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Food

Foodies Rejoice For Lonely Planet’s “Ultimate Eats”

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Sampling delicious pintxos along the grid of narrow streets in San Sebastián’s old town has been named the #1 best food experience in the world, according to global travel authority Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Eats (Lonely Planet), available to purchase August 21. In the much-anticipated follow-up to Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travel (Lonely Planet) Ultimate Eats: The World’s Top 500 Food Experiences…Ranked  travels the world with an insatiable appetite to present the definitive foodie bucket-list of the world’s top 500 food experiences – ranked. Whether it’s baozi in Shanghai, steak tartare in Paris or clam chowder in Boston – food and place are inextricably connected. Whenever we eat while traveling, we don’t just taste the dish itself but experience the whirl of people, languages, aromas and…

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BookTrib Q&A: Dr. David Friedman on Diet Myths, “Food Sanity’ and Living a Food-Positive Lifestyle

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Every year, a new diet trend guaranteed to help us live healthier lifestyles an shed some pounds emerges. But even with all the diets out there, a lot of the time they are replications of the tried and true methods we know: counting calories and exercising. Some focus on carb-loading, others on protein, and most just completely contradict what we think we know. With all the advertisements, celebrity endorsements and more, it can be enough to drive one insane! This is where Dr. David Friedman comes in— his goal is to help us sort through all the craziness and live longer, healthier, food-positive lives. Dr. Friedman’s book, Food Sanity: How to Eat in a World of Fads and Fiction, sheds a light on different…

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Barnes & Noble Kitchen: Bookseller’s Perfect Pairing of Books and Food is Our New Favorite Thing

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What goes better with a good book than food (other than a little wine)? Barnes & Noble Kitchen is answering the call of the new wave literati and pairing its bookstores with a variety of food choices for book-loving foodies in four major U.S. cities. This week, the retail chain opened up the fourth Barnes & Noble Kitchen in Plano, Texas. – Like its predecessors, this one comes with a full-service bar, and restaurant serving American cuisine like grilled salmon, salads and hamburgers. Unlike the Starbucks Café in traditional Barnes & Noble’s bookstores, the ‘Kitchens’ are fairly upscale and serve a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. In an interview with Dallas News, Chef Robbie Nowlin said they’re working to expand…

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Chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s New Memoir is Comfort Food for the Literary Soul

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Not many people have lead a life like that of Nobu Matsuhisa. Born in Saitama, Japan, he and his brother were raised solely by their mother, their father dying in a traffic accident when Matsuhisa was just seven years old. After graduating high school, he worked at a restaurant for seven years, in Tokyo, before moving to Peru at the age of 24, at the urging of a regular customer-turned-sponsor, to open a Japanese restaurant. What followed has created history: unable to find the Japanese ingredients he has used for so long, Nobu was forced to improvise, using local Peruvian ingredients to create Japanese dishes, which would ultimately become Nobu’s signature flare. With more than a dozen restaurants open under his…

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#NationalCandyCornDay: Yup, It’s a Thing!

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#NationalCandyCornDay is trending on Twitter and I do not understand why. I am a picky eater with many food allergies and culinary idiosyncrasies. Among my allergies are: nuts, fuzzy fruits and veggies, shellfish, and certain legumes. Since I like living, I stay away from these. Even smelling a peach makes me wheeze and my throat starts to close; as for the rest, they’re foods I don’t like anyway. Do you know how happy I was to learn that I am allergic to okra – a vegetable I detest? And there are others I just have personal issues with for no other reason than I’m petty that way. I freak out after spilling milk on my hands. I don’t care much…

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The Life of Pie: Linda Lomelino Scores a Hit with ‘Lomelino’s Pies’

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Who doesn’t love pie?   My nephew, that’s who! One of my mother’s favorite stories to tell about her grandchildren (and one we never let this particular one forget) is how he asked her if they could make a pie together. My mother really enjoys doing these things with her grandkids and they enjoy it just as much. So on this day, about 13 years ago, my mother set out to bake a pie with her first grandchild. The went to the store together and loaded up their cart with the freshest ingredients including the plumpest, juiciest blueberries, and vanilla ice cream from their favorite ice creamery.  They went home and made the pie from scratch— crust and all. My…

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Gaffigan’s Humor is Simply Delicious in ‘Food: A Love Story’

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You would think that being a snob about food and restaurants, I would turn up my nose at a book about the love of junk food, Pizza Hut, and hunks of overcooked meat on a bun. But you would be wrong. First of all, Gaffigan is funnier ‘n shit no matter what he talks about – go read Dad is Fat, a chronicle of his life with a beautiful wife and five young kids in a two-bedroom Manhattan apartment. The chapter and illustrations about where and when everybody sleeps made me laugh out loud while trying to figure out if he (and his beautiful wife) is/are certifiably crazy. Second of all, reading this book made me feel healthy even though…

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Tasty Food and Book Pairings for Every Literary Genre

