Rome City Guide

Ponte Sant'Angelo, Rome. Photo copyright Marina Vidor, all rights reserved. 

Rome is one of my favorite cities and there is no question that it is one of the world's great cities, full of some of the best food ever. Just imagine the freshest zucchini, tomatoes, the amazing gelato... When in Rome, eat seasonal fare and steer clear of anywhere that serves stuff that is way out of season. Also, check out this city guide put together by The Guardian before you go. It looks like a great resource with tips from some trusted bloggers based in Rome.

Rome City Guide - The Guardian

Doesn't that make you want to hop on your Vespa?

The Botany of Desire

Apples, Tulips, Cannabis, Potatoes - The Botany of Desire. Photo courtesy of pbs.org

I'm a big fan of Michael Pollan and if you're reading this blog you probably don't need an introduction. I've read his wonderful book The Omnivore's Dilemma, but haven't got around to The Botany of Desire. Imagine my joy to find that PBS in California has made a documentary version of the book! It's feature length (about 2 hours) and really fascinating. I highly recommend watching it.

The Botany of Desire - PBS

The film is split into four parts, exploring how food fulfills human desires:

Apple - Sweetness
Tulip - Beauty
Cannabis - Intoxication
Potato - Control

I learned so much:

- About the real man behind the myth of Johnny Appleseed
- That apples came from Kazakhstan
- That apple seeds produce bitter apples and almost a random selection of genes and that the only way to guarantee sweet ones is to graft
- That tulips are from Afghanistan
- That some tulips were worth the equivalent of millions of dollars in Holland in the 17th c. (I hope I got the century right...)
- That cannabis makes those crazy buds only if there are no male plants - sexual frustration
- That marijuana only got stronger by crossing two varieties to make it easier to grow inside - a response to the crack down on outdoor growing in the States in the 1990s.

etc....

Watch it!

Ingredient history - the Moors in Spain and New World influence

Alhambra, Granada. Photo by Marina Vidor, all rights reserved

It's pretty amazing that before Columbus and company sailed over to the Americas, Europe was without tomatoes, potatoes, corn, squash, several types of beans, chocolate, turkey... the list goes on. I sometimes imagine what it must have been like before those crops started to become cultivated in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. Food was radically different.

I'm reading Tariq Ali's Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree and he peppers the book with recipes. His novel, part of his Islam Quintet, is the story of a Muslim family trying to understand how to survive after the fall of Granada. The year is 1500, just seven years after Columbus returned from his first voyage to the Americas. It's a good read, but descriptions of food had me a bit puzzled at times. Some sound totally authentic. He describes the family cook, a dwarf, concocting some glorious recipes, but a few times New World crops appear. Maybe we could get away with including tomatoes and corn, but potatoes were from South America and not brought back until the second half of the 16th century. It made me wonder how quickly these foods became widely cultivated.

The recipe that most had me scratching my head was this one:

Listen carefully all ye eaters of my food. Tonight I have prepared my favourite stew which can only be consumed after the sun has set. In it you will find twenty-five large potatoes, quartered and diced. Twenty turnips, cleaned and sliced. Ten dasheens skinned till they gleam and ten breasts of lamb which add to the sheen. Four spring chickens, drained of all their blood, a potful of yoghurt, herbs and spices, giving it the colour of mud. Add to this mixture a cup of molasses and, wa Allah, it is done. But young master Yazid, one thing you must remember! The meat and vegetables must be fried separately, then brought together in a pan full of water in which the vegetables have been boiled. Let it all bubble slowly while we sing and make merry. When we come to the end of our fun, wa Allah, the stew is done. The rice is ready. The radishes and carrots, chillies and tomatoes, onions and cucumbers all washed and impatiently waiting their turn to join the stew on your silver plates. - p. 174, Tariq Ali, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree.

Chillies are from the Americas, and yes, they could have been used by then. But potatoes, definitely not. I'd be interested to know how much research he did into food and cuisine before he wrote the book.

At any rate, these references to food got me really intrigued to know if there is any documentation of recipes from the time of the Moors in Spain. It's a research project I would love to dive into!

