episode 26: big shrimp, fake meat, hot dog

this week we're talking shrimp memes, fake meat alternatives, and a book about hot dog history. let's go!

yes, I read a book called “Raw Dog” 🌭

as I’ve been telling anyone who will listen, I recently finished a book called Raw Dog, the Naked Truth About Hot Dogs. the title alone is very funny, and I’m happy to report that the book is very funny as well. the author Jamie Loftus goes on a mission to discover the history of the hot dog by embarking on a road trip across the country to try all the regional hot dog dishes, as she weaves in commentary on capitalism and American culture. I learned a lot about the impact of covid and corporate greed on meatpacking plants, the roots of the hot dog in Polish and German immigrant communities, the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, and much more. I thought this book was a good balance between humor, food writing, and a critique on the effects of capitalism. see another review here.

big shrimp 🦐🍤

as the proud owner of a pair of shrimp cocktail earrings, I too, have often stopped to wonder, when did the trend of shrimp iconography begin? this Food & Wine article talks about why we’re seeing the shrimp meme trend everywhere these days. the popularity of shrimp isn’t new, obviously, but shrimp eaters and non-eaters alike have been very into these pink buddies recently. we’ve seen them in the Susan Alexandra beaded shrimp earrings, on shrimp trees for the holidays, shrimp tattoos, and much more. the author talks about how, “The appeal of shrimp lies in their abundance.” shrimp is a fairly affordable seafood, and is generally served in multitude, like many shrimps in a pasta or on a seafood tower or in a cocktail shrimp platter. “When was the last time you saw a single shrimp on a menu?” she writes. this piece doesn’t necessarily explain why shrimp became so popular recently, instead its more of a shrimpy love letter. see the article here.

bland airplane food ✈️

ever wonder why airplane food just tastes….bleh? turns out, being up in the sky does a lot of weird things to our bodies, and of course, has an impact on our taste buds. while meals served on an airplane are inherently kind of boring, our sense of taste and smell change as the plane ascends, making the boring food taste even more boring. air pressure drops as the plane goes up, which decreases humidity, causing the sensitivity of your taste buds to sweet and salty foods to reduce about 30%. also, when there is no humidity in the cabin air, our smell receptors don’t work properly because of the lack of nasal mucus, which makes that food taste twice as bland.

also, for the food to be mass-produced and distributed to planes safely, the meals are cooked on land, then packed, chilled, refrigerated, and finally reheated in the air, all of which impacts flavor. however, our sensitivity to sour, bitter, spicy, and umami flavors are relatively unaffected by being in the air. in fact, umami can even be enhanced by the noise on the plane - which makes the affinity to tomato juice and Bloody Marys on planes make much more sense! you can read more in this BBC article here.

fake meat crisis: Bezos to the rescue? 🥩

the industry of fake meat alternatives has not been doing well, and may need saving. while companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat were hailed as the new frontier of eco-friendly food space, contamination outbreaks in factories, mediocre taste, nutrition concerns, and high prices have slowed the industry’s growth. in response, the Bezos Earth Fund has committed $1 billion to transforming the food industry overall, $60 million of which will be dedicated towards improving the taste, price, and nutrition of fake meat. this could be a necessary intervention of cash and attention, as investment in the innovation of fake meat has slowed significantly, and the environmental concerns of animal meat production and high human population aren’t slowing down any time soon.

reviving DC’s Chinatown 🇨🇳

Chinatown neighborhoods in cities across the country have changed over the years, and D.C. is no exception. “Chinatown is now more of a China-block,” writes local WAMU reporter Amanda Michelle Gomez. Chef Katsuya Fukushima, chef at Tonari and Daikaya said, “Our Chinatown is one of the most embarrassing Chinatowns in the U.S.” he opened his restaurants in the area with the promise of customers from nearby offices, but work-from-home combined with perceptions of downtown DC as unsafe have slowed business.

alongside other AAPI chefs in the area, Chef Fukushima thinks that the city needs to focus on bringing back community staples like an Asian grocery store, acupuncture studios, and martial arts centers, to revive the Chinatown neighborhood. the article also goes into the history of what D.C.’s Chinatown used to be, as told by community members, and how high prices and developer’s greed have made it hard for chefs like Kevin Tien of Moon Rabbit to open Asian restaurants in the area. read more here.

some fun food recommendations ✏️

• food is stupid (substack): food writer Dennis Lee writes a substack called “Food Is Stupid,” in which he makes very absurd recipes with actually good techniques. examples include hot and Sour Patch Kids Soup and salmon roe boba tea. he isn’t expecting you to make any of these foods, its purely for fun and entertainment, which is a refreshing read amongst all the other recipe blog-type substacks. you can read more about his posts in this BA profile.

