Gastronomía (Continuación)

Anunciada en su día -y tal vez ocurrida sin darnos cuenta- la muerte de la novela, que seguía a la del teatro, a la de la pintura de caballete y la música tonal, en agonía el cine visto en los cines y los periódicos leídos en papel, asistimos ahora boquiabiertos a los últimos estertores del cochinillo asado, la fabada, la oreja a la plancha y la morcilla frita. El cocinero de firma es el artista de la vida moderna, y los restaurantes entendidos solo como el lugar ameno del buen yantar se le han quedado pequeños. Ferran Adrià, tal vez el más artístico de los nuestros, lo ha dicho bien claro y lo ha corroborado anunciando para el año próximo el cierre de elBulli, que renacerá al cabo de tres años de reflexión profunda convertido en un Centro de Creatividad.…  Seguir leyendo »

The largest-circulation daily paper in Greece, Ta Nea, recently did away with its restaurant reviews, which had been assiduously written week after week for almost 20 years by this professional diner. Athenians are feeling the crisis acutely -- and many have lost their appetite for spending on what, until recently, was a favorite pastime: eating out (in largely overpriced restaurants).

It occurred to me upon hearing the news that I, like the rest of the country, would be going on a much-needed diet and that the Athens food scene has reflected Greek society and its changes over the past two decades.…  Seguir leyendo »

This is very serious. Britain, as most readers of this newspaper know, has long been populated by three warlike tribes, the Scots, the English and the Welsh. Much of British history consists of disputes between these tribes, particularly between the Scots and the English. Since the middle of the 18th century, after Bonnie Prince Charlie made a vain attempt to reclaim the kingdom for the Scottish Stuart dynasty, an uneasy peace has prevailed, based, in part, on the understanding that Scottish pride and Scottish feathers will not be unduly ruffled. But then, every so often, somebody threatens this delicate understanding with an outrageous suggestion.…  Seguir leyendo »

Has the European Union lost its sense of taste? The unique character of rosé wines is so widely recognized that in France, they outsell white wine. But later this month, European Union representatives will vote on a proposal to change the standard for rosés by permitting them to be made from blends of red and white wines. With that vote, the union now threatens to damage rosés’ carefully cultivated reputation and undermine vintners’ record of quality.

First, a little explanation. Rosés are not, as some people believe, a mix. In Provence, the most frequently used method for producing a true rosé is called maceration, a delicate process in which the skins of crushed red grapes are allowed to remain in contact with the juice for several hours before they are removed and the fermentation proceeds.…  Seguir leyendo »

A comienzos de los años setenta, en una casa limeña situada en el límite mismo de dos barrios, San Isidro y Lince, donde se codeaban la pituquería y el pueblo, un niño de pocos años solía meterse a la cocina para escapar de sus cuatro hermanas mayores y los galanes que venían a visitarlas. La cocinera le había tomado cariño y lo dejaba poner los ojos, y a veces meter la mano, en los guisos que preparaba. Un día la dueña de casa descubrió que su único hijo varón -el pequeño Gastón- había aprendido a cocinar y que se gastaba las propinas corriendo al almacén Súper Epsa de la esquina a comprar calamares y otros alimentos que no figuraban en la dieta casera para experimentar con ellos.…  Seguir leyendo »

It reads like Tintin, and may reverse the slow decline of old-world wine sales. It may also help turn a generation of binge-drinking teenagers into wine connoisseurs. It is a Japanese manga series called The Drops of God.

In Japan, Korea, China and France, millions of fans, teenagers and adults, are hooked on the adventures of Shizuku. The son of a brilliant but tyrannical wine expert, Shizuku was trained as a child to decant wine for his father and to recognise the world blindfolded, using just his nose: from rocks to ink and leather. Yet Shizuku is a rebel. He has never tasted the stuff and, rankling with the wine master, works in a brewery.…  Seguir leyendo »

Italy's Agriculture Ministry announced this month that some wines that receive the government’s quality assurance label may now be sold in boxes. That’s right, Italian wine is going green, and for some connoisseurs, the sky might as well be falling.

But the sky isn’t falling. Wine in a box makes sense environmentally and economically. Indeed, vintners in the United States would be wise to embrace the trend that is slowly gaining acceptance worldwide.

