Hungry Travelers - Page 13 of 82 - Bringing the tastes of travel back home

Tastarròs, when the city plaza is a giant cookout

Posted on April 11, 2022April 11, 2022 by Pat and David

We're not quite sure what people like most about Tastarròs. Without a doubt, they love the opportunity to sample a whole range of rice dishes from some of the city's and region's best chefs. They also welcome the opportunity to rub elbows. Maybe all the more so after two years of quarantines and mask regulations. As a people, Spaniards are about as social as any nationality on earth. They are in their element in a crowd of other Spaniards eating and drinking. (No wonder we feel at home here!) The organization of the ticketing system is quite good. Instead of fumbling to pay at each table, participants line up and purchase color-coded tickets. Rice dishes were €4, wine and beer €1 and €1.5, respectively. Appropriately...Read More

Tastarròs toasts Valencia’s gastronomic heritage

Posted on April 8, 2022April 8, 2022 by Pat and David

Once in a while, we have perfect timing by accident. One year, when we arrived in Spain to research a new guidebook, we stumbled into the Trujillo National Cheese Festival in Extremadura. Us and 10,000 or so Spaniards. When we landed in Valencia on a Friday this year, we had just enough time to shake off our jet lag before Tastarròs began the next day. Spaniards rarely miss a chance to throw a party, and when they can combine the party with the celebration of some kind of food—all the better. “Tastarròs” is a Valencian word that translates more or less as “taste of rice.” The rices of Valencia have protected status in the European Union and are considered part of the region's heritage. The...Read More

Lost in Valencia’s cathedral of food

Posted on April 6, 2022April 6, 2022 by Pat and David

When we stepped into the Mercado Central in Valencia, the first thing we did was to plan where we'd meet when we got separated. We're really not as direction-challenged as that might sound. It's hard to imagine – even when you're standing inside – but the market has a remarkable 929 stalls covering roughly two acres. It's pretty easy to lose your bearings. The market is not only one of the largest in Europe. It's arguably one of the most beautiful. We decided that we would rendezvous at the spot that we couldn't miss: the central dome where the nave and apse of this gastronomic cathedral cross. Rising above the angular arches of the roofline like a tunnel to the sky, the dome is the...Read More

Back to Spain – and the great Valencia market

Posted on April 5, 2022April 5, 2022 by Pat and David

Since flying back from Paris in early February 2020, we basically stayed home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Over the last two years, we got fully vaccinated and boosted, washed our hands raw, and wore KN95 masks everywhere except in open spaces. We continued to test negative after a few close exposures to COVID-19, so all the precautions seemed to be working. (Fingers crossed.) It was time to return to Europe. As soon as we began looking for an apartment in Spain, one jumped out at us. It was in Valencia (visitvalencia.com), a city we wanted to know better but where we had already discovered that the food was fantastic. When we saw a spacious one-bedroom literally across the street from the Mercado Central, we leapt at...Read More

Tortilla soup: Mexico’s world class comfort bowl

Posted on March 26, 2022March 23, 2022 by Pat and David

Because our trips to Mexico have mostly focused on the central highlands, we've been acquainted with tortilla soup as long as we've been going to Mexico. You might find it in some coastal resorts, but it's primarily a staple of the inland Mexican cities. We can't count how many different versions we've eaten over the years. Sometimes the soup is gussied up with fresh chopped herbs, cubes of avocado, or diced hard-boiled egg. Often it is simply thin chicken broth thickened with fried tortilla strips. But we've never eaten a bad version of tortilla soup. Sitting in a small back room or under the arcade (as in Morelia, above), tortilla soup makes a dependably tasty and economical lunch. Over the years, we've perfected a version...Read More

Clever recipes born of pantry cooking in pandemic

Posted on March 19, 2022March 18, 2022 by Pat and David

We sympathize with lifestyle journalist Ronda Carman. Known best for her work writing about entertaining, decorating, and traveling, she found herself suddenly grounded by the pandemic. The avid cook suddenly felt the need to minimize trips to the supermarket. We know. We know. Many of us experienced the same restlessness compounded by agoraphobia. We converted a large portion of a supply closet into the overflow for extra food. Why should one giant cardboard canister of old-fashioned oats suffice when we could stockpile three? Carman took a more practical approach and began to catalog her pantry and adapt her aspirational cooking to suit. (We suspect she enlarged her pantry, too.) The upshot was this lovely cookbook out next week, The Art Of Pantry Cooking: Meals for...Read More

Pepper and mint conjure memories of Turkiye

Posted on March 12, 2022March 9, 2022 by Pat and David

We first tasted Turkish red lentil soup around 2010. We were researching Food Lovers' Guide to Boston when we encountered it at a now-vanished Financial District lunch buffet restaurant. The chef was Turkish and, after some nudging, he gave us a recipe for the soup to publish in the book. When we visited Istanbul the year after that book appeared, we realized that the recipe we had printed was good, but was only the most basic version of the soup. Well-suited to a buffet line, it was too one-dimensional to enter our home soup rotation on a regular basis. Thus began our quest to perfect red lentil soup. Eating in Istanbul was probably the most important part of the research. We had our tastiest bowl...Read More

Cock-a-leekie is a winter warmer with a Scottish burr

Posted on March 5, 2022March 1, 2022 by Pat and David

We confess that much of our usual menu reflects the sun-baked cuisines of the Mediterranean rim. They are dishes full of tomatoes, citrus fruit, garlic, and fresh herbs. But those dishes don't always sync up with our New England climate, which has more in common with Scotland than with Sardinia. Okay, Scottish dining usually conjures up images of haggis, cullen skink (don't ask), or deep-fried Snickers. But Glasgow also gave us Gordon Ramsey. This time of year the Scottish markets (and ours in New England) overflow with root veggies such as leeks, parsnips, celery root, and carrots. The leek is the real clean-up hitter of the Scottish kitchen. It lends a rich flavor to everything it touches, especially the myriad of Scottish soups based on...Read More

At Mardi Gras, gumbo is as much a lifestyle as a soup

Posted on February 26, 2022February 22, 2022 by Pat and David

Some 80 communities in Louisiana celebrate Mardi Gras but New Orleans has claimed the holiday of unbridled excess as its own. The locals have made the French Catholic cycle of temptation and atonement into something of an art form. If you're not sorry the next morning, cher, then you didn't have fun the night before. Not for nothing does St. Louis Cathedral (below) dominate the skyline of the French Quarter. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is founded on the idea that you need to pack enough warm memories into the week before Ash Wednesday to last the entire 40 days of Lent. If, like us, you can't be in town for the parades and general shenanigans, be sure to visit Mardi Gras World (1380 Port...Read More

Ligurian minestrone recalls tastes from the land of pesto

Posted on February 19, 2022February 18, 2022 by Pat and David

One of the smallest regions of Italy, Liguria wraps around the salty rim of the northern Mediterranean. It is a great place to eat. The mountain conifers and herds of sheep provide Liguria's pine nuts and cheese. Groves on the foothills above the sea yield a delicate olive oil. The farms sprouting on the thin strip of arable coastline abound in intensely perfumed basil. The village of Boccadasse, on the east end of the capital city of Genoa, is home to fishing boats that supply the city's restaurants. When David visited a few years ago, he wandered the ancient streets of Genoa, marveling over Baroque palaces built with wealth from bankrolling Spain's New World adventures. Even some of the most modest 17th century homes on...Read More