Carrot Top

I really don't think that it should only be Jews who eat Jewish. After all, so many other "cuisines" are eaten by everyone and enjoyed by everyone. .................................................................... Marketing. I think it comes down to marketing. Cuisines become popular not only because of "what they are" or because of how many people exist in the area that know the food as "natives" but because of marketing, here and now in the USA. If there were an advertising campaign launched, that would help. "A Matzoh a Day Takes your Sadness Away". Or "Kasha Varnishkes - Fill All Your Wishes." Add a bit of underlying guilt to it all for those that would be vulnerable to it for good measure. It makes me very happy just thinking of this. It's all about the sizzle. .................................................. P.S. About the "lightness" thing: Somebody prove to me that a Big Mac combo or some other similar variety of monstrosity that is eaten every day into the zillions of meals by bazillions of people is in any way "lighter" than an average deli or "Jewish-food-based" meal. I. don't. *think*. so.

It's all true what you say, to my mind, and what an excellent thesis it was, too. My mouth was watering when you listed all those foods and their relationships. But really, what I want to know is, is there a group somewhere called "The Docents of Deli" ? I'd like to join it, no matter what its roots, relationships, or current modishness.

(deep sigh) I think this story can be filed under "The path to Hell is paved with good intentions."

I can't tell you that. That's up to you to decide. But with a piece of parsnip cake alongside I'd probably be pretty happy. ← How about dosed with sherry and served bottom-up? Carrot Pudding. Take a pint of Cream, and two penny Loaves grated, and as much raw Carrots grated; eight eggs, but half the whites, a Nutmeg grated, a little Sack [sherry] and Rose-water, half a pound of Butter melted, and as much Sugar as you think fit, two spoonfuls of Flower; stir it well together, it must be pretty thin, put it in a Dish butter’d, let it bake a little above an hour, turn it out of the Dish with the bottom upward; serve it up with Butter and Sugar. (1705 recipe) Sorry, couldnt resist it. ← Really, I can't even think of a quote in response to this one. But reading your post, and seeing "flour" spelled "flower", made me wonder if we can categorize flowers as veggies (for purposes of the kitchen). To me they would be more veggie-like than fruit-like . . .

I can't tell you that. That's up to you to decide. But with a piece of parsnip cake alongside I'd probably be pretty happy.

Those all sound delicious, May. P.S. I don't blame you, about the carrot juice. I feel the same way myself. Carrot juice reminds me of something Evelyn Waugh wrote: (Just put in "carrot juice" where it says "yogurt".) ................................. We are much better tasting live and crunchy.

Maybe. Further directions and story here: Bagels in Paradise, Kona Nova with a Schmear.

Ayun Halliday has a book based on her blog Dirty Sugar Cookies, but it looks like the archives of the blog only go back to several months before the book's release, so perhaps it is really a blog based on her book, sort of, somehow? I don't know.

Don't ask me, but here's a site with lots of ideas.

So okay. Just to make life interesting, today two things happened. First, this morning I got a phone call from some guy at Amazon's magazine provider place who left a message that said "We have cancelled your subscription but you will get partial payment returned as you have been sent one issue." Second, this afternoon I walked out to the mailbox and found Ta Dah! My first issue of Gastronomica by mail. Five months, three and a half weeks after I placed the order for it. It looks good, of course, now that they have decided to send it to me and cancel my subscription all in the same day six months late. If I re-order, I surely will *not* do it through Amazon. ............................ Love the cover. Very cool rolling pin. I understand that it is *art* but still believe it would feel good in the hand and would also make a nicely-textured foccaccia.

It's a good question, overall, but I have one for you in return. Is it possible that a gentile chef could do this? ............................ I read here about something similar happening with bagels - though not with the focus on reinterpretation but rather on the maintenance of tradition even though the tradition was not of the cook's native culture. ................................ I'd be very happy to have a good deli nearby, as you know. I can not imagine why we don't have one, and I'm going to have to start talking to people around here to try to figure it out. There *is* a small Jewish population and an active student group. I can see what Nathan is saying though, too. The draw and charm of the sort of Jewish cookery as described in Edda Servi Machlin's "The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews" might appeal to a wider audience. For what reason, I don't know. Maybe it's a style thing. * *"Style" of course, meaning something that is a created image. The image is based upon perception, and perception is created within the defining of the inherent style. Then the question arises: If you alter something's "style" to make it fit into a different perception, is it then the same thing it was? If you know what I mean. ( )

Hmm. It begs the question, if cicadas only come out from the ground "here" once every seventeen years for this potential feast, is it the same all over the world? Are they a only-once-every-seventeen-years treat? I wonder if the ones you ate were dry and fibrous either due to the (desired) nature of the recipe used or due to the skill of the cook. One of the things I found interesting about the description of how they could taste was a sentence that said they were "crunchy on the outside yet meltingly tender within" or something like that. Sounded good to me.

I have no idea of which region (if any specifically) torta di maccheroni hails from, but it seems like an excellent picnic food to me. I really don't know why I am always bringing this item up in conversation. There's just something about a torta di maccheroni.

Wow. What amazing responses! And so many, too. Very nice first post, feedyourvegetarian. "Vegetable matter"? Hmmm. I googled "nuts" yesterday. It was sort of strange writing "botany of nuts" in the search bar. The information I found told me that most nuts are fruits. But some are not. Some are exceptions. Some are drupes. Some are sort of unidentifiable unless you have three hours and a biology degree. Same with people, I thought to myself. I'll have to respond to you as Bilbo Baggins did to the trolls! "And please don't cook me, kind sirs! I am a good cook myself, and cook better than I cook, if you see what I mean. I'll cook beautifully for you, a perfectly beautiful breakfast for you, if only you won't have me for supper." And let's not even consider having me for breakfast. .................................................. But worse than your losing the post is how I read it very early this morning while still half awake. I thought it said (in the recipe for Carrot Cheesecakes): Phew. Well, the only thing I'll add to the list today is peanut butter cookies and pies. Peanuts are legumes. Which are sort of like vegetables. I hope.

