Simmer Magazine Spring/Summer 13'

Simmer Magazine

The Culture Issue Spring / Summer 2013

Editors Note

There are few things I love more than rice and beans: black beans and white rice, deep red kidney beans with dirty brown rice, aromatic safron rice with pea tendrils. I love the diversity you can apply to this simple dish just by adding a couple of different spices or ingredients. Luckily, this delicious diversity is not only tied to rice and beans, but to all foods.

Living in Boston there are so many cultures of the world around us. From the Japanese and Korean cuisines in Chinatown to Southern BBQ in Harvard sqaure this city is a plethora of exciting and diverse cuisines. And with nothing but the experience of chewing sweet new desserts or slurping spicy new soups to distract you, dining is a whole new way to enjoy a culture.

This issue we wanted to highlight the delicious possibilities of diversity. From regional crawfish boils to trips to Africa with thiopian cuisine, there is a little bit of everything from everyone. Oh, and chicken fingers. Because chicken fingers.

Editor in Chief

Nisreen Galloway

Nisreen Galloway

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Editor in Chief Nisreen Galloway

Assitant Editor in Chief Hannah Brown Copy Editor

Katie Hubbard Writers

Jennifer Myers

Meaghan Elizabeth O’Brien Elizabeth Nash

Nicholas Dumont Katherine Blesis Kyle Grace Mills Katie McGuire

Michelle Debczack Print Design

Nisreen Galloway Sarah Rocha

Photographers Jennifer Myers

Meaghan Elizabeth O’Brien Elizabeth Nash

Nicholas Dumont

Nisreen Galloway Hannah Brown

Katherine Blessis Kaitlin McGuire

Michelle Debczack Andrew Lane

Cover Photo: Bahn Mi simmermagazine.com

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Simmer’s Summer in the City Calender

June Food and Culture Festivals Cultural Survival Bazaar - June 15 @ Copley Square 10am

Crawfish for Cancer - June 15 @ 2pm Charlestown Navy Yard

Boston JerkFest - June 29 @ 11 am Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology South End Greek Food Picnic - June 22-23 @ 12pm Saint John the Baptist

July Food and Culture Festivals 32nd Chowderfest - July 7 @ 11 am City Hall Plaza

African Festival of Boston - July 7 @ 12 pm City Hall Plaza Drink Craft Beer Summerfest - July 12 @ 6pm Space 57 Outside the Box - July 12 @ 12pm Boston Common

August Food and Culture Festivals BostonFest 2013 - August 8th Various Locations around Boston GreenFest - August 15 @ 10 am City Hall Plaza

Courtesy of Boston.com Simmer Magazine Issue 2­

Inside this Issue

6 Taco Bell : Choosing to Live Mas

8 All of the Chicken Fingers

14 Ethiopian Food 16 Kaze Shabu Shabu

18 Mind Your ( Table ) Manners : A How to Guide

24 Crawfish Boil

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On the Go: The Trend Recipes 28 Healthy Desserts

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The Taco Bell Jar:

Choosing to Live Mas in America // By Katie McGuire

In the West Babylon School District on Long Island, Taco

Bell isn’t just soggy Mexican knock-off fast food; it’s a way of life. Every time I return home, one of my first stops with friends or family is the local Taco Bell, where I cry over the beauty of the perfect chalupa paired with the toxic green Mountain Dew Baja Blast or decimate a box of a dozen tacos with my mother. Back at school, just the mention of a Crunch Wrap Supreme will send most rooms of college students into a frenzied nostalgia, recounting the midnight taco runs and the summers spent lounging, bloated, under the hot sun, with Fire sauce rolling down their cheeks.

But it can’t be real, right? Taco Bell’s delights are generally regarded as the distant (and possibly entirely unrelated) step-cousin of whatever “real” taco recipes are floating around out there. Taco Bell’s hard taco shells are just too yellow, their meat too orange and drippy, for any of it to be real. “Real” Mexican fare is messy, too, but at least it’s dignified—the cheese is fresh, the lettuce is crisp, and the meat comes from animals that lived and died in Mexico. Anything Taco Bell serves up, something greasy and wrapped in paper, can’t compare to this pedigree.

Yet the love affair with Taco Bell persists. Is it because Taco Bell is simply a break from the burger and fries combo that dominates our fast food culture, a break from the ordinary?

Is the crunch of a Taco Supreme too satisfying to deny yourself the taste? Are they even tacos at all? Does it even matter?

