Simon Majumdar

Just watching on the early morning news that a number of illicit moonshine producers have been given an amnesty and are being allowed to produce and sell their Hooch legally The major one is in Alabama and is called Clyde May's It is being promoted with a heavy marketing spend and the packaging looks not unlike JD Does anyone know any of these brews? Are they any good and are there any mail order firms who will ship to the UK? Thanks S

And the use of cuisine to subjegate S

While dietry laws, I would imagine, have their roots in the pragmatism of the times in which they were formulated, over time they come to be part of what defines a religious group as a culture as much as a spititual group Such laws are seen as being "demanded" by the deity of the religion and are monitored by the priestly elite in all cases. Adherence to such does not harm anyone and in fact can have a very positive effect of creating social adhesion. Far worse are some of the other laws that religion has placed on people. Just ask all the impoverished mothers of 11 in latin america. S

Not sure, but after seeing The Blues Brothers 2000, I think he switched to Turkey S

Simon, yes. I've never seen the Apu films and would love the opportunity. I did, however, see Kanchenjungha in the Hong Kong film festival once. I was tired and don't think I ate anything afterwards. On the other hand, I had a very good Sichuan meal there after watching A Few Good Men at the UA cinema in Pacific Place. A very mediocre film, I thought. Do you know how many people we will need to make this an affordable exercise? (We'd be occupying a screen for quite a while.) I will find out. They also have a private screening room at No1 The Aldwych and any number of places in Wardour St. I can get access to a print of the films at cost for the day, so I would hope it would be possible if enough people are interested in seeing these masterpieces and then have some decent Indian food I will put a post on the UK board S

I have pondered on organising a UK Egullet afternoon at The Curzon ( which you can hire for private parties ) to watch the Apu trilogy ( or at least the first one ) my favourite films, to be followed by supper at Mela Would anyone be interested? S

Have fun N S

Years ago, I saw Moonstuck where a number of scenes were in an old style Italian American restaurant ( Arthur Ave, I suspect ) for days after, I craved Old School trat style Italian and ended up going to a place at the bottom of the Charing Cross Rd which is now long gone. We ate Pasta in unfeasibly red sauce, Baby Chicken in Roasemary and Chestnut Sauce and, for pudding, Zabaglione. We drank a bottle of Chianti wrapped in rafia ( natch ) Stangely, it all worked rather well. All those old style trats have died out now ( haven't they? ) I wonder who buys all the oversized pepper grinders now? S

Great Menu B'dog. In fact, they all sound great I shall let someone else cook. I intend to have a few pints at The Wenlock, a mixed grill at the Angel Mangal ( as it is new year I shall go for all the extras, sweetbreads, kidneys, livers etc ) with a couple of bottles of cheap Bhuzbag Then home to open a bottle of Pol Roger and watch the fireworks from the HAC S

While I can understand the advent of cold flow and nitro keg beers from a commercial and marketing point of view, I cannot understand it from a consumer point of view not just because of taste ( or lack of it )but also from a cost standpoint Take my own neighbourhood for example Local pub round the corner - Pint of entirely ordinary Tetley Smooth = £2.80 The Wenlock Arms - Pint of one of an assortment of nine beers = £1.80-2.00 Go figure S

I am sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that the idea of extra cold beers and "smoothflow" beers was to create uniformity for a new generation of drinkers and ease of storage for pub managers. I much prefer Guinness from the bottle now as it actually has a taste. The nitro keg beers just mask any flavour withn the coldness and that is the point A few years ago, I was producing a book with Brains brewery in Wales. They wanted to produce a nitro keg beer called "DYLAN'S" which I thought was slightly innappropriate give that the chap drank himself to death. The marketing guy argued that most of their major audience ( 18-35's ) drank lagers as they had little flavour ( we are talking Stella and fosters here ) but that it was a more expensive process and less profitable. The nitro keg bitters ( Boddingtons is a classic example ) were far more profitable ( he argued ) and needed no special training to look after them, would always be the same in every outlet and with a good marketing campaign, could be aimed at the target audience The marketing campaigns for these were so successful that Nitro Keg beers became the fastest growing sector in the UK. The trend now continues with Murphys launching a fast flow as younger drinkers can't cope with the wait entailed in pouring a proper pint of stout. S

My two experiences were both in NOLA ( or just outside ) Jaques-imo's in the Garden District did an "Aligator Cheesecake " Which was a rich souffle with chunks of smoked gator and a rich cheese. It was pretty special On the other hand we also had a wonderful plate of fried Gator tails at the B&C seafood shack after doing the tourist thing and going on a swamp tour. These were good but not a patch on the deep fried bullfrogs legs that came with them S

