The Midwest, Iowa to be precise, is an unlikely place to come across as a tourist. That's the upside of working at a university. You get invited to such unlikely places. This is how I ended up exploring the midwest. Grinnell Foodwise, it has been quite a surprise. I expected greasy food and sweetened softdrinks. [...]
It's long overdue to start digesting my culinary experiences in Asia in 2018. Last year I was lucky enough to visit China, Korea and Japan in one go. This happened to be the perfect opportunity to compare these amazing food cultures. So, the first thing I want to share with you is a reflection on taste and the composition of meals. This is what I call a phenomenology of taste: A reflection on the experience of eating and tasting during a meal. What happens on your tongue? How are tastes combining, intersecting or merging?
Yes, Korean-Italian Fusion is a thing. At least, when it comes to pasta. Korea is just like Japan and China a country with an old noodle tradition, older than the Italian use of pasta. It's a tradition of long noodles. This might explain, why Korean supermarkets only offer spaghetti from Italy. And most of the [...]
A word on one of the most beautiful book I've ever read. And it's not even about food. It's called The Pillow Book. It is written by Sei Shōnagon (966-1025), a Japanese female writer and court lady. Her musings on love, art and beauty have been the inspiration for this blog. A pillow book is [...]
The Sushi Bar Tatsumi in Konstanz literally saved my life. I arrived in a dark winter night in the small beautiful town Constance. It is tugged away between the Lake Constance and Switzerland. In the German geography it resembles an appendix, because it is the far southwest end of the country. But it has the [...]
The perfect bite might not be a once in a lifetime thing, but it shoots you right into culinary heaven! It does that because it combines unexpected textures and tastes in a delightful way. You will remember such a moment for a very long time! Every culture and cooking tradition has their own perfect bites. [...]