The birth of the taco is shrouded in mystery. Some say the taco first surfaced in the silver mines of Mexico sometime during the eighteenth century, as an easy meal for the men in the mines. Small charges made of gunpowder wrapped in paper and used for excavation were called “tacos,” a nickname that could easily have been bestowed upon the handheld meal. And the first written record of the taco in the

nineteenth century labels the food tacos de minero—miner’s tacos.

The taco was the food of the working class from the start.

Industrialization brought migrant workers (and their local recipes) into Mexico City and ushered in the age of the neighborhood taqueria, a place to relax after a long day. In the early twentieth century, those in search of work carried the taco with them into the United States. Later, when their children grew up and managed to find some economic success and stability in the United States, they were able to share their heritage with their new homeland. It was these children of the original migrant workers who brought tacos into the mainstream, blending their Mexican roots with their newfound American sensibilities. The rest is greasy, delicious history.

The tradition of eating on the go continues today, and some might pick Taco Bell over the local McDonald’s for one of two reasons: 1) they need tacos; or 2) Taco Bell somehow seems healthier. There’s been a backlash against fast food in recent years, largely due to rising concerns over childhood obesity and the push of prominent social figures (including First Lady Michelle Obama) to keep kids active and out of fast food joints. The thought-provoking 2004 documentary Super Size Me, in which an average man began a McDonald’s-only diet and documented his declining health, helped bring the anti-burger-and-fries fight into the public eye. It didn’t take very long for McDonald’s to become a dirty word.

Taco Bell isn’t much better for you, but the media buzz only seemed to build hatred for burger grease, not mystery taco meat.

The burger hate might stem from consumers who have the idea of the “real taco” stuck in their minds, a dream of authenticity that is perhaps intangible. A “real taco” is made from fresh ingredients—ground beef or chicken from idyl-

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lic Mexican farms; crisp lettuce and ripe tomatoes dripping clean water; cheese fresh from the dairy—while Whoppers, Big Macs, and the like are entirely processed and spat out onto an assembly line for consumption.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a taco as “a usually fried tortilla that is folded or rolled and stuffed with a mixture (as of seasoned meat, cheese, and lettuce),” and Taco Bell’s simplest tacos are just that—beef, cheese, and lettuce on a tortilla. But American food sellers must craft a product from what is available through the food-processing industry of their own country, which means iceberg lettuce and cheddar cheese atop hamburger meat, a semi-exotic dinner food marketed toward those Americans who normally shy away from the unusual.

And as much as we all love crunch wraps, roll-ups, and the like, not one of them summons up images of romantic Mexican deserts. All you see are American strip malls and highway signs directing you to the next exit for your favorite fast food snacks.

The irony of the authenticity debate is that even those in Mexico can’t decide what the “authentic” Mexican cuisine is, or which of their rich and varied dishes deserves inclusion in the Mexican culinary pantheon. The debate stems largely from the history of the land itself. Food and religion clashed violently when the cultures of the native people of Mexico and the European conquistadors first collided. The New World corn was a symbol of the native deities, while When you study the menu in more detail, the fast food tathe wheat of Europe was used in Holy Communion, a strictco’s hard shell more closely resembles the deep-fried tortilla ly Christian rite. The food of the native people was seen as that serves as the basis for a Mexican tostada, the only diflower class, so Europeans steered clear of the more barbaric ference being that the Taco Bell version is foldmeals and tried to introduce the native people ed while tostadas are flat. The freshness of the Taco Bell isn’t just to food that was more refined—the elite Europeother ingredients, a somewhat subjective rating soggy Mexican knock- an menu. Meanwhile, the natives clung to their system based largely on taste and the myth of their recipes—in the face of the off fast food; it’s a way traditions—and what a “real taco” should be, also plays into the encroaching Spanish conquistadors. of life.

American understanding that Taco Bell is bad Mexican nationals claimed the food of the natives (but delicious) and authentic tacos are good as the authentic Mexican dining experience, a direct rebel(and also delicious). lion against the beliefs of the upper class of European-bred Perhaps the biggest Taco Bell seller is the beef taco, which Mexicans. The tension has obviously lessened in the present also so happens to be the closest to an authentic interpreday, but there’s still room for adaptation and interpretation. tation of Mexican cuisine as Taco Bell gets. The traditional In the last few decades, Mexico has seen a rather large inburritos and nachos the restaurant offers don’t do so badflux of Lebanese immigrants coming into the country. This ly, either, when compared to their authentic counterparts, subgroup has contributed new ingredients to the Mexican though any consumer can tell you there’s a difference becuisine, such as pineapple and lamb, as well as introducing tween a Taco Bell burrito and the same dish served at a Mexican citizens to entirely new foodstuffs, like shwarma. taqueria or another favorite local spot. Tacos, burritos, and So if the country of Mexico and the people who proudly pronachos, perhaps, are the easiest to Americanize and the simclaim it their homeland can’t even decide whose tacos reign plest to sell. They don’t take a lot of prep time for restaurant supreme, should it really matter to a bunch of dumb Amerworkers, and anything stuffed into a tortilla and able to be eaten on the go is a positive for our fast-food-loving country. ican teenagers looking for munchies on a Saturday night?

