episode eight: pasta mysteries and carrot cocktails
we discuss a massive outdoor pasta dump, bad bananas, and fun drinks 🥕
long time no see, readers! its been a busy May and I have much to recap! this episode may not cover it all, so #9 will be coming soon :)
mission impastable
“No one seems to know where it came from, but the photos have social media boiling.” (incredible writing right there!!) the New Jersey Department of Public Works confirmed that a 15 wheel barrel load of pasta was dumped in a residential neighborhood creek last month with no explanation. a picture of the scene was posted on the Facebook page of a resident of Old Bridge, lamenting about the lack of garbage pickup in the area. those posts then made it to Reddit and turned into a viral pasta-pun ridden mystery. there’s actually debate about whether the pasta was already cooked, or was originally raw and was softened by the moisture of the creek. apparently, we still don’t know the cause - the mayor’s office and councilmember representing the area have not responded. an impastable mystery, I guess?
the James Beard drama
if you are a fine dining girly, you may be aware of the recent news surrounding James Beard Foundation, a nonprofit that runs a coveted awards program. Bon Appetit did a piece covering the whole timeline of the recent controversies in the last 3-4 years, and who am I to resist a roundup of drama?? in 2020 the foundation claimed to cancel that year’s awards program due to the challenges presented by covid, but actually, it was because no Black chefs was slated to win in any of the 20+ categories. in addition, many chefs claimed that the organization directed chefs withdraw from the running for these awards for arbitrary reasons.
after a massive internal audit that resulted in changes to the awards procedures that centered diversity and equity, and skipping 2021 awards, it seemed that the 2022 awards were a success. then, this year, a chef from the South was allegedly disqualified for yelling at employees and customers. the chef in question alleges that this is fake, and subsequently, two previous winners denounced the awards the and the foundation itself- one chef posted a picture of his James Beard award smashed with a brick (!!!!). taken alone this may seem to be dramatic, but considering their years of documented questionable behavior it could make more sense. we’ll definitely continue to see how this plays out.
*sneeze* its allergy season!
do you sometimes eat fruit or vegetables and get a slightly itchy taste in your mouth? turns out, it could be a seasonal allergy! basically, common pollens that trigger allergic responses at certain times of the year can present very similarly to certain proteins in food. this means, when you eat certain raw fruits and vegetables, it can trigger a seasonal allergy response. for example, cantaloupe and cucumber might have similar proteins to ragweed in late summer. however, this doesn’t happen to everyone with seasonal allergies, the condition is called Oral Allergy Syndrome which is a type of food allergy. you can find out more in this chart. but also I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice please talk to your allergist! happy fruit eating!
not again….
not another hard seltzer…but maybe? sunny D, the premier orange beverage of our childhood, has released a vodka seltzer. it is available at select Walmart stores in a 4-pack for $10 - at 4.5% ABV. honestly, this could be good considering the orange flavor - it could just taste like juice? if you can get your hands on these, please report back on your thoughts!
bananas are boring - but why?
every time I go to India and eat their bananas I am reminded that bananas in the US taste so bland. they’re watery and bad!! but apparently, I am not alone in thinking this! Epicurious did a piece about the history of the American yellow banana leading to what it is today.
the original variety of a long curved banana sold in America was called the Gros Michel, or, “Big Mike.” however, over time, that got replaced by the Cavendish, due to, surprise surprise, American exploitation of South American land! big banana corporations used a practice called monocropping, or using the same land year after year to grow a single crop - which strips soil of its nutrients. monocropping is also bad for the gene pool of a crop. mass market bananas are genetically identical, and new crops are propagated from preexisting trees, so they’re all clones of each other. because the trees are genetically identical, they are more susceptible to infection. when a fungus attacked the Gros Michel, the banana industry switched to the Cavendish, a banana that was similar-looking but genetically distinct. these varietals also had subtle differences in taste, which have exacerbated over time.
we are reaching a point now where the Cavendish is also susceptible to the same fungi that wiped out Big Mike, and instead we can pivot to growing other varieties for agricultural and economic purpose. but, this is difficult when consumers have come to expect year-long availability of a product. you can read more about this here!
