Larb Nua

The recipe below is for a Thai dish called larb nua. This is the first Thai dish I ever had, though it has now been a couple of decades since my brother first took me to the Thai Room on Western for my birthday—back when there were only a few Thai restaurants in Chicago. He [...]

Cebollas Encuridas

In Mexico’s Yucatan, pickled red onions—cebollas encuridas— are served at almost every meal, appearing as soon as you sit down, along with the salsa. They are a delightful and delicious way to enhance foods, from simply piling them on tortilla chips to using them to enhance a dish. I came to be fairly addicted to [...]

Going to Goa

Before I mention what happened after I landed in Goa, it seems appropriate to mention our internal flights in India. The country’s Jet Airways is now one of my favorite airlines. They have spotlessly clean jets, offer lots of leg room, have a great on-time record, offer superb Indian food, and they feed you even [...]

On to Karnataka

We landed in Bangalore, where we were met by our next guide, Sudhakar. Bangalore, with 6 million people, is India’s “Silicon Valley.” Impressive buildings lined broad streets of the bustling city. But crowded, modern Bangalore was not our destination. Karnataka was once known as the State of Mysore, and it was into the Mysore district, [...]

Kerala—the Spice State

rom Chennai in Tamil Nadu we flew to Cochin in Kerala. It is said of Kerala that there are more coconuts here than there are stars in the sky. However, despite all the coconuts, it is not the thing for which this state is famed. Kerala is India’s “Spice State.” It is from here that [...]

Indian Odyssey – Tamil Nadu

A few years ago, I had the great pleasure of traveling through southern India with four other members of the Culinary Historians of Chicago. Our itinerary had been arranged by Culinary Historians president, Dr. Bruce Kraig, who had just finished filming a TV special on the foodways of southern India. This had the tremendous advantage [...]

Behind the Scenes

If you’re like me and enjoy going behind the scenes to get the whole story, to see the process, to meet the families and dig into histories, to understand why things are done, or how, or what led up to a dish, a restaurant, a philosophy, then Michael Gebert might be someone you want to [...]

Llapingachos

As I traveled around Ecuador, the food I saw most often, from Otavalo’s street markets (where I first tried one) to the restaurants of Quito, was the llapingacho (yop-in-GAH-cho), a potato and cheese cake with as many variations as there are people making them. It was common to see llapingachos on griddles next to fried [...]

Ecuador

When people say, “Oh, you must come and visit us,” I always warn them, “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.” Because I am likelier than most people to show up. So when friends took a one-year sabbatical to study language in Quito, Ecuador, I warned, but they insisted that they really wanted me [...]

Iceland

When I visited Iceland in mid-February, it was actually a little warmer than Chicago. Iceland’s winters average around 28–34 degrees, with the country’s proximity to the Arctic Circle offset by the warmth of the Gulf Stream. Iceland’s wild wind adds a challenge of its own, but it does keep things moving, so the weather can [...]