Wine in a box has been around for more than 30 years — though with varying quality. The Australians were among the first to popularize it. And hardly a fridge in the south of France, especially this time of year, is complete without a box of rosé.…  Seguir leyendo »

Those who hope to taste dog meat when they visit Beijing for this summer’s Olympics may be disappointed. The Beijing Catering Trade Association has ordered all 112 designated Olympic restaurants to take dog off the menu, and has strongly advised other establishments to stop serving it until September. Waiters have been urged to “patiently” suggest alternative dishes to customers who ask for dog. It’s all part of a wider campaign to avoid offending foreigners during the Games. (Beijingers have also been told to line up nicely, to stop spitting and even to avoid asking tourists questions about their ages, salaries and love lives.)…  Seguir leyendo »

Cooking, like farming, for all its down-home community spirit, is essentially a solitary craft. But lately it’s feeling more like a lonely burden. Finding guilt-free food for our menus — food that’s clean, green and humane — is about as easy as securing a housing loan. And we’re suddenly paying more — 75 percent more in the last six years — to stock our pantries. Around the world, from Cairo to Port-au-Prince, increases in food prices have governments facing riots born of shortages and hunger. It’s enough to make you want to toss in the toque.

But here’s the good news: if you’re a chef, or an eater who cares about where your food comes from (and there are a lot of you out there), we can have a hand in making food for the future downright delicious.…  Seguir leyendo »

Before I begin, a wish to all for good fortune in this Lunar New Year, annum 4706, a Year of the Rat in the cyclical Chinese zodiac. It is a custom each year to look into the character and traits of the creature that governs one’s birth year, and to ask if they might mirror one’s own propensities. The rat, for example, is notable for his guile and clever talk and for being an occasional toady, yet as the year goes on he has the capacity to become an upstanding fellow. So, happiness and growth to all rats, most of whom will begin celebrating their year, as will we, dining festively.…  Seguir leyendo »

Fruitcake might be a bad joke at Christmas in America, but for most Britons, rich, fruity Christmas pudding, steamed for long hours on the holiday stove, still taps into something visceral in the national psyche. The problem here is that the sense of pleasure rarely makes the leap from the English psyche to the English palate these days — it’s a long story, and one that Americans should appreciate.

Pudding is an ancient British food, originating way back in the medieval period as plum pottage. It joined with mince pies to warm the heart and stomach in manorial halls flecked with candlelight in which diners sat in hierarchical order stretching away from the high table.…  Seguir leyendo »

Only the Japanese truly know how to create a meal to die for. I know this, having once diced with the Sushi of Death, also known as Japanese pufferfish, or fugu. I was living in New York in 1985 when the US Food and Drug Administration relaxed its rules to allow the import of pufferfish for the first time. A particularly sadistic foreign editor thought it would be amusing to make me go and eat it, and see if I survived.

This ugly, spiny, inflatable fish is one of the world's great delicacies: Japanese poets extol its flavours, lovers consider it an aphrodisiac, and every year a handful of people die from it, for in addition to being remarkably tasty and very expensive, the fugu fish is fantastically poisonous.…  Seguir leyendo »

Today the Chinese Year of the Pig begins, and Americans across the country will venture to their local Chinatowns for a festive meal. Yet despite the enduring popularity of Chinese food, many still see it as strictly a down-market cuisine, more the stuff of cheap takeout than one of the world’s great culinary cultures. In the old days of chop suey and egg foo yung, this reputation may have been justified, but now that fine and authentic Chinese dining is available in the United States (if you know where to look for it), why do so many people still think of it as junky?…  Seguir leyendo »

By Giles Coren (THE TIMES, 14/10/06):

WHILE THE WORLD waits to see what China will do about North Korea’s foray into nuclear capability, the Chinese themselves were far more excited this week about a technological leap of their own: the invention of the world’s first robot chef.

According to the Xinhua news agency, the romantically named AIC-AI Cookingrobot has been developed by boffins in Shenzen and will go on sale to restaurants in 2007, with a more family-friendly version planned for the domestic market soon afterwards.

According to the Shenzen Economic Daily the AIC-AI Cookingrobot “translates standardised human cooking actions into machine language .…  Seguir leyendo »

Interview with Ferran Adriá (THE GUARDIAN, 06/05/06):

The world's greatest chef will not be making me dinner. How vexing. I'd flown to Catalonia earlier, eschewing Stansted airport's culinary charms and Ryanair's tempting trolley, in the hope that Ferran Adrià - the Picasso of gastronomy, the man Heston Blumenthal calls a genius - would serve me some of the avant garde dishes that have made foodies drool. Maybe foie gras ice cream. Perhaps apple caviar. Or one of those ironic deconstructions of his native cuisine for which the Catalan cook has become famous, such as Kellogg's paella, which consists of Rice Krispies with an intense seafood reduction, alongside flash-fried shrimps, a piece of shrimp sashimi and an ampoule that contains a thick brown extract of shrimp heads.…  Seguir leyendo »