My recent Peruvian adventure included a deep, delicious dive into the country’s authentic cuisine with seafood as a highlight. Peruvian Ceviche is a marinated seafood dish, typically the first course, which consists of a fresh, white fish soaked in fresh lime juice and served with thinly sliced red onion and sweet potato. As I traveled inland from Lima, to Arequipa, Puno, Cusco and high into the Andes, I found the …
Before landing in Tokyo I was perfectly content with a plastic tray of wannabe sushi from the supermarket. Not any more. The preparation, presentation and consumption of this oh-so-subtle symphony of flavors, textures, aromas and colors and its accompanying description raised my culinary bar to previously unscaled heights. A caress of freshly “grated over sharkskin” wasabi and a fingertip of sweet/salt over the most perfect inch-wide filet of Deep Sea …
An afternoon at Tokyo’s Tsujiki Outer Market introduced me to the art of Japanese shopping. This is Japan’s “Food Town,” featuring every imaginable traditional Japanese food. It’s raucous and noisy but in a very polite, Japanese way. One main and three side streets feature stalls of the finest, just off the hook sushi-grade fillets in rainbow display. Or blast-cooked, in season oysters. Luscious! Grills smoke, griddles spit and the whole …
Bubbling cauldrons of soups, meats wrapped in palm leaves, a rainbow of desserts – honestly…when it comes to street food, Southeast Asia is the Big Top of variety, flavor and (let’s say) innovation. Each country I visited, (Thailand, Cambodia and Laos on this trip,) has their street food cultural fingerprint. But there are many similarities. With centuries of trade and migration, many recipes have crossed borders only to become a …
With its expansive mountains cut by wandering rivers and rolling hills heavy with verdant vines, there’s no arguing that South Africa is home to some of the world’s most beautiful wine regions. Picture 250,000 acres of vines across the Western Cape region alone—it’s easy to get lost in the vast array of the country’s wine choices. At the top of the list is Franschoek, Afrikaans for “French Corner”, a small town on the Western …
Even their names are exotic and offer no clue as to ingredients or taste so the traveler has to proceed with caution. Pakora, Vada Pav, Aloo Gobi, Dal Tadka, Chana Masala, Vindaloo…all the dishes and spices vary dramatically based on regional preferences, flavors and culinary traditions. I sampled each of these dishes and loved the smokey, exotic blend of flavors! Indian cuisine reflects an 8,000-year history of various groups and cultures. Traditional …
