True ice cream

Ice cream recipes first appear in 18th century England and America. A recipe for ice cream was published in Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts in London 1718.

To ice CREAM. Take Tin Ice-Pots, fill them with any Sort of Cream you like, either plain or sweeten'd, or Fruit in it; shut your Pots very close; to six Pots you must allow eighteen or twenty Pound of Ice, breaking the Ice very small; there will be some great Pieces, which lay at the Bottom and Top: You must have a Pail, and lay some Straw at the Bottom; then lay in your Ice, and put in amongst it a Pound of Bay-Salt; set in your Pots of Cream, and lay Ice and Salt between every Pot, that they may not touch; but the Ice must lie round them on every Side; lay a good deal of Ice on the Top, cover the Pail with Straw, set it in a Cellar where no Sun or Light comes, it will be froze in four Hours, but it may stand longer; than take it out just as you use it; hold it in your Hand and it will slip out. When you wou'd freeze any Sort of Fruit, either Cherries, Rasberries, Currants, or Strawberries, fill your Tin-Pots with the Fruit, but as hollow as you can; put to them Lemmonade, made with Spring-Water and Lemmon-Juice sweeten'd; put enough in the Pots to make the Fruit hang together, and put them in Ice as you do Cream.

The earliest reference to ice cream given by the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1744, reprinted in a magazine in 1877. 1744 in Pennsylvania Mag. Hist. & Biogr. (1877) I. 126 Among the rarities..was some fine ice cream, which, with the strawberries and milk, eat most deliciously.

The 1751 edition of The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse features a recipe for ice cream. OED gives her recipe: H. GLASSE Art of Cookery (ed. 4) 333 (heading) To make Ice Cream..set it [sc. the cream] into the larger Bason. Fill it with Ice, and a Handful of Salt.

1768 saw the publication of L'Art de Bien Faire les Glaces d'Office by M. Emy, a cookbook devoted entirely to recipes for flavoured ices and ice cream.

Ice cream was introduced to the United States by Quaker colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. Confectioners sold ice cream at their shops in New York and other cities during the colonial era. Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were known to have regularly eaten and served ice cream. First Lady Dolley Madison is also closely associated with the early history of ice cream in the United States. One respected history of ice cream states that, as the wife of U.S. President James Madison, she served ice cream at her husband's Inaugural Ball in 1813.

Around 1832, Augustus Jackson, an African American confectioner, not only created multiple ice cream recipes, but he also invented a superior technique to manufacture ice cream.

In 1843, Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia was issued the first U.S. patent for a small-scale handcranked ice cream freezer. The invention of the ice cream soda gave Americans a new treat, adding to ice cream's popularity. This cold treat was probably invented by Robert Green in 1874, although there is no conclusive evidence to prove his claim.

Ice cream sundaes with fruit, nuts, and a wafer

The ice cream sundae originated in the late 19th century. Several men claimed to have created the first sundae, but there is no conclusive evidence to back up any of their stories. Some sources say that the sundae was invented to circumvent blue laws, which forbade serving sodas on Sunday. Towns claiming to be the birthplace of the sundae include Buffalo, New York; Two Rivers, Wisconsin; Ithaca, New York; and Evanston, Illinois. Both the ice cream cone and banana split became popular in the early 20th century. Several food vendors claimed to have invented the ice cream cone at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO. However, Europeans were eating cones long before 1904.

In the UK, ice cream remained an expensive and rare treat, until large quantities of ice began to be imported from Norway and the US in the mid Victorian era. A Swiss-Italian businessman, Carlo Gatti, opened the first ice cream stall outside Charing Cross station in 1851, selling scoops of ice cream in shells for one penny.

Source: www.wikipedia.com

See also: sate, seafood

An Easy Way to Buy Sustainable Seafood

After I spoke with Casson Trenor a couple of weeks ago, we both became aware of Martin Reed, who has just started a business called I Love Blue Sea. Mr. Reed is a retailer who’s doing the work for you, buying and selling seafood he has verified as sustainable.

There’s a lot of appeal in this business, which is only a few weeks old, and Web-based (the physical location is in San Francisco). Mr. Reed’s goal, other than to make a living, is “to be a pioneer in selling only sustainable seafood, and in being upfront about where things come from and how they’re caught.”

Sounds good. But I had two questions. One: How do you know what you’re buying? His answer: “We use all third party standards, like those of Greenpeace (nothing from the “red list”) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium (no “avoid” fish) ” If he knows that “pirating” (as illegal fishing is called) is big with a certain species, he won’t sell it at all. (Thus, no yellowfin.) And he is insisting that suppliers sell him only fish that can be traced — individually — through bills of lading and bar codes.

Makes sense to me.

