You know, I’m not your typical food blogger. While I would hesitate to claim the mantle of food writer, I spend more time looking around at what is going on in food and cooking, and researching the history, science, and lore of food, as it were. I don’t write about what I cooked for dinner […]
Food Culture
Chinese Table Manners: Never Flip Over a Whole Fish
In some parts of China it is considered bad luck, and bad table manners, to flip over a whole fish to get to the other side Have you ever ordered whole fish at a Chinese restaurant? This is the traditional Chinese way of serving fish, with head, bone, tail and all. Nothing unusual there, but […]
Do Chinese People Hate American Chinese Food?
Before you complain about the Americanized Chinese food you get from your local Chinese restaurant, keep in mind that it is Chinese immigrants themselves who invented it. The first major influx of Chinese immigrants into the U.S. occurred during the 1850’s, when large numbers of Chinese immigrants came to San Franciso, mostly due to the […]
Does Anybody Eat Raw Chicken?
At dinner the other night, my son asked me an interesting question. Why are beef and other meats eaten rare or even raw, but not chicken? While I pointed out that there is some risk of salmonella poisoning from consuming raw or undercooked chicken, requiring a higher temperature to guard against, the simple reason we […]
Food Babe, et al. and the Goliath Effect
Ever since Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” we’ve had constant examples of “The Goliath Effect,” referring to the biblical legend of David and Goliath. The term was originally coined by Gary Alan Fine who pointed out that more [American] urban legends than can be attributed to chance refer to the largest and most dominant corporations. In […]
What Is Meat?
Here on CulinaryLore, I have often shied away from writing articles about things that most people take for granted. For example, I would probably not write an article explaining what bread is, as most people take bread for granted, and even if they don’t know exactly what makes bread bread, they also don’t care. However, I […]