You are a wonderful task-setter. Let's hope this doesn't turn into a wild goose chase.

This is how it all started: The definition of vegetable is a broad one - any part of any plant eaten as food could be included [perhaps it is a non-fruit part of a plant] - it is our convention that makes veges savoury things on the whole. Sticking within this convention, with pumpkin a 'vegetable' then pumpkin pie would be dessert vege. How about the Asian sweet bean things? Is that another thread? "Veges for Dessert?" Over to you Karen. ← Yeah, how 'bout those Asian sweet bean things. We need to hear about them. For we do need to get healthy. And we need to eat veggies. What desserts do you know of that are vegetable-based? I'll start by posting a link to some photos of some Japanese desserts I came across recently. I don't know enough about them, but do know that many of them are based on vegetables rather than fruit. They are called wagashi.

I just read something the other day about the "course" thing, as a matter of fact, which noted that the idea of two or three courses, starting with a savory and ending with a sweet but specifically divided into these courses was transcribed in a popular book by a European chef of some court, and that the idea of that custom was then transferred to the "new world" by the few popular cookbook writers of American descent whom had read the European chef's book. I think the thesis was from MFK Fisher, and believe she was speaking of the Victorian period. Janet (The Old Foodie) probably knows much more about this than I do. Much. ............................................... Speaking of veggies at breakfast, of course there also could be veggies at dessert-time. Aren't there many veggies that do duty as a dessert, among them chick-peas in Indian cooking among other cultures?

It's a form of classification based on the study of botany, which was then transcribed in Latin. Does the variance in classification of these edible plants not occur in Indian culture, Miligai? P.S. I should add that I don't completely "get it" either. I can catch some of the defined variances but then there are some things that escape the definitions somehow. So I don't worry about it but sort of place my trust in the botanists. Plus I really don't care how they categorize it as long as it tastes good to me, and for sure one really does not have to place rigid rules on whether a fruit or a vegetable (or even meat or fish for that matter) is suitable for one time or place in a meal based on someone else's definition, does one? A meal started with dessert sounds good to me. Maybe even a dessert made from carrots, a veg, not a fruit. Followed by something made from fruit for the main course. Finished by a braise of meat or a grill of fish for "dessert" or rather, I should say, to end the assortment of things planned in one time to eat in certain order. As a matter of fact, why do we need follow three courses? Why not all on the table at the same time? The only proscriptions against this that would be worthy of following, in my opinion, would be those of one's chosen religion. Certainly no botanist nor cookbook writer knows more than I do about how I want to eat. ................................................................ Sorry, Janet. Got a bit carried away there.

On Thursday May 31 the midwest US be in the middle of the cicada invasion which happens only once every seventeen years. It's also the night of a Blue Moon. I'm not enough of either a mathematician or astronomer to figure out how often that might occur in a lifetime. Blue Moons can occur on an average of every thirty-two months. But it sure does seems like a great opportunity to crank up the grill and choose an appropriate beer for marinated roast cicada. Yum. NPR offers some recipes for Soft Shell Cicadas, EL Chirper Tacos, and Cicada-Rhubarb Pie. This site offers more recipes, Cicada-Portobello Quiche and Cicada Wontons among them. Actually, eating a diet of cicada while it is now available might save enough money from the food budget (if properly invested, of course) to provide for an escape from the noise they make the next time they emerge, seventeen years from now.

I can see that. Therefore, how a (paid) review is written is based on the geographic location of the newspaper and knowledge of the most prominent dining culture that exists in that location, based on demographic information and reader response. "What will be entertaining to our usual readership?" Sadly, in some places, the culture of dining does boil down to "how big will my portion be and how much do I have to pay for it" with no additional information desired that might confuse these two vital issues or waste a reader's valuable time. And if one does not happen to enjoy that particular outlook on dining, then one is just screwed, in terms of finding a review that does not bore them to tears or ruin their perfectly good haircut by trying to tear it out in a desperate furor of a sense of dying from the blandularity of it all. God. How morose-making this all is. It's enough to drive a person to find a large cheap portion of something and gobble it down quickly to quell the pain. Almost, anyway.

Just came across a copy of Mother Wonderful's Chicken Soup which probably would fit in this category. It's mostly a photographic essay into how to make "Jewish Penicillin" from scratch. Including such invaluable advice as It's quite an adorable little book.

Of course there's always stratas - of any variety of veggie etc. And ribollito. Stuffed onions . . . Carrot juice?

SB, you are kind to offer, and I'll PM you if someday the urge hits to need to read one. I've read lots of them in the past, but just felt like getting a subscription this year. Based on the comments above about the latest issues, one wonders, though. Hopefully it is just a sort of lull in the magazine rather than a permanent thing, the sort of lack of spark you mentioned. Do, post after the next issue arrives, though, to let us know your thoughts on it.

I haven't seen any of these before. Here's what it says in the preface:

Almost any sort of veggie souffle . . . Black bean soup topped with diced green and peppers, red onion, and large dice of HB egg to emphasize "breakfast" . . .or, alternately, a poached egg on top . . . Pierogis (potato) with lots of sauteed onion on top . . . Onion tart (without the custard) . . .along the same lines, tomato pie . . . A blend of cottage cheese, cream cheese, and cream with lots of fresh herbs to top black bread with finely chopped carrot, pepper, broccoli, yellow squash, to then put on top of that for an open face sandwich . . . Ah. And then there's always peanut butter toast.