Eden Center redevelopments
Eden Center is a small shopping mall in Falls Church, VA, that is widely-known in the DMV as a cultural center for Vietnamese restaurants and businesses that have been owned and operated by Vietnamese families for decades. the city of Falls Church has proposed a business development plan for the Eden Center area called the East End Small Area Plan. however, it seems these plans were created with limited input from the business owners in the area. this led to the creation of a community organizing group Viet Place Collective, which is working to advocate for the business owners in this process.
understandably, the organizers at VPC are concerned about the displacement that can result from redevelopment schemes. there are elements of redevelopment that would benefit Eden Center businesses, members of VPC say, but these decisions need to be made with Vietnamese representation at the table. you can read more about the community and VPC advocacy in this Eater piece, and if you haven’t yet visited Eden Center, you should!
don’t yuck my yum :(
if there are two things I love its olives and cheese. enter, a bizarre combo, an olive and cream cheese sandwich. I posted a picture of this to Insta and many of you had thoughts! some of you said “wow I love olives but this looks gross!” some of you said “hmmmm this is weird but I would try it!” one friend brought up a good point - olive cream cheese on a bagel exists, this isn’t that different? but I do think this has the makings of a good, yet unexpected combo - salty and briny from olive, creamy and cool notes from the cream cheese. I will let you know when I try it. stay tuned!
Mexico City: a preview
YES we went to Mexico City and YES the food was sooooooooooo good. I will clean up all the recommendations and organize them into a public spreadsheet soon. I hesitate to call it a guide, because I am (obvi) no expert after just one visit, but would love to share some of my favs of what we did in our short trip. for now - here are some insta highlights: licoreria limantour, and tamales madre. more to come!
food dictionary
speaking of CDMX! I noticed this word that I didn’t recognize on many menus: “nixtamalization.” this is not a particularly common word used in American cooking, so I did some more research. explained by The Kitchn - nixtamalization is a process of preparing maize (harvested dried corn) by cooking and steeping the solution in water mixed with alkaline solution, like wood ash or food-grade limestone and water. this basically softens the kernels and makes the dried corn easy to use and turn into masa, a corn dough. the process enhances nutritional value, releasing vitamin b3, increasing calcium, and making the corn proteins more consumable. this article talks more about the history and shows instructions on how to nixtamalize corn at home!
restaurant highlight: Masala y Maiz
the best and most exciting restaurant experience we had in CDMX was Masala y Maiz. the concept was so cool - a fusion of Indian and Mexican food. we had so many great dishes, my favorites were the mango, tomato, and crickets (!) dish, and the corn <3 check out a description and see all the dishes below!
d.c. happenings
sorry its been a month so there are a lot of updates! got them separated out by category here.
CLOSINGS!
HUGE - Moon Rabbit closed abruptly due to anti-union efforts by the Wharf
Fainting Goat closing
White House Deli closing downtown
flip it LJ diner closed
Tigerella closed (ugh)
OPENINGS!
Love, Makoto, a little asian food hall, opened
new Taco Bell Cantina (thank god) planned in Chinatown
DIG “a chef-centric eatery” opened in Georgetown
new Van Leeuwen in Adams Morgan opened this week, Georgetown a few weeks earlier
Cafe con Bagel opened in Georgetown
Motorkat, a new raw bar in Takoma Park
14th St Tatte opening May 31 (tomorrow!)
Bar Chinois team opening Bar Japonais spot in old Estadio on 14th St
Foxtrot coming to the old Philz Coffee space in Adams Morgan
bar called Snappy’s taking over old Qualia Coffee spot in Petworth
Cinco Tacos signage up on Florida Ave
new Mi Vida in Chinatown
f*cked up food/chaotic foods
i had a hard time for this month finding a chaotic food that didn’t make me want to gag, so instead we have this curious creation. Toothache Mag asked ChatGPT to come up with weird foods, including bubblegum pizza pictured below and my favorite, the popcorn soup.
home cooking: carrot cosmo at the dinner party
yes, you heard that right, a carrot cocktail! had an incredible dinner party with the girlies last weekend for which I was in charge of the drinks. I found this very interesting carrot cosmo from Join Jules, a cocktail creator. which turned out to be a huge hit! I made the ginger syrup (from this bartender’s recipe), used Trader Joe’s carrot juice, fresh lemon and thyme, topped with a homemade dehydrated orange slice. the drink had so many sweet/savory/spicy elements and I will definitely make this again!
some more recipes from the party for your future dinner party inspo (my video here!): another Join Jules drink - the clementine vodka smash (also pictured above), a simple NYT pasta salad with tomatoes, a halloumi and corn salad, a soba noodle salad, deviled eggs, tomato puff pastries using this formula, this chocolate orange ice cream!!!
thanks for scrolling through this long one! see you soon!
All the disadvantages that you listed for monocropping under banana story can be extended to many row crops including corn and soybean. Kitchen garden is a great way to have some variety with the vegetables we consume and may be preserving germplasm in the process for the posterity.
I have to try olive and cream cheese sandwich. I too love both the ingredients.