The recipe in Tariq Ali's book that sounded the most delicious is described on p. 30:

The old man had been skinning almonds, which lay soaked in a bowl of water, when Zuhayr arrived. Now he began to grind them into a smooth paste, adding a few drops of milk when the mixture became too hard. He looked up and caught the smile. [...] The old man did not reply, but transferred the paste from a stone bowl into a cooking pan containing milk. To this concoction he added some wild honey, cardamoms and a stick of cinnamon. He blew on the embers and let it simmer. Zuhayr watched in silence as his senses were overpowered by the aroma. Then the pan was lifted and the old man stirred it vigorously with a well-seasoned wooden spoon and sprinkled some thinly sliced almonds on the liquid.

Sounds delicious and comforting.

Later on he describes a 'heavenly mixture' (p. 54):

Ama entered with the maize cakes wrapped in cloth to keep them warm. She was followed by the Dwarf, who was carrying a metal container full of bubbling hot milk. Umayma came last with a pot full of raw, brown sugar. [...] Ama was beginning to prepare the heavenly mixture. Her hands were hidden in a large bowl where she was tearing the soft cakes apart. They crumbled easily. She added some fresh butter and carried on softening the mixture with her hands. Then she signalled to Umayma, who came forward and began to pour on the sugar while Ama's wrinkled hands continued to mix the ingredients. Finally the fingers withdrew. Zahra clapped her hands and proffered her bowl. [...] Then the hot milk was poured on and the sweet course was taken. For a moment they were too busy savouring the delights of this simple concoction to thank its author.

I bet they were! But I want to know if corn was really being cultivated that soon after the Columbus voyages. He did bring back maize in 1493, so I guess it's totally possible. It would be interesting to know if there are recipes that back this up.

Veering away from New World foods, I was intrigued by 'dasheens', mentioned in my first excerpt from the book, which are taro. I just read up in Wikipedia about them:

Taro is native to southeast Asia. It is a perennial, tropical plant primarily grown as a root vegetable for its edible starchy corm, and as a leaf vegetable and is considered a staple in African, Oceanic and Asian cultures. It is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants. Colocasia is thought to have originated in the Indo-Malayan region, perhaps in eastern India and Bangladesh, and spread eastward into Southeast Asia, eastern Asia, and the Pacific islands; westward to Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean; and then southward and westward from there into East Africa and West Africa, from whence it spread to the Caribbean and Americas. 

Taro was consumed by the early Romans in much the same way the potato is today. They called this root vegetable colocasia. The Roman cook book Apicius mentions several methods for preparing taro including boiling, preparation with sauces and cooking with meat or fowl, After the fall of the Roman Empire, the use of taro dwindled in Europe. This was largely due to the decline of trade and commerce, from Egypt, previously controlled by Rome. It has remained popular in the Canary Islands.

P.S. A fun fact: Peppers (Capsicum), tomatoes and potatoes are all part of the Nightshade family (Solanaceae), all native to the Americas, and they all have really similar flowers. Deadly nightshade (belladonna), tomatillo, tobacco, Cape gooseberry, eggplant and petunias are all Solanaceae. Strange that eggplant, a native of India, is included, but so it is.

Viva San Fermín & Dos Cafeteras

Dos Cafeteras

I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to travel fairly regularly to Pamplona, Navarra, Spain, the city made famous by Ernest Hemingway. Its San Fermín festival, known to most as the 'Running of the Bulls', got off to a riotous start yesterday and I'm sitting here chewing on one of the city's small culinary delights, Dos Cafeteras, Pastillas de Café y Leche (soft caramel candies made from coffee and milk). Back at Christmas when I was in Pamplona last, a friend of mine sent through a nice article on this nice little sweet. There's a good story behind these tasty candies so read on!

Dos Cafeteras Coffee Candies: Great Product, Great Story - The Atlantic - by Ari Weinzweig (Dec 2010)

Eatymology and Thomas Jefferson

A friend recently posted this fascinating article on Thomas Jefferson on her Facebook. It talks about how Jefferson was passionate about good food and wine, how he cultivated local and exotic produce, and of course, that he maintained a reliance on highly skilled slaves. It's a thoroughly engaging read on 'America's original foodie'.

If you're interested in more articles on food history (one of my great passions), check out the Eatymology section on Salon.com. I've read the article on tequila, and again, I highly recommend it. It's all great fodder for dinner party conversations.