Indian Food to me means Sour fish curries on the beach in Goa eaten while sipping a salty lime soda Dosa in Bangalore with a spicy filling of potato and green chilli Fried Neem leaves on the Veranda of the family house in New Alipur while my pishi prepares tandoori fish rolls or Lao Rich chicken korma on a house boat near Amritsar. Thickened with ground almonds and topped with gold leaf Thin dhal on the Gitanjali express from Mumbai to Kolkutta followed by Gulab Jamun from the family sitting in the same compartment Tea on the lawns of St Pauls Darjeeling with cucumber sandwiches and the sound of cricket in the background Ice Cream from Nerula's or Snowmans Thumbs Up Cola or Limca Butter Chicken in the home of a family in Lucknow Bono Kappee( sp?) Ghonto made by my mother in Yorkshire over Christmas Jalibee from Southall while walking arond London Indian food is truly as wide as the imagination. If Indian food is divine, it does, like God himself, take on many forms. Food for celebrations, for mourning, for nourishment ,for over indulgence, for comfort. If A man from Mumbai ate at my house. He might recognise some of the things I prepared as being "Bengali" ( my Dhal would be very thin and watery for him ) but he would recognise the spirit in which it was prepared and that, above all, is what makes Indian food and what makes it unique S

Quite right Anil. Mother has many Children. S

A lot of people shy away from eating these animals, but in the correct context, I have been persuaded to try them. I would not walk into the house of a girlfriend in London and suggest that she throw poochums on the Weber, but I have eaten dog in both Korea and China ( in both cases in a very gamey slow cooked stew ) Horse meat is something I always buy on my trips to southern france ( in Perdiguier, for eg, there is an excellent Chevallier ) and freeze before bringing back to the UK Snake is also something I have tried on more than one occasion, but people rarely get upset about that. I guess that, unlike the first two animals, it is because a snake never rescued anyone from a well in a children's programme. "What's that you say slithy? Jake's fallen down the well" doesn't really play does it? S

I don't think it is a case of "old Schtick" Tony ( read the Q&A ) has never made any bones of the fact that he considers himself a decent cook who got lucky. That lack of hubris is very refreshing amongst the parade of saps, suckers and ne'er do wells who populate our TV food programming. He does what he does very well and, no doubt, counts his blessings every morning where as some I could name probably wake up each morning counting how many restaurants they can open in Vegas before the bubble bursts I don't have a problem with TV chefs/cooks. it's when they begin to think that they matter ( same with pop stars or any other celeb ) that I wish them nothing but bad things S

Oops, I have opened a can of worms here It was fine really ( the copy editing that is ) As for the piece, I shall never be able to think of Tony without thinking of the words "pork ring" again Happy holidays all S

Some of us are always up at 4am. But, then again,some of us have no life at all 5am to buy fish sounds perfectly reasonable, but I am not a newlywed S

Only for your manuscripts....

Don't know about Zoetrope. Tony better just hope his copy editor isn't reading........... S

I'm in 5am aint so early. S

Some of us are always working Even when we have a six week old niece on our laps as we type S

steve hatt and only steve hatt Sorry can't type well. I have a nephew doing an impersonation of a "wriggly worm" on my lap as I type. Now onto the Thunderbird Website S

Although it is far out of town, this is one place I would travel for. Sushi in London generally stinks ( literally ) and has never been close to NY which, with the exception of my recent meal at Jewel Bako, has never compared to LA. In terms of cost, I think you get what you pay for. Only London could support the abomination of YO in all its machine rolled horror S

Currently in the welcoming bosom of my family and so a traditional Bengali meal of Bono Kampee Ghonto ( cabbage cooked for hours until caremelized with a very few spices ) Doi Murghi ( yoghurt chicken ) Mascher Johle ( Fish in a light gravy ) Muschu Dhal (Watery dhal with lemons ) gugni ( Chickpea dhal with tomatoes and tamarind or limes - in this case limes ) Followed slightly incongruously but some of the finest cheeses known to man ( as purchased from Neals Yard by my estimable brother ) Colston basset Stilton Montgomery Cheddar Appleby Cheshire Durrus ( Irish soft cheese ) Wigmore ( Sheeps Milk Cheese ) Tynedale Goats Cheese for allsorts of reasons, one of the best meals of the year S