It should. Because though everyone is free to love or hate Other menu items don’t fare so well once they’re marketTaco Bell, to love or hate Mexican food, to love or hate Spaned to hungry customers north of the border. Consider, for ish food, to love or hate tacos in any of their incarnations, example, the chalupa—it certainly sounds authentic. But it’s also good to be educated in the subtle cultural nuances the devil’s in the details, and there’s plenty wrong with the that have invaded our culinary experiences. Eating a Crunch chalupa as Taco Bell has reimagined it. A chalupa is actuWrap Supreme doesn’t teach you anything about Mexico— ally made by pressing dough around the outside of a mold but they are tasty. and then deep-frying it to create a shallow, edible bowl to fill with the cook’s choice of shredded chicken or pork, onion, Taco Bell tacos are surprisingly similar to “real” or “authenpeppers, and assorted salsas. Another popular choice, the tic” tacos, with an American twist. We’ve worked with what gordita, is presented in Taco Bell restaurants as something we’ve been handed in our country to recreate a spectrum of crispy, spicy, delectable foods that would otherwise have of a chalupa/taco hybrid: a thick, fried tortilla folded in half been impossible to even attempt to understand. It can’t and stuffed with your choice of meat and the standard letbe denied that eating Taco Bell every day will undoubtedtuce and cheese. But a true gordita is more like a meat pie, a small corn flour cake usually stuffed with a spiced stew of ly leave you with similar results to those found by the man who chose to super size himself for the sake of education. pork rind, cheese, and other fresh ingredients. In fact, pork seems to be a major basis for many of the original versions But if you eat your tacos sparingly—and remember to give something a little closer to authentic a try every now and of various Mexican meals, yet Taco Bell offers only chicken again—you can feel free to take that first crunchy bite and and beef as meat options. just enjoy the moment.

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An Ode to Chicken Fingers

Because Yum.

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Ethiopian Food in Boston

// By Meaghan O’Brien

The communal meal is the heart of Ethiopian cuisine. Traditionally, eating from a single dish with the fingers signifies friendship and loyalty, but it also brings about a deeper connection with food, because of the tactile relationship with the dish.

You could fill an entire spice cabinet with the herbs needed for a single Ethiopian dish— this cuisine is one rich in flavor and smothered in sauces. The basis of every meal is the staple bread called injera, a spongy, fluffy, thin bread that takes three days to prepare and is made of an ultra-fine grain unique to Ethiopia called teff. The most common sauce is called wot. It can be made in many colors and varieties, but almost all wots are flavored with berbere, a traditional, sun-dried seasoning made with red chilies and garlic.

Communal serving dishes are lined with injera and piled with food. To eat, pieces of injera are ripped off and used to scoop up tender meats and veggies swimming in sauce.

The bread has one smooth side and one porous. Diners use the holey side to scoop up food and absorb the thick, spicy sauces of vibrant yellows and reds. In a traditional dinner setting, the guest of honor is hand-fed by the host, or diners will simply feed one another.

This practice is called gursha and is considered a sign of honor and friendship.

Don’t worry—your server at an Ethiopian restaurant won’t try to feed you by hand—but if Ethiopian cuisine sounds like something you’d like to sink your teeth into, there is a smattering of restaurants in the Boston area dedicated to this exotic cuisine.

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Asmara Restaurant 739 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge (Central Square)

Of the handful of Ethiopian restaurants in Boston, Asmara is one of the oldest and most highly rated. Having opened in 1986, it is a well-established presence in the area for Ethiopian food. The restaurant is named after the capital city of Eritrea, a country on the Horn of Africa that gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1992. Because of their proximity and long-shared cultural identity, Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisines are essentially synonymous.

