Portal:Food

---

French cuisine is the cooking traditions and practices from France. In the 14th century, Guillaume Tirel, a court chef known as "Taillevent", wrote Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of medieval France. In the 17th century, chefs François Pierre La Varenne and Marie-Antoine Carême spearheaded movements that shifted French cooking away from its foreign influences and developed France's own indigenous style.

Cheese and wine are a major part of the cuisine. They play different roles regionally and nationally, with many variations and appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) (regulated appellation) laws. (Full article...)

A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically part of a "meat-sweet diet", offered from a limited menu, cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot, finished and packaged to order, and usually available for take away, though seating may be provided. Fast-food restaurants are typically part of a restaurant chain or franchise operation that provides standardized ingredients and/or partially prepared foods and supplies to each restaurant through controlled supply channels. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.

While the first fast-food restaurant in the United States was a White Castle in 1921, fast-food restaurants had been operating elsewhere much earlier, such as the Japanese fast food company Yoshinoya, started in Tokyo in 1899. Today, American-founded fast-food chains such as McDonald's (est. 1940) and KFC (est. 1952) are multinational corporations with outlets across the globe. (Full article...)

Danish cuisine originated from the peasant population's own local produce and was enhanced by cooking techniques developed in the late 19th century and the wider availability of goods during and after the Industrial Revolution. Open sandwiches, known as smørrebrød, which in their basic form are the usual fare for lunch, can be considered a national speciality when prepared and garnished with a variety of ingredients. Hot meals are typically prepared with meat or fish. Substantial meat and fish dishes includes flæskesteg (roast pork with crackling) and kogt torsk (poached cod) with mustard sauce and trimmings. Ground meats (pork, veal or beef) became widespread during the industrial revolution and traditional dishes that are still popular include frikadeller (meat balls), karbonader (breaded pork patties) and medisterpølse (fried sausage). Denmark is known for its Carlsberg and Tuborg beers and for its akvavit and bitters, but amongst the Danes themselves imported wine has gained steadily in popularity since the 1960s.

Cooking in Denmark has always been inspired by foreign and continental practises and the use of imported tropical spices like cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and black pepper can be traced to the Danish cuisine of the Middle Ages and some even to the Vikings. (Full article...)

Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with a savory taste that intensifies the umami flavor of food, as naturally occurring glutamate does in foods such as stews and meat soups.

MSG was first prepared in 1908 by Japanese biochemist Kikunae Ikeda, who tried to isolate and duplicate the savory taste of kombu, an edible seaweed used as a broth (dashi) for Japanese cuisine. MSG balances, blends, and rounds the perception of other tastes. MSG, along with disodium ribonucleotides, is commonly used and found in stock (bouillon) cubes, soups, ramen, gravy, stews, condiments, savory snacks, etc. (Full article...)

A chocolate brownie, or simply a brownie, is a chocolate baked dessert bar. Brownies come in a variety of forms and may be either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density. Brownies often, but not always, have a glossy "skin" on their upper crust. They may also include nuts, frosting, chocolate chips, or other ingredients. A variation made with brown sugar and vanilla rather than chocolate in the batter is called a blond brownie or blondie. The brownie was developed in the United States at the end of the 19th century and popularized there during the first half of the 20th century.

Brownies are typically eaten by hand or with utensils, and may be accompanied by a glass of milk, served warm with ice cream (à la mode), topped with whipped cream, or sprinkled with powdered sugar. In North America, they are common homemade treats and they are also popular in restaurants, ice cream parlors, and coffeehouses. (Full article...)

Pictured are Oatmeal Stout Brownies. This recipe, created by Joe Stutler, was a national finalist in the 2006 Cooking With Beer Challenge. The malt and oats in the beer enhance the flavor of the chocolate in these delicious brownies. Not overly cake-ey, not overly fudge-ey, the texture is nicely balanced. They're also decadently chocolate, and surprisingly light (thanks to the eggs). Great with a fruity beer, such as a lambic (Framboise, yum!).

More selected recipes...

Go to recipe...

---

Costello's (also known as Tim's) was a bar and restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, from 1929 to 1992. The bar operated at several locations near the intersection of East 44th Street and Third Avenue. Costello's was known as a drinking spot for journalists with the New York Daily News, writers with The New Yorker, novelists, and cartoonists, including the author Ernest Hemingway, the cartoonist James Thurber, the journalist John McNulty, the poet Brendan Behan, the short-story writer John O'Hara, and the writers Maeve Brennan and A. J. Liebling. The bar is also known for having been home to a wall where Thurber drew a cartoon depiction of the "Battle of the Sexes" at some point in 1934 or 1935; the cartoon was destroyed, illustrated again, and then lost in the 1990s. A wall illustrated in 1976 by several cartoonists, including Bill Gallo, Stan Lee, Mort Walker, Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragonés, and Dik Browne, is still on display at the bar's final location.

The bar was founded in 1929 as a speakeasy on Third Avenue by brothers Tim and Joe Costello, who had emigrated to the United States from Ireland. Tim was known as an affable, intelligent proprietor with an interest in literature. In the early 1930s, the bar moved to the corner of East 44th Street and Third Avenue, before moving one door away on Third Avenue in 1949. The bar moved to its final location at 225 East 44th Street in 1974. Costello's closed in 1992; the Turtle Bay Café took over the space, operating until 2005. Since then, the location has been occupied by a sports bar called the Overlook. The bar is remembered through the stories that have been told about it over the years. The writer John McNulty is credited with creating a mythology around Costello's—which he called "this place on Third Avenue"—through a series of short stories published in The New Yorker in the 1940s. (Full article...)

Paul Bocuse
B. February 11, 1926 – d. January 20, 2018

Paul François Pierre Bocuse (French pronunciation: [pɔl bɔkyz]; 11 February 1926 – 20 January 2018) was a French chef based in Lyon known for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. Dubbed "the pope of gastronomy", he was affectionately nicknamed Monsieur Paul (Mister Paul). The Bocuse d'Or, a biennial world chef championship, bears his name.

After completing his formal education and fighting to liberate France, Bocuse enrolled in a culinary apprenticeship in Pollionnay with chef Eugénie Brazier. Under the guidance of some of the most skilled and experienced Mères from the Lyon area, he honed his skills in French cuisine. He then took over the family restaurant, L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, to turn it into one of the most renowned restaurants in the world; from 1965, it held its 3-star rating in the Michelin Guide for a record 55 years. (Full article...)

• ... that the Sonoran blue butterfly uses Dudleya cymosa subsp. pumila as a larval foodplant and hummingbirds feed on its nectar?
• ... that Miles Hadfield ensured supplies of food to Coventry during the Second World War Blitz?
• ... that a British supermarket uses barriers to prevent shoppers grabbing food with yellow discount stickers out of the hands of staff?
• ... that agronomist Simon Groot was awarded the 2019 World Food Prize for "benefiting hundreds of millions of consumers with greater access to nutritious vegetables"?
• ... that the Indianapolis Community Food Access Coalition was created to resolve food deserts in the city of Indianapolis?
• ... that environmental activist Nigel Savage created Hazon after googling "Jewish food movement" and receiving zero search results?

... that Pachamanca has existed since the time of the Inca Empire? ...that limeade is a beverage similar to lemonade, but is made with lime juice or lime flavors instead of those of the lemon? ...that during dinner in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Harira is eaten to break the fasting day ? ...that lembas is a fictional bread made by elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings? ...that Bosintang is a Korean soup made of dog meat?

Other "Did you know" facts...