Edibles & Potables

Edibles & Potables: Spare me the “speakeasy,” tearbender

(This essay originally was published here.) Allowing for the possible exception of Mick Jagger, we’re all destined to awaken one morning and find that we’ve pole-vaulted past the invisible line in the sand that delineates prevailing fashion. Whether or not we ever cared about “cool” in the past, from this point forward the choice is […]

The post Edibles & Potables: Spare me the “speakeasy,” tearbender appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: Spare me the “speakeasy,” tearbender Read More »

Edibles & Potables: Is there a right way to say “taco”?

During the past few weeks, tacos seem to be enjoying an inexplicable resurgence, even though they never really went away. I’ve been seeing the word “taco” everywhere on social media, and it started me thinking about first causes, although I must concede that chicken is not my personal favorite choice of taco filling. At the […]

The post Edibles & Potables: Is there a right way to say “taco”? appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: Is there a right way to say “taco”? Read More »

Edibles & Potables: The Regimen Sanitatus Salernum (or, a medieval diet revisited)

 (Originally posted on May 3, 2020) The medieval period of European history — the Middle Ages, or the Dark Ages — encompassed 1,000 years between the fall of the Roman Empire and the arrival of the Renaissance, approximately 500 to 1500 A.D. The 15th century saw the beginning of the Age of Exploration, as […]

The post Edibles & Potables: The Regimen Sanitatus Salernum (or, a medieval diet revisited) appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: The Regimen Sanitatus Salernum (or, a medieval diet revisited) Read More »

Edibles & Potables: What is “normal” food, anyway?

Previously in this space, Alicia Kennedy’s book No Meat Required was offered for your consideration. Edibles & Potables: Alicia Kennedy’s book “No Meat Required” During the past few months, Kennedy has discussed two books that I intend to read when time permits. The first is Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need […]

The post Edibles & Potables: What is “normal” food, anyway? appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: What is “normal” food, anyway? Read More »

Edibles & Potables: Recreating the gatefold grub from ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres

 (Originally posted on November 15, 2020, and lightly retouched.) Something was missing in 2016 when an Austin, Texas chef recreated the gate-fold meal from ZZ Top’s epochal 1973 album, Tres Hombres. I’ll get to this omission in a moment. Meanwhile, queue up the album on the device of your choice. Back in 1973, it was […]

The post Edibles & Potables: Recreating the gatefold grub from ZZ Top’s <i>Tres Hombres</i> appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: Recreating the gatefold grub from ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres Read More »

Edibles & Potables: Welcome to “post-literate (lipstick effect) little treat culture”

Nowadays on Google, thoughtfully sifting through the options in search of something real amid the sheer weight of insulting dross has been relegated to the vapors, because AI gives you the summary right up front (whether it is accurate, or not). Customarily I push past AI and commence my merry daily regimen of zapping misinformation […]

The post Edibles & Potables: Welcome to “post-literate (lipstick effect) little treat culture” appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: Welcome to “post-literate (lipstick effect) little treat culture” Read More »

Edibles & Potables: A Bay Area wine bar where every glass is priced the same

Today, a Bay Area wine bar where every glass is priced the same, everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. Something like that, at least. Truth be told, wine knowledge isn’t one of my strengths, even if I drink more gratifyingly modified grape juice today than during earlier periods of my life. […]

The post Edibles & Potables: A Bay Area wine bar where every glass is priced the same appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: A Bay Area wine bar where every glass is priced the same Read More »

Edibles & Potables: South Shore bar pies are “sort of like snowflakes”

The Spring 2025 issue of Food & Dining Magazine is now available in all the familiar places: Louisville area eateries and food shops, newsstands and online (or read it at issuu). “As various families perfected their own recipes and as cooks carried their trade secrets from kitchen to kitchen, these simple pies, perfect for slugging back with a […]

