Crossing the Border into Culinary Crazy Land?

By JudithKlinger | June 17, 2013 |

How far would you travel for a superb lemon? Would you consider giving up eating shrimp after tasting fresh red shrimp and knowing this is the best you’ll ever have? Is the market your first stop in a new place even when you only have a hotel room and no kitchen and you feel as though you’ve been denied entry to Paradise? Do people still tell stories about that time in Puglia when you bought out half the fish market and invited a boat load of strangers to dinner? Do you hang around in coffee bars and restaurants eavesdropping to hear what people are cooking? Do you keep track of when peaches are at their peak in different regions of Italy?

When do you cross the line from culinary traveler to Culinary Crazy?

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Culinary heritage: tradition, nostalgia or identity?

By JudithKlinger | June 1, 2010 |

Where does culinary nostalgia fit into our over stimulated psyche?There is no doubt that culinary nostalgia is certainly alive and well in regards to “Italian food”. Everybody loves ‘Italian food’. But guess what? There is no Italian food.
Does the US even have a culinary heritage? As things stand now, we aren’t passing along any culinary inheritance. Aerosol pancake batter is not furthering our heritage. And today’s question is: does it matter if the US has a culinary heritage? People in other countries, feel free to insert your country name. Unless you are French, and then it’s an outrage to even ask the question.

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