Asmara is located on Mass Ave in a simple storefront that is easily missed if you aren’t looking for it. The restaurant is a single dining room with coffee-colored walls and vanilla tablecloths. The walls are adorned with Eritrean artifacts and paintings done by an Eritrean artist. It’s cozy and it’s clean, but the atmosphere and décor are not what draws you in to Asmara; the food undoubtedly is.

The first must-try (for those who are 21+, of course) is the Traditional Mes Honey Wine, made in-house by the Asmara chefs. This drink is striking in color, a brilliant lemon yellow.

The slightly viscous wine goes down smooth and tastes of sweet honey and the earthy, herby flavor of rooibos tea.

Food is brought out on traditional, table-height woven baskets called mesob, or in large communal platters. The injera at Asmara is delicious; it has a simultaneously spongy and bready consistency with a distinct sourdough taste.

For a truly Ethiopian experience, throw in the chips and get the Kitfo. Kitfo is ground raw beef served in a buttery herb sauce that is both spicy and sweet. The menu indicates that it can be cooked slightly, but my waitress advises me otherwise.

“I’ve let people get it cooked and it’s just not as good,” she says, scrunching her nose in emphasis. “It doesn’t absorb the flavors as well.” After promising me that it was really good, I order it raw. She’s right. It’s enjoyable on its own, but eating it with the injera brings out the flavors in both for a spicy, sweet, and tangy dish that should not be passed up.

For the less adventurous, there is a range of rich, herb-heavy and curried dishes that feature chicken, lamb, and beef, as well as a variety of vegetarian dishes with chickpeas, lentils, and peas. The Tsebhi Bersen in Meser Wot is a recommended vegetarian option; the lentils are cooked to mushy perfection in a creamy, sweet, and fragrant sauce.

Lucy Ethiopian Café 334 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston

Lucy Ethiopian Café is a more edgy and modern iteration of an Ethiopian restaurant. The tangerine walls, modern, cleanlined coffee shop layout, atmospheric lighting, and array of beautiful art pieces draw you in, and then the food makes you stay. It is definitely a restaurant that caters to newcomers to Ethiopian cuisine, wants to welcome them and make them comfortable. There is a big whiteboard along the wall with basic Ethiopian terms such as the seasons and days of the week.

It’s perfect for lunch, dinner, or a quick take-out.

Lucy Café is definitely as much a coffee shop as it is a restaurant, so traditional coffees and teas are a staple on the menu.

The peanut tea is a must-try item. It is a sweet herbal tea that does not spare on the peanut flavor. When I finish my cup, I find myself very disappointed that there isn’t any more.

The injera at Lucy Café is very spongy and has a curious elasticity and moisture to it, but still has the unmistakable sour taste. Most menu items are combination dishes, with three different items per order. The highlight of the Yellow Combo is Kik Aletcha: pureed split peas cooked in a mild garlic and ginger sauce. The Yellow Combo also includes two servings of a vegetable stew of potatoes, carrots and green beans. The savory and heavily spiced sauce almost makes up for the undercooked and slightly rubbery potatoes. While the menu is primarily Ethiopian dishes, the menu does feature some sandwiches that are more American or typical for a café, such as avocado and hummus pita wraps and cappuccinos.

Service at Lucy Ethiopian Café is very friendly, if slow. There are only two people working the entire café and one of them stays primarily behind the counter. However, the man who serves me is pleasant and makes sure that I understand about the food and how it should be eaten. A fellow diner, there for take-out, tells me that this is a once-a-week stop for him. Lucy Ethiopian Café is definitely a stop for a quick lunch or a date, and is ideal for those looking for an easy introduction to Ethiopian cuisine.

The service at Asmara leaves nothing wanting—my server is pleasant, attentive, and very willing to answer questions. The prices are fairly reasonable, too. Salads and starter dishes are priced at around $7.95, and entrees range from $13.95 to $17.95. Asmara Restaurant is an ideal place for a dinner with friends and an introduction to a delicious cuisine.

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Kaze Shabu Shabu // By Michelle Debczack

We don’t know where to start. Our table is set with what looks like a child’s chemistry set. The group beside us laughs loudly over a joke as they transfer meat to various bowls of broth and sauces. One diner wields a twelve-inch fork. Another uses his hands. Kaze Shabu Shabu is the only restaurant I’ve been to where customers are actually encouraged to play with their food.

At shabu-shabu restaurants like Kaze, meals are treated like a choose-your-own adventure novel. The only things the restaurant provides are the ingredients and the tools to cook them.

The rest lies in the diner’s hands.

