chromedome

Shades of the moment in Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys where the main characters' mother goes to China, because she likes Chinese food. A couple of months later she calls to tell them she's moving on, because in China they don't have the right sort of Chinese food.

...and Newfoundland. We ate it pretty regularly in winter, though the blubber wasn't something anyone used anymore (in the old days apparently they'd render it for cooking or lighting, but not by the 70s when I lived there).

It's wonderful when braised or slow-roasted until lightly caramelized. Try it that way with lamb. I have enjoyed it cut into small wedges and grilled, as well (you need to keep some of the root end on each wedge so they'll hold together. Also, aside from the fennel-citrus salad mentioned above, fennel-apple-walnut is a big favorite of mine. Plain yogurt as the dressing, perhaps a smidge of honey if the apples are tart. Toast the walnuts. Garnish abundantly with chopped fennel fronds.

LOL Okay, now you're just trolling...

LOL In my neck of the woods, that's called dessert.

I dunno, I've pretty much given up beating the authenticity drum. I've been in restaurants where "carbonara" is a creamy sauce with mushrooms, and in others where I was told with some heat that it's not Alfredo if it doesn't have peas in it. I basically just let it roll off of me (and never eat there again). We all have lines we don't want to cross. For some it's a real Martini, or carbonara, or a beurre blanc sauce that's had cream added to stabilize it. In my case I'll enjoy your tomato-based fish stew (if you've made it well), but will privately wince if you call it "chowder." I can't get exercised about it any more, though. In the immortal words of Austin Powers, "That bridge has sailed."

LOL It may well be the kind of "stroganoff" my GF grew up with...ground beef browned in a pan, and sauced with Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

It's hard to know. I've encountered the same result with a couple of beer brands (Budweiser being the only one you'd know) and a couple of herbal teas give me a dry tickle in my throat (anything containing nettles or rooiboos) but no other foods I've yet encountered...and I basically eat everything. The only thing I actually go to McDonald's for is the cheap soft-serve cones, when it's summer and my van is loaded to capacity with grandkids. If I'm taken there I'll eat a McChicken.

I have no opinion to offer on the subject, because McDonald's burgers (alone among the major chains) have always caused me a couple of days of, uh...gastrointestinal distress. I'll grant you that I haven't had one since the "pink slime" scandal broke.

This whole line of debate has recently reached (to my mind) its reductio ad absurdam: https://www.adweek.com/creativity/mcdonalds-poses-existential-question-big-mac-bacon-still-big-mac-175654/

I took just a quick look online to get a feel for what the flavor profile would look like. I had a pretty good idea that it involved dried fruit ("schnitz," or dried apples, figured prominently in a popular Canadian cookbook - heavily German/Mennonite influenced - called "Food that Really Schmecks"), and guessed that it was basically fruitcake made with a yeasted dough. I had no immediate plans to try it, but I have no reason not to. I expect I'd probably add some gluten to the basic dough to strengthen it, just on principle.

Hmmm. Snitzbrot/schnitzbrodt looks to be right up my alley, though I do think I'd cut down the traditional-sized (ie, industrial quantity) batch by just a tad.

If you've had any other cooktop with a ceramic surface, care is exactly the same. Stuff like milk that sticks on hard is less of an issue than with conventional cooktops, because your surface never gets as hot (it just absorbs some heat from the pan) which in turn means it cools more quickly, and the spill simply dries on rather than cooking/burning on.

The Canadian Pacific Railway, in its heyday, was also renowned for its dining service. The company has an extensive archive, which includes menus and a great deal of other information about its glory days, but sadly the archive's public-facing website doesn't provide any of that (though it's still fascinating). A few years back the University of British Columbia hosted an exhibition and presentation on the food of the old-days CPR, which is viewable on YouTube.

I've seen hakarl described as resembling a really, REALLY strong cheese, and like many here I'm okay with those. So I'd probably try it at least once, especially if well-primed with the traditional several shots of aquavit.

I would venture to guess that, if anything, it might have been the first opportunity for many travelers to actually eat french fries, back in the day. Most people were still rural, remember, and fat was something you carefully conserved. Deep frying would have been a splurge in many households.

LOL I remember him grumbling in an interview when his doctor sharply restricted his use of salt. "Have you ever tasted a fried egg without salt?" he asked the interviewer rhetorically. "Never mind the egg, it tastes like the chicken wasn't getting laid."

No, silly, as the food becomes more seasoned. (Can't pass up a straight line like that...)

The cynic in me says "Those suckers are expensive...wait 6 months until you're eating grains again." (After low-carbing/keto-ing for three years my GF is eating balanced meals again, is beginning to slowly lose weight - which didn't happen on the diets - and she has reversed the frightening spike in her cholesterol levels. YMMV.)

Yup. Those who cooked before the labor-saving devices really appreciated the saving in labor. For Canadians of a given age our homegrown equivalent to Beard or Julia was Mme. Benoit, who popularized cookery that went beyond the stodgy meat-and-two of the day. I have a copy of her vintage 1970s cookbook for microwave ovens, and in the intro she rhapsodizes about its speed and efficiency relative to the wood-fired cookstoves of her youth.

I live in a house with multiple pets, so - while I appreciate rails and open shelving on their merits - I'm a big fan of enclosed storage. I appreciate being able to use things without rinsing away the free-floating fur and pet dander first.

"Lucky bamboo" isn't really a bamboo (it's actually related to asparagus). Its growth indoors is dictated by growing conditions you give it, so it's easy to manage for size.

A couple of the other stories I've looked at have offered up a few theories. One, of course, is the pandemic. Another is the rise of home delivery for basically "every freakin' thing," thanks to Amazon and meal-prep kits and suchlike. It could also just be an example of "everything old is new again" (except my knees, sadly).