The post Edibles & Potables: South Shore bar pies are “sort of like snowflakes” appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: South Shore bar pies are “sort of like snowflakes” Read More »

Edibles & Potables: “Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit,” a book by Josh Noel

The renowned British author Rudyard Kipling spent time in Chicago in 1889, and did not mince words. “Having seen it, I urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages.” 133 years later, Food and Wine magazine offered this introduction to a Chicago phenomenon that some might accuse of committing olfactory savagery. “’(Malört) […]

The post Edibles & Potables: “Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit,” a book by Josh Noel appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: “Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit,” a book by Josh Noel Read More »

Edibles & Potables: Tampa and the advent of the Cuban sandwich

The Spring 2025 issue of Food & Dining Magazine is now available in all the familiar places: Louisville area eateries and food shops, newsstands and online (read it at issuu). Perhaps not unexpectedly, Tripadvisor lists the best Cuban sandwiches in Louisville as coming from our local Cuban restaurants, most prominently Havana Rumba and Mojito in […]

The post Edibles & Potables: Tampa and the advent of the Cuban sandwich appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: Tampa and the advent of the Cuban sandwich Read More »

Edibles & Potables: Traditional Albanian fare at Tak-Fak in Tirana

You’ll have kindly noted a previous missive addressing Albanian cuisine. We returned late last week from the Balkan Mystery Tour 2025, a marvelous (if a tad chilly) sweep through North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. All my Europhile buttons were pushed, repeatedly, and I’ve returned to America rested and ready for…well, writing a book it seems. […]

The post Edibles & Potables: Traditional Albanian fare at Tak-Fak in Tirana appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: Traditional Albanian fare at Tak-Fak in Tirana Read More »

Edibles & Potables: 31 years of Albanian cuisine (1994 to 2025)

It will have taken a mere three decades for an encore to “Albania 1994,” with the long-awaited 2025 freshening-up orientation about to get underway in Tirana. Judging from the surface appearances to be gleaned from videos at YouTube, the country has changed considerably during my lengthy time away. Of course Thomas Jefferson surely would counsel […]

The post Edibles & Potables: 31 years of Albanian cuisine (1994 to 2025) appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: 31 years of Albanian cuisine (1994 to 2025) Read More »

Edibles & Potables: Might there be Cincinnati-style chili in the North Macedonian homeland?

Boy, do I know how to pick balmy midwinter holiday destinations. Not exactly, but what we’ll be lacking in sun-drenched beaches, there’ll be compensation in fascination. At first, it seems almost simple: North Macedonia is a mountainous landlocked country in the Balkan region of Southeast Europe, bordering on Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Serbia. These are […]

The post Edibles & Potables: Might there be Cincinnati-style chili in the North Macedonian homeland? appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: Might there be Cincinnati-style chili in the North Macedonian homeland? Read More »

Edibles & Potables: On tariffs, food costs and rough sailing ahead

“Many people think of California as the garlic capital of the world when, in fact, most of our garlic comes from China” — Southern Living As readers already know, as of Saturday afternoon tariffs have been placed on all imports to the United States from Mexico, Canada and China. Stated simply at Wikipedia, “a tariff […]

The post Edibles & Potables: On tariffs, food costs and rough sailing ahead appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: On tariffs, food costs and rough sailing ahead Read More »

Edibles & Potables: Pie & mash with jellied eel? Don’t mention the “G” word

With advancing age has come a graceful acceptance of my latent Anglophilia. Much of this serenity owes to the creeping realization that proficiency in any of the continental languages is unlikely; consequently, a thwarted expatriate’s aspirations might as well be confined to areas where the Mother Tongue is spoken. There but for chronic linguistic underachievement, […]

The post Edibles & Potables: Pie & mash with jellied eel? Don’t mention the “G” word appeared first on Food & Dining Magazine.

Edibles & Potables: Pie & mash with jellied eel? Don’t mention the “G” word Read More »

Available for Amazon Prime