• frankie gaw (TikTok/Insta): food content creator Frankie Gaw has been doing a series of videos called “Turning American Classics Asian,” where he recreates classic American recipes and their packaging with an Asian twist. I loved his video of bao Lunchables and the Papa Tarts with lychee for Pop Tarts. the recipes are super cool and the custom packaging is next-level, these videos are totally fulfilling a Claire Saffitz-size hole in my heart.

fridge, or no fridge? ❄️

I recently played a little car game with friends, debating which condiments we learned to keep in the fridge, and which we kept on the counter. while I keep soy sauce in the fridge, turns out others keep it on the counter - but what are you actually supposed to do? this BA article outlines how soy sauce is made and what factors to consider when weighing your storage options. basically, there is no need to refrigerate your soy sauce for safety reasons, but you can to preserve its complex flavor. especially for daily soy sauce users, you likely will not use up a bottle before the sauce loses its flavor subtleties, so you can continue to keep it in your cabinet. for others who don’t use it frequently like me, fridge storage will extend its shelf life and most of its flavor. case closed!

straciatella, cubed 🧀🍦🍜

one word, three very different foods. I was just looking at the menu for Cucina Morini (mentioned below), which features a stracciatella on the small plates section of the menu. I thought hmmm, they’re serving gelato as.. an appetizer? I did a little google, and I discovered that the Italian word stracciatella is used for three different types of food. yes, it is used to refer to the gelato flavor, which is a cream gelato with flecks of chocolate swirled in, but it is also referred to the cheese! stracciatella is the scraps of mozzarella production mixed with fresh cream, which is found inside burrata, just encased in solid mozzarella. lastly, stracciatella is also a type of soup, made with eggs, parsley, and broth. the word means “little rags” which you can see is present in each of the three dishes. the more you know!

tanghulu time 🍓🍡

tanghulu, a traditional Chinese street food snack has recently become a social media trend. this snack is over a thousand years old, made from hawthorn berries put on a skewer, coated in sugar, creating a crunchy and sweet treat. its simple to make, the fruit is candied by dipping the fruit skewer into the sugar mixture and then an ice bath to harden the shell. over the years, vendors developed the recipe, making this treat with strawberries, oranges, and other fruits to replace the hawthorn berries.

in recent years, the treat was popularized in South Korea through K-Pop culture, specifically attributed to content by Jennie from Blackpink. as the trend caught wind on TikTok amongst-non Asian audiences, some controversy arose. many either didn’t know that tanghulu was Asian in origin at all, or were misattributing the recipe to Japan or Korea instead of China. while the foods definitely were present in both cultures, valid debates about authenticity and cultural awareness have risen. you can read more, and learn how to make tanghulu at home, in this BA article.

chili crisp 🌶️

its a Lao Gan Ma world and we’re just living in it! the Chinese condiment chili crisp has become very popular in the States the last few years. from the Asian market staple to trendy brands like Fly By Jing, each has a slightly different flavor and ratio of chili flakes, garlic, oil, and other ingredients. writer James Park for Eater did a recent list of chili crisps, where of course Lao Gan Ma is listed first amongst many choices. for each chili crisp there is a review of the flavor and a suggested food pairing, like the TJ’s chili crunch with avocado toast or the Momofuku Chili Crunch with baked brie. the list showed me some cool options I hadn’t heard of before, and also features a lot of oil-based chili sauces as well. the author of the article also wrote a book on Chile Crisp, so this list must be trustworthy!

restaurant review: Cucina Morini

Aditi goes to an opening night of a restaurant and feels fancy!!! on Tuesday, I went to Cucina Morini, the new restaurant from Chef Matthew Adler of Caruso’s Grocery. the Southern Italian restaurant is in collaboration with the restaurant group that operates Osteria Morini and many other restaurants in DC and NYC. so happy to say that it did not disappoint! I honestly expected some kinks for their first day, but the service and food were fantastic, we especially loved the squid ink pasta and the vanilla cheesecake dessert. check out more thoughts below!

ad.itieats

A post shared by @ad.itieats

f*cked up food

shrimpy indeed…..

d.c. happenings

closings

• Brasserie Beck closed downtown

• Blank Street on 14th closed for construction

• Stable DC on H St closing, reopening as Steak Frites DC

• Cava in Chinatown closing

• Sospeso on H St closing in April

• fire caused Maiz64 on 14th St to close temporarily

• Duck Duck Goose space closed in DuPont, up for sale

• Malai Ice Cream opening on 14th St in old Ice Cream Jubilee space

• Wingstop coming to Fort Totten square

• PAUL Bakery closed in Foggy Bottom

openings

• Buffalo and Bergen signage up in Cleveland Park

• Flirt Cocktail Bar coming to 7th St

• Reverie re-opened in Georgetown

• Cucina Morini opened in Mt. Vernon

• Alfreda Pizza opened in Dupont

• new coffee shop Nativo in The Square in Downtown

• (jesus….) another Tatte opening in Georgetown

• Good Company Donuts coming to Waterfront stop

• STK Steakhouse opening Downtown

• Beresovsky’s Deli opening in Navy Yard

• Easy Tiger Tavern opening in Adams Morgan

• Namak Mediterranean opening in Adams Morgan

• Fresh Baguette coming to Chinatown

• for the first time in 30 years, the space at Torrie’s in Shaw is available for lease

home cooking

between a few weekend trips I’ve been in fridge-cleanout mode with my cooking at home. I made my favorite pantry meal, Nachos Leftovers, with tortilla chips I got from my Foxtrot Too Good to Go Bag, shredded cheese I always keep in the freezer made into a nacho sauce, the last of any veg in my fridge, plus some frozen shrimp. I also made the salt and vinegar potatoes by Molly Baz, had some really great spinach sambar that my mom made when I was home (that I will eventually poorly re-create on my own) and also made this mango chia seed pudding for some breakfasts too.

---

thats it! have a great week, all!