If you had asked me about dragon boats before a few years ago, I am sure I would have looked at you funny. They were not on my radar until, while still living in Washington, DC, some of my work colleagues spoke excitedly about dragon boat racing on the Potomac competing against teams...
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Hawaii, the United States’ backyard paradise, is one of those places that is almost impossible to define in terms of its cuisine and culture. The indigenous people were devastated by disease and fighting when Captain Cook settled on the islands. Since then, people from China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines and points beyond arrived...
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The history of soy sauce is a bit like the sauce itself, kind of murky. What is consistent is that the precursor to soy sauce is something called jiang. Jiang was a method of preservation popular with the prehistoric people of Asia involving preserving meat and fish with salt. This process produced a bi-product,...
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A topic smoldering in the back of my mind for some months as I’ve seen variations on this theme for months because of numerous holidays. When is bread more than bread? Or perhaps a bit more generally, when do baked goods serve a higher purpose? I’ve unearth a few instances, and I am sure...
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When you think of curry, which country or region comes to mind? India Thailand Caribbean Japan China Britian Any of the above, and indeed many other countries would be correct, and you would still be thinking in the right direction if your mind wandered to Germany or South Africa and a host of other...
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I’d been cooking with fish sauce for a while and knew well its potency and pungency, but until I broke a bottle and liberally doused myself and had to suffer through folks quickly backpeddling to give me “breathing space” did I really get it – this stuff is strong – really, really, strong! No wonder the Vietnamese...
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Fish sauce are ubiquitous even though we may not always be aware of where they pop up – take Worcestershire sauce for example, or the Italian Colatura di Alici. In Asia, these sauces are considered core components in cooking and the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam all have their own versions of this wonderful condiment....
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