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There are food and wine pairings, book and wine pairings, and even book and coffee pairings but no one knows what to eat with a book! What should you munch on while reading Mockingjay? Or nibble while reading New Moon? Well, lick your lips and attack a snack, because here are five foods pairings to go with every literary genre: Romance Ah, yes, the red wine and bubble bath classic. And what goes better with red wine than some nice dark chocolate? As you probably know, chocolate is the food of love. Turns out, there’s actually a chemical found in chocolate that can release serotonin, which can make you feel like you’ve gone down Lover’s Lane, never to return. But…

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Wanderlust Achieved with Lonely Planet’s New Money-Saving Travel Guide

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There are many reasons why people don’t travel: fear of flying, packing anxiety, the inability to decipher simple road signs in Chinese. The list goes on. But one of the biggest issues holding people back from satisfying their wanderlust is one simple factor: money. Lonely Planet (#LP) has dedicated these pages to unearthing the world’s hidden treasures, keeping things free and cheap in as many places as possible. Before you hit the road, you’ll need to take The Best Things in Life are Free: The Ultimate Money-Saving Guide (Lonely Planet, August 9, 2016) with you. My particularly favorite sections are: Free Music When traveling, I always look for live music and entertainment. Try the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, open mic…

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Throw the Ultimate Olympic Viewing Party with Cascade Ice Water — Plus, One Lucky Reader will WIN a Case of Cascade Ice!

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Have you been rushing home every day after work to watch the 2016 Summer Olympics? Is one of your favorite past times creating viewing parties around your current TV obsession? If my suspicions are correct, the following advice has you covered for the ultimate Olympics viewing party. Deck your house in gold, silver and bronze décor and gather around to watch the games with friends and family. If you’re feeling extra ambitious, create some Olympic-esque hurdles and other obstacle courses in your yard to get your guests moving. They’ll work up an appetite in no time. In honor of the host country, settle in with some traditional Brazilian eats. Fried bar foods like cod fritters or Pao de Queijo (bread balls…

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Grilling 101: Sizzling Books For Your Next Barbecue

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Burgers sizzling on the grill. Close your eyes. Can you hear it? There isn’t a more satisfying, salivating sound in the world. Unless you’re a vegetarian and then it’s the worst thing that ever happened, ever. Burgers, hot dogs, steaks, brisket, spare ribs, baby back ribs, someone please stop me (clearly I am not said vegetarian). Barbecues and block parties are times that we can indulge. Every guy thinks they’re the guru of the grill like some Jedi master. Usually this so-called expertise ends up with overcooked burgers and steaks so underdone they look like they should still be grazing in the fields. I am guilty of this sin thanks to the time I tried tackling a big rack of…

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The Joy of the Food Truck: Books about the Best Traveling Restaurants

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Saturday night in Stamford, Connecticut. I had just walked out of Tiernan’s Pub with a sunny disposition at one in the morning. People from all over converged on Columbus Park to hear some independent boy band tear up the small stage. The bar scene was packed and uncomfortable after a while. I wanted to go back to my apartment and have a late-night snack that I’d regret in the morning. But then three horrible truths dawned on me: I can’t cook, I don’t have any food to cook with, and I only have five bucks. As I walked up Broad Street I lamented how I’d have no food. My morning was going to be a rough one. Oh woe is…

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Spartan Up! Skratch Labs’ Allen Lim on Leading the Healthiest Life Possible

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It was at the Tour de France that Allen Lim, PhD created Skratch Labs, a company that produces training food and sports drinks from scratch for not only endurance athletes, but also Racecar drivers, Peace Corps workers and normal active individuals. Lim chats with Spartan Up’s Joe De Sena, Founder and CEO of Spartan Race, about how he came up with the idea and the role sports can play in living a healthy and fulfilling life. For more, watch the Podcast above. ABOUT SPARTAN UP! THE PODCAST: Every day, Joe De Sena, founder and CEO of Spartan Race and a New York Times bestselling author, inspires millions of people all over the world to get off the couch and take on any obstacle, on an off the course.…

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A Teen Girl’s Journey: Learning to Love Iran Through its Food

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What happens when a teenaged American girl is uprooted from her Brooklyn home and moved to Iran right after the fall of the Shah? I shish you not, when I first stepped foot in Iran my jaw dropped to the sandy floor because of the Third World foods being prepared for sale in restaurants and kiosks. In my mind, the odors of intestines, brains and tongues of sheep could possibly cause nerve damage. I could hear people smelling this repugnant odor and saying “Piffff peefff!” (which is also similar to the name of a pest control killer in Iran). The odors are a perfect match! I would put it down in the “disgusting national dish” category. After tasting pig feet…

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Review: Ruth Reichl Shares the Recipes that Saved Her Life in My Kitchen Year

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What is it about Ruth Reichl that makes her feel like an old friend? If anyone else had lost what might have been the most amazing job in the world—editor-in-chief of Conde Nast’s Gourmet magazine—we might have greeted the announcement with a little schadenfreude. Really, who among us has a job that allows us to get into, and eat for free, in any restaurant in the world? Not to mention working with the most gifted chefs, designers, writers and photographers on one of the world’s great food publications. And winning six James Beard Awards. Who wants to hear some overly privileged person whine about losing that? As it turns out, I did. Because Reichl doesn’t whine, in fact the memoir…

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