of mixology by bringing to light the contributions of notable barman, Jerry Thomas (1830–1885). Between the American Revolution and Prohibition (1783–1920), mixing drinks became “the first legitimate American culinary art” and Thomas was in the thick of it. Near the middle of this timeframe, around 1856, the term “mixologist” started being used to describe bartenders who were experimenting with new concoction. Shortly after that in 1862, Thomas started to document these recipes and is credited for writing the world’s first bartending guide, How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon Vivant’s Companion. Read more

A Harvest of Canadian Food Writing

November 1, 2012/in eatdrink magazine, Magazine Articles /by Darin Cook

With the autumn harvest of regional foods behind us and the fresh sprouting of spring gardens still months away, it’s time to embark on a harvest of a different sort – the culling of good Canadian food writing to sustain a restless mind through the winter months. Or, if you find yourself in the throes of Christmas preparations, this list could help alleviate the gift-buying anxiety for any of those patriotic foodies in your life. Read more

Sensual Eating

September 1, 2012/in eatdrink magazine, Magazine Articles /by Darin Cook

We all know certain foods taste wonderful, but we rarely take the time to consider why they taste this way – the saltiness of your favourite potato chip, the spicy tingle of a curry, or the pleasant bitterness of coffee. Not to mention the flip side of the flavour equation and those foods we can’t stand to cross our tongues. Good or bad – that’s where science comes in. In her book, Taste What You’re Missing: The Passionate Eater’s Guide to Why Good Food Tastes Good, a professional food developer, Barb Stuckey, demystifies the science behind our food and makes gastronomic chemistry accessible to non-scientific-minded people who are just looking to eat good food. Read more

Putting It All On the Table

July 1, 2012/in eatdrink magazine, Magazine Articles /by Darin Cook

Adam Gopnik is an American who has made a career of writing essays about France, mostly for The New Yorker and in his best-selling memoir, Paris to the Moon. His latest book, The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food, tackles one of France’s most endearing subjects – its cuisine. Gopnik introduces his topic by saying, “More people talk about food now – why they eat what they eat and what you ought to eat, too – than have ever done before.” And he’s not referring to dieters going on about calorie counts and trans fat content. These are the gourmets, the foodies, the chefs, the locavores, and the cookbook authors that have cropped up since food has taken on such a central role in cultural media. Much thanks can be given to Food Network for making food centre stage alongside the super-star deified chefs that sing its praises, giving rise to the foodie culture that cares about taste and quality above all else, but Gopnik wants to learn if we really know the true meaning of our food. Read more

Mom & Dad in the Kitchen

May 1, 2012/in eatdrink magazine, Magazine Articles /by Darin Cook

With Mother’s Day and Father’s Day on the horizon, some parents may be treated to a special meal prepared lovingly, but not so expertly, by their children – say a misshapen smiley face pancake with a strawberry nose, chocolate chip eyes, and whipped cream hair for breakfast. But we all know, for the balance of the year, it is the parents who slug it out in the kitchen to prepare endless meals to nourish a growing family. I’m a new parent myself, so when I came across a book about a father’s exploits in the kitchen, I took notice as a way to better influence the eating habits of the two fruits of my own loins. Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater by Matthew Amster-Burton is a stay-at-home dad’s approach to ensure his daughter’s palette grows beyond a puerile affection for grilled cheese sandwiches by introducing her to his favourite international meals. Read more

Food on the Street

March 1, 2012/in eatdrink magazine, Magazine Articles /by Darin Cook

Street food in North America has been given a gourmet facelift over the past few years. No longer a venue for hot dogs alone, vendors selling from sidewalk carts and mobile trucks have gained fame and fortune with non-traditional street food menus. Documented in scrapbook-style, Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant, outlines how two unlikely entrepreneurs kick-started this revolution three years ago by mingling fancy food with a rented taco cart in San Francisco. They were an internet buzz, they were a hit with food journalists, they sold out of food every night, and they transformed the restaurant scene. Read more

Revival on Rye

January 1, 2012/in eatdrink magazine, Magazine Articles /by Darin Cook

David Sax is a Toronto-born, Montreal-educated author who currently resides alongside the most successful delicatessens in New York. The number of delis in New York has been dwindling – numbering close to two thousand at its zenith in the 1930’s, decreasing to 150 in 1960, and currently home to only a few dozen – and Sax cannot believe that with outstanding food and rich history that they are experiencing such a downfall. Toronto also has seen a decline from several dozen delis twenty years ago to only six now. Unfortunately, like many family-run businesses in the shadow of corporate entities, delis are on the brink of extinction, shutting down at a rapid pace because of increasing rental prices and other operating costs. If the love of Jewish food could keep a business open, there would be no problems, but monetary constraints and slowing economy interfere. Sax set out to draw attention to his beloved restaurants with his book, Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. Read more

The Innocent Foodies Abroad

July 1, 2011/in eatdrink magazine, Magazine Articles /by Darin Cook

It all starts with a determined, food-conscious bride baking her own wedding cake. From there the new book by Ann McColl Lindsay, Hungry Hearts: A Food Odyssey across Britain and Spain 1968-69, blossoms into an enjoyable account of a liberally-minded couple’s affair with food, life, and each other as they follow their whims to travel across Europe in a Volkswagen camper. Restless to take a break from their teaching careers, Ann and her husband, David Lindsay, set out to find what the world had to offer, but little did they expect such a series of food-related revelations, including a “gradual change from two innocents raised on white bread, tinned soup, and cherry cokes, to adventurous eaters, appreciative of baby eels and bouillabaisse.” Read more

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