The brand of cook-it-yourself cuisine that Kaze Shabu Shabu specializes in can be found in its name. Shabu-shabu is a Japanese dish consisting of vegetables and thinly-sliced meat cooked in hot broth and served with dipping sauces. The term “shabu-shabu” is an onomatopoeia, meant to mimic that sound of boiling meat.

At Kaze, the table has been set with various tools and condiments. An electric burner is built into the center of the table.

Next to it are four dishes filled with scallions, chili sauce, garlic, and Chinese barbecue sauce. The condiments are something I recognize. The utensils, on the other hand, look to be straight out of a sci-fi film.

Our waiter must sense my confusion. He hands me a menu and directs me to a page titled “Eating and Cooking Tips,” complete with full-color illustrations.

You would think that any restaurant requiring an instruction sheet to enjoy a meal wouldn’t be worth the hassle, but my friend and I welcome the challenge. Cooking our own food in a fancy restaurant is a novelty, something reserved for parties and special occasions. Diners today are willing to pay a little more for an interactive food experience, but when American families first started eating out this was exactly what they were looking to get away from.

The family restaurant didn’t become an American staple until the mid-twentieth century. Following World War II, the nation witnessed an expansion of the middle class.

Americans suddenly had access to the extra time and money required to eat out, as well as the transportation needed to get them there. The family restaurant was all about convenience: it allowed housewives to take a break from cooking and cleaning up and have someone else do the work for them.

Today, dining out is rarely seen as the “special treat” that it used to be. One 2011 survey indicates that Americans eat out an average of nearly five times per week. Eating at restaurants is no longer reserved for special occasions; the convenience of dining out has practically become a necessity for anyone wishing to keep up with the American lifestyle. Now that eating out has become such a commodity, “cook-it-yourself” restaurants like Kaze Shabu Shabu are gaining popularity.

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teenagers beside us continue to chatter as a middle-aged couple in the corner enjoys what looks like a first date. Kaze and other restaurants like it are perfect for dates and parties.

They provide customers with an automatic purpose: a conversation topic, something to do with their hands, an experience for the diners to share and laugh about afterwards. A visit to a cook-it-yourself restaurant is like dinner and a show, both of which you’re providing for yourself.

As the waiter approaches our table, I can see that our own show is about to begin. He places the sturdy pot of chicken broth on the burner between us and cranks up the heat. The pot it is divided into two sections, which is helpful if you’d like to spare your friends from your love of spices and garlic. As the broth begins to simmer, the waiter returns with our plates of raw meat and vegetables.

Ordering a traditional shabu-shabu meal is fairly straightforward.

Customers are given a list of meats, broths, and noodles to choose from.

We choose the cheapest option for each category. All that plus an order of pork dumplings amounts to seventeen dollars between the two of us—not too shabby.

The plate of vegetables includes mushrooms, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and corn. The beef is sliced paper-thin and browns within seconds.

Our dumplings come to us frozen, and take a little more time in the pot until they are ready to eat. Even though we do have to do a little work for our meal, there is hardly any skill involved. The process requires just enough from me that I feel accomplished by the end of it. I feel a stronger connection to my food when the time comes to dig in.

While cook-it-yourself restaurants are a fairly new trend in America, this brand of cuisine has a long history in Asia. Shabu-shabu is a variation of hot pot, which has a tradition in Asia of more than 1,000 years.

Korean barbecue doesn’t use broth like shabu-shabu, but allows diners to roast their meat over a charcoal grill. Foodies can try this at some of

the trendiest restaurants across the United States.

The popularity of cook-your-ownfood restaurants in Asia can’t be explained away by lazy chefs or trend-seeking restaurant goers. A long time ago, people discovered that the do-it-yourself experience is the best way for diners to enjoy their food in its freshest and tastiest form.

For me and my eating partner, all the proof we need is bubbling beneath our noses.

The pot in front of us has settled from a boil to a rapid simmer. Our ingredients have dwindled, and the plates in front of us are cluttered with scraps and stained with sauces.

Even though we were given identical materials, we varied in our methods of attack. My side of the hot pot has turned deep amber while hers is still yellow. On my plate I’ve created a makeshift noodle dish consisting of beef, corn, and spinach. My friend is more pragmatic, designating each ingredient its own respective pile.

Even though our tastes in food may differ, this is one meal I know we equally enjoyed. We take comfort in knowing that we’re having this new experience together, whether we’re discovering how long it takes to cook a dumpling or trying to identify a new vegetable. After we finish, the two of us are glowing. “That was so much fun! Why don’t we eat here all time?” we exclaim as the server clears our table.

