Pangolins are one of the most bizarre mammals out there. They are covered in armored scales made of keratin, just like our hair and nails. They use their long tongues to eat ants, and they look like anteaters, but genetically… Read More »A Biologist’s Book of Beasts: The Pangolin
Photo by Piotr Naskrecki via antwiki.org Trap-jaw ants (genus Odontomachus) are hardcore. Their jaws snap shut around prey in 0.13 milliseconds, faster than any other predatory movement in the animal kingdom. Scientists only recently got videos fast enough to record… Read More »A Biologist’s Book Of Beasts: The Trap-Jaw Ant
Written by Martin Zorrilla
This is the first installment in a series on the practices, the people and the culinary traditions of forest farming for mushrooms. On our travels we were fortunate in meeting some the pioneers, traditionalists, and scientists that believe in the global potential of mushroom cultivation. The story of this niche field begins where we began our trip, the town of Ithaca, New York.
Growing edible and medicinal mushrooms under the shade of trees is not a new thing. The earliest fungiculture methods date to 1000 years ago during the Song Dynasty in China. In Japan, where modern cultivation was invented, logs were used to grow Shiitake under the shade of Shii trees in the 12th century. A lot has changed since then, for example the button mushrooms on your pizza are now grown in in trays of horse manure in industrial settings, but much has also stayed the same. Read More »Forest Farming in New York
Written by Sonia Gregor and Martin Zorrilla
During our stay in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam we started writing restaurant reviews for Ơi Magazine . Our first assignment took us to a Vietnamese restaurant called The Fish Sauce. Being fresh off the boat, we had some misgivings about the eponymous fermented fish liquid, so we approached with caution. Instead, we were delighted to discover a restaurant dedicated to traditional dishes and local ingredients, in the style of farm-to-table restaurants in the US. And the delicious nutty fish sauce was just the first in a long list of artisanal fermented ingredients on their menu.
Read More »A Saigon Restaurant Champions Underdog Ingredients
By Sonia Gregor
Everyone’s heard of potatoes, a crop that originated in South America. We have endless ways of preparing this starchy vegetable, and they provide an important carbohydrate base for many cuisines. In tropical Latin American countries, plantains get a similar treatment.
By Martin Zorrilla and Sonia Gregor
For years Quinoa, the Andean pseudocereal, enjoyed a growing fan base and positive press for its nutritional benefits. During a short time in 2013 that changed.
The most popular flavor at ‘Helados la Tienda” in Cuenca is Amor Brujo (Spell-bound Love). There is no description of the cryptic option on the flavor list of the small shop, and its no-nonsense owner, Maria Dolores Solano, is not telling.Read More »The Future of Helados Caseros in Cuenca
By Sonia Gregor
The first time I ate Encocado, I was bowled over by the complex flavor of its thin orange sauce, covering tender pieces of seafood. How did they put so much flavor in that liquid? It’s one of those dishes where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, so that you can hardly tell what ingredients they started with. Luckily, all the ingredients are fairly accessible basic things, provided you can get your hands on a coconut or some coconut milk.
Read More »Encocado de Pescado (and fresh coconut milk!)
By Martin Zorrilla
Growing gourmet mushrooms can be surprisingly easy. While serious myco-nerds obsess over sterile conditions and glove boxes, you don’t need any of that to enjoy fresh oyster mushrooms throughout the year. This is Martin’s method for growing oyster mushrooms on coffee grounds without sterilization or special equipment. The results are tasty, rewarding and strangely beautiful- the perfect solution for those with green thumbs who are stuck in the doldrums of winter.
By Sonia Gregor
Some of the best ceviche in Cartagena is prepared under a set of stairs in the Centro Commercial Getsemani. The small shop, La Laguna Azul, is easy to miss, but is worth seeking out.
Read More »Eating Ceviche in Cartagena