A Morning in Maltby St

Last Saturday I finally made it to Maltby Street in Bermondsey, southeast London. It's only about a 15-minute walk from the famous and overcrowded Borough Market, but it's a completely different experience. Maltby Street is a collection of artisanal food producers who have their warehouses under the railway that runs from London Bridge station. (A few of them, called the Bermondsey Seven, were evicted from Borough Market recently. Read more here.) They open to the public on Saturdays from 9am - 2pm. It's obviously popular for those in the know or those wiling to trek out to Bermondsey, but the streets are largely empty, which makes it a relaxing shopping experience. I went with a budget of £40 and ended up spending most of it. Maltby Street is not cheap, but if you're looking for something special, this is the place to come. 

First I bought half a loaf of French Poilâne sourdough, butter, and chunk of a slightly matured, creamy farmhouse Irish goat cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy on Stanworth St for £14. When I got home, I made a grilled cheese with the bread, cheese, slices of finocchiona salami from Tuscany and sun-dried tomatoes. A heavenly lunch.

Fern Verrow, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

At Fern Verrow, 55 Stanworth St, they stock biodynamically grown vegetables. I bought some fresh garlic and a huge lettuce. They also had a variety of berries (including gooseberries and josterberries), and beautiful broad beans, but I didn't indulge. In general I am still under impressed by farmers market style produce in London. The quality was fairly high, but the prices were ridiculous. Only the garlic and lettuce put me out £7.50. I don't understand this idea that fresh, high quality produce is a delicacy. Anyone who has grown vegetables and fruit knows that they always end up with way more than they can use and even if you pay people well, a lettuce and fresh garlic should not cost that much. Fern Verrow share the warehouse stall with the Borough Cheese Co. (who were selling amazing Virginia peanuts) and Coleman Coffee Roasters. 

St John, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

St John, 72 Druid St, which supplies bread to the St John's restaurants in Spitalfields and Smithfield had some nice bread, so I bought a dense white stick for £2. 

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Booth's on Druid St was my favorite. The range of fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms was something I'm more used to. It's not all local, but the quality was quite high. I was a bit disappointed to see some out-of-season fruit (rock hard plums), but that is to be expected in London. I bought a couple of enormous peppers, purple carrots, chives, yellow and green zucchini and an endive for about £8.50. Tonight I think I'll make pasta with the zucchini and the fresh garlic from Fern Verrow.

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

I ended up at Monmouth Coffee Company back on Maltby St, some of the best coffee in London. This is where they do their roasting. I got a single macchiato and a wonderful little madeleine for £3.50. 

Monmouth Coffee, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Single macchiato, madeleine from Monmouth (photo: Marina Vidor)

Outside, I indulged in some fennel and orange sorbet from La Grotta Ices for £2 in a cone. That was all she had left besides strawberry, but this lady has a wicked list of sorbet flavors. I wish I could go to try a new one (or two) each week. 

La Grotta's offerings (photo: Marina Vidor)

Fennel and orange sorbet, La Grotta Ices, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

My final stop was The London Honey Company, 54-58 Tanner Place, which opens its studio on the last Saturday of every month. Unfortunately they don't take credit cards and I was out of cash, but I got to see their cute studio. The smell of honey is overwhelming. I'll be back in a month, I hope, to buy some local honey. They apparently have some from Hackney Marshes that I'd like to get my hands on, but they have hives all over the capital in the most unlikely places.

London Honey Company (photo: Marina Vidor)

As I walked back to Liverpool Street and braved the horrendous crowds of the area around Borough Market, I felt relieved that I had spent some time in a much quieter, easy-going place. Maltby St seems to be a place for local foodies and people looking for that special treat. Lots of Italians, French and American customers, as is customary to see in specialty food markets in the capital, and trendy 30-something British people. (I wonder if being Italian-American doubly predisposes me to food obsession.) At any rate, this is not your normal food market. If you're looking for a great deal, this is not the place, but if you want a peaceful, quality foodie indulgence experience, head on over to Maltby St and enjoy! 

My loot from Maltby Street (photo: Marina Vidor)

Personally, my next trip will be to get some honey, a coffee and some of that amazing sorbet.

For more information on all of Malby Street's vendors, visit their website: http://www.maltbystreet.com/