The meal is one of the best I’ve had, but not necessarily because of the quality of the food. If I was served the dish I made myself in a normal restaurant setting, I would hardly be blown away. The food itself is basic: meat and veggies boiled in bullion broth and served with white rice. But it’s not the taste of the food that I will remember. I’ll remember navigating my way through the strange cooking tools. I’ll remember laughing with my friend at each mistake we made.

I’ll remember listening to the broth bubble and straining to hear a whisper of “shabu-shabu.”

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Mind you Manners: A How to Guide // By Elizabeth Nash

Japan

From extraordinary and inventive sushi creations to simple bowls of plain white rice, Japanese cuisine has a way of balancing flavors within creative dishes.

Now, how exactly does one enjoy these fabulous creations using proper Japanese etiquette?

Keep reading to find out.

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At the Table When eating at a traditional Japanese dinner, you will be sitting on a tatami, which is a

reed-like mat surrounding a low table. Men should sit cross-legged and women should tuck their legs to one side. At a formal dinner, everyone sits in the seiza position with their heels tucked under them.

Instead of having separate courses, Japanese meals are served all at once on many different plates. Usually there is soup, rice, and at least two other dishes such as sliced grilled fish and vegetables. “Itadakimasu” is the saying that begins a meal. Said by the host or hostess, it basically means, “let’s eat.”

How to Use Chopsticks:

By now, most of the Western world has familiarized itself with the proper way to hold a set of chopsticks. However, it is important to know a few more simple rules of etiquette when handling these utensils.

If you have wooden chopsticks from a paper wrapper, use the wrapper to make a holder for the chopsticks when they are not in use. Do so by folding the wrapper in half horizontally and tying a knot in the middle. Place the knotted wrapper on the right side of your plate.

You have just created a pad on which to rest the food soaked ends of your chopsticks.

When you go to break the wooden chopsticks apart, do so over your lap to keep splinters from falling into your food.

Eat every single thing on your plate with your chopsticks. It doesn’t matter how miniscule the grain of rice is, how slippery the noodles are, or how liquidy the soup happens to be – chopsticks must always be used. The only exception is with sushi, which can be picked up with clean fingers.

•Never cross your chopsticks together like an X. •Never use them to pierce food.

•Never rest them on separate sides of the plate.

•Never stick your chopsticks into your rice so that they stand upright.

•Never use them to point at things or especially people.

Rice:

The process for eating rice is similar to how one eats soup. Hold the bowl of rice close to your lips and use the chopsticks to scoop the food into your mouth. Rice is to be eaten plain and is never mixed with sauces or other foods. Make sure you eat every grain of rice in your bowl.

Soup:

Eating your soup with chopsticks may sound like an impossible task but there is in fact a method to the madness. Pick up the bowl with one hand and hold it close to your lips. Use the chopsticks to lift any larger pieces of food from the broth and into your mouth. Once you have eaten what you can, rest your chopsticks on either your chopstick holder or the right side of your plate. Using two hands, drink the broth from the bowl as you would a beverage.

Sushi:

Using your fingers is actually an okay and preferred way of eating sushi and sashimi.

If either is served, lay your chopsticks down on their pad and pour a small amount of soy sauce into to small dish provided. Make sure you don’t use very much because you do not want to offend the chef by adding too many extra flavors to his or her creation. When eating sashimi, raw slices of fish served over rice, pick up a piece and turn it upside-down so that only the fish touches the soy sauce.

The reason for this is so that the rice does not absorb too much of the pungent liquid.

Keeping the piece fish side down, plop the entire thing in your mouth. Although the pieces may be beautiful, try to eat each of them in one bite that way they rice doesn’t end up falling out.

Dessert:

Instead of ending the meal with sweet dishes, often a cup of black or green tea is served with sliced fruit. The tea is served hot and is the perfect way to digest and relax after dinner.

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Italy When in Rome, do as the Romans do and loosen your belt buckle. To rephrase: when anywhere in Italy, be prepared to eat and eat a lot. Courses are generous and every meal is enjoyed at a slow and steady pace. Although many Italian customs are familiar across the world, the trick to looking like a local is in the delicious details.

At the Table: Many dinners won’t even begin until sometime around 8 pm. So you might be a little peckish by the time you sit down to eat. Although it may be difficult, try to wait for the host or hostess to say “Buon Appetito” before digging in.