The second question concerns cost. The seafood on Mr. Reed’s site is quite fairly priced when you consider that it’s the kind of seafood we want to be buying. The selection is good, too – not as broad as in many big seafood markets, but then again, you’re not worrying about the source. There is occasionally some farm-raised fish where the wild resource is sustainable, and to me this doesn’t make sense, but remember he’s buying West Coast fish and I’m an East Coast person, so our experiences are different.

But the shipping necessarily includes frozen gel-packs and insulated boxes, which add considerably to weight and volume — thus making overnight Fedex charges high: fifty bucks, in the case of my sample order, which was for fish that cost about the same amount.

This is obviously not Mr. Reed’s fault, but it is his problem. He acknowledges this, but says that “After you get to five or ten pounds of product your order will be less expensive than if you bought a similar product at a supermarket.” I don’t know about that, but what is for sure is that, as he says, “There aren’t similar offerings in most parts of the country.”

Mr. Reed says, “We want to change the way the seafood industry works,” and I believe this is our only hope. If you think about what the word “sustainable” means, and you accept the notion that for the most part, the current state of the seafood industry is anything but, it is accountability on the part of purchasers that can move the industry in the right direction. And by taking on a bigger share of the responsibility, retailers like Mr. Reed make it easier for consumers to do the right thing.

Source: dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com

See Also: loewy, table 8

Dondurma

Dondurma (Turkish, literally "freezing") is the name given to ice cream in Turkey. Dondurma typically includes the ingredients milk, sugar, salep, and mastic, and may originate from the Turkish region of Kahramanmaraş.

Two qualities distinguish Turkish ice cream: texture and resistance to melting. Inclusion of the thickening agents salep, a flour made from the root of the Early Purple Orchid, and mastic, a resin, impart chewiness.

The Kahramanmaraş region is known for maraş dondurması, a variety which contains distinctly more salep than usual; tough and sticky, it is sometimes eaten with a knife and fork.

Consumption and culture

Dondurma is commonly sold from both street vendor's carts and store fronts where the mixture is churned regularly with long-handled paddles to keep it workable.

As of 2010, the average rate of consumption in Turkey was 2.8 liters of ice cream per person per year (compare to the USA at 18.3 liters per person in 2007, and world consumption leader New Zealand at 22-23 liters in 2006).

Some Turks adhere to a belief that cold foods, such as ice cream, will cause illnesses - such as sore throats and the common cold; it is held that consumption of warm liquid while consuming ice cream will counteract these effects.

The popularity of salepi dondurma has caused a decline of wild orchids in the region and led to a ban on exports of salep. Some translate salepi dondurma as "fox testicle ice cream"; however, the Turkish name comes directly from the Arabic name, saḥlab‎ ('orchid'), the two-lobed root of which resembles testicles.

Source: www.wikipedia.com

See also: sate, seafood

Perjalanan Cari Makan Bagi Mereka

Beruntunglah kita masih bisa tertawa lebar. Tak terlalu memikirkan makanan yang akan disantap hari ini atau esok hari. Terkadang dengan mudahnya kita buang-buang makanan yang sudah menjadi hak kita ke tempat sampah. Sementara, berdasarkan penelitian di daerah Muara Gembong dan Pebayuran, Kabupaten Bekasi kita bisa melihat seorang ibu yang tua renta bersusah payah demi menikmati makan siang. Ibu ini memiliki seorang anak yang telah menikah dan memberikannya cucu. Harapan dengan adanya keluarga baru ini bisa memperbaiki taraf hidup mereka ternyata tak terbukti. Mereka malah semakin melarat karena anak dan menantunya hanyalah nelayan kecil dan buruh tani lepasan yang tak jua bisa sebut pendapatan mereka cukup, apalagi berlebih. Sehingga, ibu tua renta ini mencoba membantu diri dan keluarganya dengan menangkap ikan-ikan kecil di sungai. Seringkali ikan-ikan yang tertangkap jaring-jaring ini hanyalah ikan-ikan kecil yang tak sebesar ikan gurame atau ikan mas yang biasa kita santap. Ikan-ikan yang beliau peroleh hanyalah ikan-ikan kecil sebesar ibu jari. Padahal berat juga mengangkat jaring itu di pinggir sungai dengan resiko terpeleset. Bukan hanya itu, mereka memasak kembali menggunakan kayu bakar karena tabung gas yang dibagikan pemerintah begitu menakutkan serta mengancam jiwa.

