cuisine
From street-food to fine dining, traditional Italian to Asian-Fusion, being well-versed in global cuisine is the first step to culinary mastery.
Summer Southern Cuisine
Food is no joke when you’re from the south. When someone asks you what’s your favorite summer food, you inevitably must explain the seriousness of the question. After all, people have been shot over less. Family members have been disowned for selecting the wrong fast food chicken sandwich. Food is synonymous with culture and one bite is instant nostalgia. Maybe in the 7th grade, you’d just garner a simple response of “pizza” or “hamburger”. As an adult, where there is a chance of potluck and barbecue invites, the answer requires thought. It’s a discussion. You must break it down. Make sure everyone agrees on all potential criteria. You have to make groups and battle them out on a bracket sheet. What is considered a summer food to one person, might not be to another person. Then, there is geography to factor in. A lobster roll in Boston may be all the rage, but in Texas, it’s the chili that may win the day. Sushi in Seattle may be the obvious choice, but New York slides in with pizza and fuhgeddaboudit. Each part of the U.S. has its hotdog style. How could you possibly choose one favorite summer food? In the southeast, there are five foods that every southern craves during the summer. Each one connects me to a special person in my life and conjures memories of the past.
By Patricia Corn4 years ago in Feast
Summer in a Jar
When I was growing up, summer wasn’t summer unless my mother was in the kitchen putting up a batch of old-fashioned bread and butter pickles. Oh how we loved eating them on a hot summer day: the sweetness of the sugar, the bite of the vinegar, the crisp of the cucumber slice, and the slippery onion strands. It was glorious summer in every forkful! We kids were happy to be pickle helpers.
By Miterra Butler4 years ago in Feast
A Three-Salad Summer
I longed for summer, dreamed of it the whole rest of the year, because the summer was free and fun. I escaped from school, and didn’t have to return for almost three months. I potted flowers with my mother and tended to the garden with my grandfather. My cousins and I spent the scorching summer days submerged in an enticingly cool backyard pool. In the evenings, we danced with sparklers and ignited small fireworks in my grandparent’s roadside mailbox, the little booms amplified and echoed by the steel. There were numerous rusted holes in the bottom of that mailbox from too many mini explosions. We compiled packing lists for our yearly camping trip and planned out menus for family gatherings.
By Rae Fairchild (MRB)4 years ago in Feast
I just want mac n' cheese so here are some fun facts about my mom's iconic summer pasta salad i guess. Runner-Up in Summer Camp Challenge. Top Story - June 2022.
Did somebody say three free boxes of mac n' cheese just for entering a Vocal challenge?!?! Oh boy! Is this Christmas or summer? I can't tell. To paraphrase Marlon Brando in The Godfather, this is a damn good offer I can't refuse. Just like Vito Corleone in the first movie of the trilogy, I want to firmly shake BOTH HANDS of the genius who thought of this brilliant idea. You've literally made me come out of a Vocal blogging hiatus just for this challenge. Thank you. Honor on you, honor on your cow, honor on the mac n' cheese company sponsoring this shindig. You've made this mac n' cheese lovin' girl very happy.
By Kathryn Milewski4 years ago in Feast
Summer Memories of a Southern Lady
When the Summertime hits, I always think of eating seafood. In addition, I like to travel to various cities that are in major ports. Seafood is best in the Summertime because it does not take long to cook. When I eat seafood, I think about how someone had to go out into the ocean or river to fish, crab, shrimp, or oysters.
By April Denise Stuart4 years ago in Feast
The Sweet and the Fire
The summer is an overabundance of carnal pleasures. Where some people may only concern themselves with the heat that Summer brings; the real crowning jewels of the season are the abundance of delicious fruits that are “in season”, and fire pits set ablaze to grill a range of delicious foods. To pick only one food to signify summer, would be equal to choosing only one instrument to signify an orchestra, or star to define the galaxy. Too vast an array of sights, sounds, smells, and tastes which create the symphony of sensations experienced, all possessed within summer, and to choose only one as its mascot would simply do it an injustice.
By Greg Davis4 years ago in Feast
Summers in Georgia
My grandmother composes menus like symphonies, each hors d'oeuvre, entree, and accompaniment tabulated in 3/4 time. Preparation takes on a rhythm, and dawn is the down beat. Wake up, two, three; marinate ribs, two, three; fry bacon, two, three; slice grapefruit, two, three; scramble eggs, two, three; start the slow roast, two, three. There is a delicate dance of timing, such that each moment of the day is spent either cooking food or consuming it.
By E. A. Reece4 years ago in Feast
The time I returned to the sun
Within whatever stretches of menial memory that cascade through my mind, the stretch of long golden road sure is one I itch return to each night when my eyes slam shut against dank English pillow. Memories of sun-baked sapphire skies and oven roasted architecture shimmering shades of eroded grey, tan and red. Amidst them all was my red skin, throbbing purple as its surface felt the force of my pointing finger. I was sure if our celestial master in the sky stared at me any longer, bubbles would begin rupturing on my shoulders like I really was a sunny side up in the fryer.
By Jake Worrall4 years ago in Feast
Most Iconic Summer Food
I moved to NEPA when I was 12 years old and that summer, was indoctrinated into the summer activities starting with the Rattlesnake Roundup, hosted by the Noxen Volunteer Fire Department. Aside from the snakes (contained behind a double fence) these gatherings featured music and food. According to my taste buds Potato Pancakes were the most wonderful of these. They were Invented in Eastern Europe by the Ashkenazi in the 1800s when there were crop failures. Polish and Ukrainian farmers planted potatoes to replace the lost crops because they were inexpensive and easy to grow. When they emigrated to the Wyoming Valley in NEPA they brought their recipes. These delightful pancakes are sold three for a dollar and served with applesauce or sour cream (I like both). It is a delicious combination that tones down the oil (usually grapeseed or vegetable) and is most perfect when the potato pancakes come hot off the griddle. Because they are lightly fried in oil (not drowned deep fried), potato pancakes have a light flavor of potatoes and onion.
By Wanda Joan Harding4 years ago in Feast
Decadent eats blessed by the island sun
The island sun, according to my mother, is what makes the mangos in Puerto Rico taste better. An almost overripe fruit that has been chilled until it becomes so soft and creamy that it briefly resembles ice cream. One of the most magical flavors ever experienced combines the rich sweetness of mango with the icy coolness of helado de coco, which is made from the milk, flesh, and sugars of the fruitful coconut. The ice cream is generously scooped from a cart, piled high in a cup, and eaten in heaping spoonfuls after being gratefully purchased from a vendor met in the middle of the afternoon while taking a walk through the city. Mangos are a blessing from the same trees that grant us nutrients and shade. These rich flavors refresh me in the scorching heat by first soothing my tongue and then gradually cooling the rest of my body.
By Gabriella Pomales4 years ago in Feast