The Many, Many Utensils:

The utensils used in Italy are identical to the ones used here in America, there just many more placed in front of a person – and surprisingly you do use them all! Just start from the outside and work your way in when it comes to the knives, forks, and spoons on the sides of the plate. There may be a spoon and fork lying horizontally at the top of your plate, which are used during the dessert courses.

You might notice that the butter knife is missing.

This is because Italians do not put butter on their bread. They do something equally delicious by using the bread to sop up any remaining sauces at the bottom of their soup or pasta dishes.

Drinks:

When at a restaurant, drinks are usually ordered first shortly after sitting down. Most everyone drinks wine (vino) and mineral water (acqua minerale). Always drink water from a bottle and if you really want to look like local, order it sparkling or frizzante. And don’t knock the house wine! Both the reds and whites are delicious, cheap, and you can order by the liter. What more could you ask for?

Antipasti:

The first thing you will order is the appetizer or antipasti. This is usually a platter of cold cuts and cured meats like salamis and prosciutto as well as artichoke hearts and mushrooms. Often these plates can be shared between two or more people.

The idea being to taste what you like and excite your palate without filling up.

Pasta: Next is the first course or primo. This is where you get the famous Italian pasta. Unlike in America, pasta is never the main event at dinner but rather an accompanying dish for the meat that comes later. Because Italians take their pasta so seriously, now is not the time for messy slurping or Lady and the Tramp moments. Long pasta strands are never cut with a knife or twirled onto a fork with the help of a spoon. Italians use the sloping edges of their plate to coil their spaghetti, fettuccini, tagliatelle, and other long-stranded pastas onto their fork.

Instead of slurping the strands, place the entire forkful into your mouth all at once. Practice makes perfect so I suggest you order some spaghetti the next time you’re hungry and get to twirling.

Main Course: Now you’re ready for the second course, or secondo. This is usually a dish of meat, poultry, or fish.

Side dishes or contorni can be order al la cart and are usually a small helping of vegetables or potatoes. If you ever order a pizza, make sure to cut it into bite size pieces with your knife and fork rather than picking up the slices with your hands.

Dolce:

After all the pasta, meat, and bread you’re probably pretty full right now, but you know the saying: there is always room for dessert or dolce (even if dessert turns out to be two courses itself). First come the decadently rich desserts like spumoni ice cream and tiramisu. These little works of art can either be generously split with your dining companions or greedily hoarder for yourself – your choice. Next comes the lighter dishes made up of fresh fruit and cheese used to aid in digestion and help you leave feeling refreshed rather than stuffed – not that anyone would complain if the latter was the case.

Min Man AH Gui

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After-Dinner Drinks: Strong espresso is served after the dessert courses. It comes in tiny mugs and is served piping hot. Often a lemon rind is floating on top.

Never order a cappuccino or other drink with milk in it because the Italians believe it adversely affects digestion. It is also common for dessert wines or other aperitifs, such as limoncello (a lemon liquor) or grappa (a grape brandy), to be served at the end of a meal.

Even though several hours will have passed since you first sat down, Italians will rarely rush from the table, even after downing the last of their drinks. They talk, they laugh, and reminisce about the glorious food they just ate. The check won’t even appear at the table until the waiter is asked to bring it. You could be the last party in the restaurant at closing time and still not be hurried along. To the Italians, food and the good times that come with it are savored at a slow, appreciative pace. Buon Appetito!

nd Your nners How To ide

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Crawfish Boil // By Kyle Grace Mills

Soaked deep into your fingers is the spicy cayenne.

Stuck to your clothes are shards of brilliant red shell. Orange juice of the seasoned water runs down your arms, right off the crook of your elbow.

A crawfish boil can never be a civilized affair. By the time you’re through eating your weight in crawfish you’ll be a mess. You have gathered with your fellow crawfish lovers and rejoiced in a love for food. And all the while that you were enjoying your good food, there was good music playing and good people laughing. This is a crawfish boil.

Every coastal region rich in seafood has their own version of the seafood boil, with varying contents and flavors. New England contributes the clam bake or oyster bake. Georgia and South Carolina have their crab boil, oyster roast, and “frogmore stew,” the equivalent of a shrimp boil. Even France has their own take. Near the Bay of Biscay, the Eclade de Moules is a mussel bake held annually. The essence of the “bakes” and “boils” are all the same: a celebration of a fresh, seasonal haul of local seafood accompanied by the regional cultural flavor.