Bersyukurlah kita, dengan segala fasilitas yang kita miliki di rumah, dengan banyaknya restoran yang bisa kita kunjungi setiap saat. Tanpa perlu mengeluarkan keringat layaknya ibu tua renta yang tak pantas lagi bekerja. (Ratih)

See also: seafood

Seafood Is Important Food

Seafood refers to any sea animal or plant that is served as food and eaten by humans. Seafoods include seawater animals, such as fish and shellfish (including molluscs and crustaceans). By extension, in North America although not generally in the United Kingdom, the term seafood is also applied to similar animals from fresh water and all edible aquatic animals are collectively referred to as seafood.

Edible seaweeds are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia. See the category of sea vegetables.

The harvesting of wild seafood is known as fishing and the cultivation and farming of seafood is known as aquaculture, mariculture, or in the case of fish, fish farming. Seafood is often distinguished from meat, although it is still animal and is excluded in a vegetarian diet. Seafood is an important source of protein in many diets around the world, especially in coastal areas.

See also: loewy, table 8

Source: www.wikipedia.com

Nasi Goreng Indonesia

Alih Bahasa: Ratih

Nasi goreng merupakan makanan khas Indonesia dan Malaysia. Nasi goreng merupakan nasi dengan campuran bumbu, cabai, dan udang. Nasi goreng merupakan makanan nasional Indonesia yang tak mengenal batas sosial ekonomi. Makanan ini bisa ditemukan di warung nasi kecil hingga restoran mewah di hotel-hotel.

Bahan utama nasi goreng ialah nasi, kecap, bawang merah dan bawang putih dilengkapi dengan penyedap rasa. Nasi goreng dapat dinikmati kapan saja, bagi orang Indonesia, Malaysia dan Singapura nasi goreng dimakan sebagai sarapan. Nasi yang digunakan sebagai bahan utama biasanya adalah nasi yang tidak habis dimakan malam harinya sehingga nasi goreng tidak terlalu lembek.

Di restoran-restoran, nasi goreng disajikan dengan telur, ayam goreng, sate, sayuran dan kerupuk. Sedangkan di warung nasi kecil, nasi goreng istimewa pakai telur.

Source: www.wikipedia.com

Lihat juga: seafood, Table 8, Loewy

Nasi Goreng

Nasi goreng, literally meaning "fried rice" in Indonesian and Malay, can refer simply to fried pre-cooked rice, a meal including fried rice accompanied with other items, or a more complicated fried rice, typically spiced with tamarind and chilli and including other ingredients, particularly egg and prawns.

Nasi goreng is considered as national dish of Indonesia. There are many Indonesian cuisines but few national dishes. Nasi goreng is the best of them. Indonesia's national dish knows no social barriers. It can be enjoyed in its simplest manifestation from a tin plate at a roadside warung, or food stall; eaten on porcelain in fancy restaurants, or constructed at the ubiquitous buffet tables of Jakarta dinner parties.

From leftover rice to nasi goreng

The main ingredients for the plain nasi goreng include pre-cooked rice, soy sauce, garlic, shallot and some spring onions for garnishing. Nasi goreng can be eaten at any time of day, and many Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans eat nasi goreng for breakfast, often using leftovers from the previous day's dinner. The rice used to make nasi goreng is cooked ahead of time and left to cool down (so it is not soggy), which is one reason to use rice cooked from the day before.

‘Special’ nasi goreng – as meal component

In restaurants, the dish is often served as a main meal accompanied by additional items such as a fried egg, fried chicken, satay, vegetables, and kerupuk (meaning crackers, also called "prawn crackers" and many other names). In many warungs (street stalls), when accompanied by a fried egg, it is sometimes called nasi goreng istimewa (special fried rice).

Source: www.wikipedia.com

See also: seafood

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is an international agricultural research center founded in the early 1970s to improve the understanding of national agricultural and food policies to promote the adoption of innovations in agricultural technology. Additionally, IFPRI was meant to shed more light on the role of agricultural and rural development in the broader development pathway of a country.According to its website, the IFPRI "seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty."

The IFPRI is part of a network of international research institutes funded in part by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which in turn is funded by governments, private businesses and foundations, and the World Bank.

Scope

IFPRI carries out food policy research and disseminates it through hundreds of publications, bulletins, conferences, and other initiatives. IFPRI was organized as a District of Columbia non-profit, non-stock corporation on March 5, 1975 and its first research bulletin was produced in February 1976. IFPRI has offices in several developing countries, including China, Ethiopia, and India, and has research staff working in many more countries around the world.

Research Areas

IFPRI’s institutional strategy rests on three pillars: research, capacity strengthening, and policy communication.

Research topics have included low crop and animal productivity, and environmental degradation, water management, fragile lands, property rights, collective action, sustainable intensification of agricultural production, the impact of climate change on poor farmers, the problems and opportunities of biotechnology,food security, micronutrient malnutrition, microfinance programs, urban food security, gender and development, and resource allocation within households.

