Posts

Have Fruit, Will Travel

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With summertime upon us, there are delectable local fruits on offer in markets and roadside fruit stands across Ontario, not to mention the extra helping of imported exotic fruits that line the grocery store shelves. But how many of us know the stories of adventure and commerce behind those pyramids of mangos and heaps of bananas? Or about the staggering cornucopia of outlandish fruits around the world that are not even represented on our grocery shelves? Who knew, for instance, there is such a specimen known as peanut butter fruit? Or a charichuela that tastes like lemonade-infused cotton candy? Or apples that tastes like cinnamon? This is only the tip of the iceberg of facts that crop up in Adam Leith Gollner’s book, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession. Read more

Table for One Around the World

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Even as a reluctant celebrity, Anthony Bourdain continues to unwittingly mould his career as a chef into that of a renowned TV personality and bestselling author, who has been treating readers to his irreverent style of writing since 2001 when his book, Kitchen Confidential – about the darker side of restaurant kitchens – became a hit. Since then, Bourdain has had no shortage of writing credits to his name and he sets out to find the nasty bits that make cooking and travelling darkly entertaining. Bourdain is an executive chef in Manhattan, as well as a multi-tattooed, chain-smoking, well-travelled, wickedly funny writer. Read more

Eating Without Borders

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Many people travel to enjoy exotic food directly from the source. Who couldn’t argue that Pad Thai tastes exponentially better from a stall on the streets of Bangkok or that Crème Brule has a certain je ne sais quoi when eaten in a Parisian bistro? Sometimes it’s beneficial to get a glimpse of the food served in other countries, if for no other reason than to avoid any surprises; as British food writer, Tom Parker Bowles, describes in his book, The Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes, sometimes we need to experience cuisine by delving into menu items that define the extreme edges of a culture, the type of food that not everyone would even agree is food. Read more

Broken English: Lessons Given and Received in South Korea

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I may have broken the English language. I may have inflicted a disservice to the linguistic excellence of my mother tongue. I may have shattered the pristine image of the modern world’s lingua franca. I’m sorry I broke it, but giving English lessons to children in South Korea wasn’t easy. Being an ambassador of English, I had all the more reason to treat the language properly, I know; but I wasn’t getting through to them with my wordy sentences, so I needed to break them down. Read more

The Music and Rhythm of the Cuban Spirit

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he waves of the Atlantic Ocean cannot be contained by the walls of the serpentine boardwalk, known as the Malecon, where the northern edge of Havana meets the sea. The swells of the ocean burst into a mist of salty spray over the sidewalks and roadways. Despite the occasional shower of sea water, locals and visitors alike congregate here at all times of day to socialize and it has become the city’s largest hangout. The buildings that line this section of town have the architectural savvy of being majestic even while crumbling and deteriorating from decades of neglect. Contributing to this atmosphere of old-time elegance in Havana are ancient Cadillac and Chevrolet taxis, also in various stages of deterioration, that have paraded the streets of the Malecon since the 1950s. Read more