IFPRI also analyzes agricultural market reforms, trade policy, World Trade Organization negotiations in the context of agriculture, institutional effectiveness, crop and income diversification, postharvest activity, and agroindustry.

The institute is involved in measuring the Millennium Development Goals project and supports governments in the formulation and implementation of development strategies.

Further work includes research on agricultural innovation systems and the role of capacity strengthening in agricultural development.

Products and Publications

IFPRI targets its policy and research products to many audiences, including developing-country policymakers, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and civil-society organizations, "opinion leaders", donors, advisers, and media.

Publications by IFPRI include books, research reports, but also newsletters, briefs, and fact sheets. It is also involved in the collection of primary data and the compilation and processing of secondary data.

In 1993 IFPRI introduced the 2020 Vision Initiative, which aims at coordinating and supporting a debate among national governments, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, international development institutions, and other elements of civil society to reach food security for all by 2020.

As of 2006 IFPRI produces the (GHI) yearly measuring the progress and failure of individual countries and regions in the fight against hunger. The GHI is a collaboration of IFPRI, the Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide.

IFPRI has produced the related Hunger Index for the States of India (ISHI) (2008) and the Sub-National Hunger Index for Ethiopia (2009).

Organizational structure

IFPRI is made up of the Office of the Director General, a Communications Division and the Finance and Administration Division, and 5 research divisions:

• Development Strategy and Governance

• Environment and Production Technology

• Poverty, Health, and Nutrition

• Knowledge, Capacity, and Innovation

• Markets, Trade, and Institutions

IFPRI hosts several research networks:

• The (ASTI)

• The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi)

• Harvest Plus

• HarvestChoice

Impact

The evaluation of policy-oriented research poses a lot of challenges including the difficulty to quantify the impact of knowledge and ideas in terms of reduced poverty and or increased income or the attribution of a change in these numbers to a specific study or research project.

Despite these challenges, studies find that IFPRI research had spill-over effects for specific country-level research, but also in setting the global policy agenda, for example in the areas biodiversity (influencing the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources) and trade (with respect to the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations).

Another example of IFPRI's impact on policy formulation was the 2007–2008 world food price crisis. IFPRI was able to quickly pull together relevant research and its resulting recommendation where included in the United Nations’ Comprehensive Framework for Action on food security.

Criticism

CGIAR and its agencies, including the IFPRI have been criticized for their connections to Western governments and multinational agribusiness, although its research publications have also been cited by critics of agribusiness and Genetically Modified Organisms in agriculture. IFPRI describes itself as "neither an advocate nor an opponent of genetically modified crops."

Source: www.wikipedia.com

See Also: seafood, dim sum, wine

Karier Seorang Chef

Siapa yang mengira, memasak menjadi begitu menjanjikan sekarang ini? Tayangan soal masak memasak di televisi menjadi tren, terbukti hampir setiap stasiun televisi memiliki program kuliner. Bahkan salah satu chef perempuan menjadi seperti selebritis chef yang cantik. Ia tampil di acara gosip untuk bercerita asal muasal pilihannya menjadi ‘tukang masak’. Profesi ini seolah keluar dari kotak kecil dapur menuju dunia luas bernama entertainment. Masak menjadi hobi yang cukup menghasilkan coin and poin di masa sekarang.

Semua ini berawal dari perkembangan industri makanan pada tahun 1980-an, bukan hanya menunjukkan perubahan pada jumlah restoran yang meningkat. Tapi juga adanya tuntutan untuk standar makanan secara global serta profesi yang menjanjikan untuk penyediaan makan malam yang mewah, yaitu Chef. Di Prancis, perubahan ini berpengaruh pada status ekonomi, sosial, dan ideologi.

Kreativitas dalam kuliner memberi kesempatan pada orang yang menyukai makanan untuk berlaku lebih profesional. Sehingga, kreativitas dalam bidang kuliner menjadi begitu dihargai. Restoran bahkan menyediakan budget khusus untuk chef agar mereka lebih berkreasi dalam menciptakan ragam makanan baru, misalnya kreasi cake, pizza, seafood, pasta atau steak. Baik modifikasi dari makanan tradisional maupun makanan yang belum pernah ada.

Kreasi ini mereka peroleh setelah berkeliling Eropa mencicipi aneka makanan yang kemudian mereka masak di negerinya sendiri. Orang Amerika yang menjadi chef pada tahun 1970-an, memilih profesi ini untuk lepas dari pakem pekerjaan yang telah ada disana. Namun, hingga tahun 1980-an, restoran di Amerika yang menyediakan makanan berkelas masih dikuasai chef dari Perancis. Bagaimana dengan Indonesia?

Sumber bacaan:

“Eating Culture” by Ron Scapp dan Brian Seitz.