Down south, they celebrate the lobster’s minuscule cousin in their seafood boil. Crawfish. Crayfish. Crawdads. Mudbugs. Call them what you like, there are few things more signature to Cajun cuisine than a properly seasoned, freshly boiled crawfish. In their natural state, crawfish are ugly, grey and translucent mud dwellers. But boiled, they turn a celebratory bright red. This brings us to the traditional, deliciously simplistic Cajun presentation of crawfish: the boil.

A crawfish boil begins with a very large pot. Think a pot that can hold sixty to eighty quarts of water. The crawfish season usually runs from March until the end of June. Thus all crawfish boils should be held in that time frame for the best quality mudbugs. Fresh crawfish boiled plain are tender, mild, and slightly sweet. But that’s hardly a Cajun dish.

So, into the pot are thrown corn, potatoes, onions, occasionally smoked sausage, and a mixture of spicy Cajun seasonings. Every local Cajun has their own mix, a treasured family secret treated with jealous reverence as an inheri-

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tance. For us outsiders, Zatarains and Old Bay are acceptable commercial versions of the Cajun blend of flavors commonly used in seafood boils. Cajun seasoning almost always packs the heat of Cayenne pepper, strong salt, a shot of citrus, searing garlic, and the innocuous bay leaf. Once you have all the ingredients boiling in your enormous pot, you’re ready to add in the crawfish.

Here comes the squeamish part. Crawfish is boiled alive. That means you have to pour your grey crawfish into the boiling waters while they’re still wriggling. All seafood boils require a live subject. Hard, delicious truth.

Next, there is a quick boil followed by a long luxurious soak in the juices. Then all is drained and laid out to dry on newspaper covered picnic tables.

Boiled crawfish can be eaten with dressing, melted butter, and cocktail sauce. But a crawfish boil done right needs no added flavor or extra complication.

The rest is a hands-on, messy experience of devouring pound upon pound of perfectly seasoned crawfish. The gory process of separating the head from the tail, peeling away the hard shell surrounding the meat, and, if you’re die hard, sucking out the fatty brains can cause a shower of debris from which there is no escape.

How can I define the sense of community that follows consuming great quantities of crawfish? What is it that brings everybody together over the act of chaotic, primitive eating? Perhaps the only was to understand the convivial experience is to understand the crawfish boil’s unlikely Cajun parentage.

The association between crawfish and Cajun culture mostly derives from where crawfish is found.

As freshwater crustaceans, crawfish are normally found in the narrow canals of the bayou and the sunken swamp lands of Louisiana, classic Cajun territory. But who are the Cajuns?

the French Acadian exiles of the French and Indian War. Over the years, the Cajun community has absorbed many other cultural groups including the Creole, British, Irish, German, Italian, Greek, and other pre-Louisiana Purchase settlers. The Cajuns still maintain their strong French heritage with their heavily French accented language and culture.

There is only one way for a Cajun to view a crawfish boil. And that’s as one big party. To emphasize my point, take Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, population 8,139, and the state designated “la capitale Mondiale de l’ecrevisse” (the crawfish capital of the world). The town is named after the bridge that Firmin Breaux built to help transport merchants from one end of the Bayou Teche to the other. Breaux Bridge is an unpretentious small town.

Yet every year, the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival brings in thousands of Cajun food and music lovers.

Small or large, any Cajun town can put on a good party as long as there is good crawfish to be had.

The Cajuns can celebrate the big and small, the religious and decidedly pagan, the happy and sad, as long as they have music and food. This as close as one comes to describing the Cajun celebration.

Some things you have to live in order to fully understand them. And a crawfish boil is no exception.

Yet the ingredients remain simple: good people, good music, and good food. This recipe is the secret to all community gatherings, not just Cajun. And while the flavors may differ for every community, the collective experience is one everyone is familiar with. We’ve all seen the primitive gathering of neighbors and friends, heard the sound of their roaring laughter, and shared the rich spoils of delicious local food with them. It’s not easy to define the sense of community--only that it is there and it is wild and that it tastes wonderful.

Cajun refers to an ethnic group descended from

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On the Go: The Trend // By Nicholas Dumont

One of the first dining etiquette lessons parents

teach children is to never eat with their hands. Or, at least, that’s what they used to say. Today, finger foods are a prominent part of all three meals.

Cheesy slices of pizza are now bite-sized, ice cream is compressed in compact Klondike bars, and yogurt is packaged in slurpable tubes. America’s favorite foods are more finger friendly than ever.

It’s hard to tell how we got here, but Patient Zero could very well be Stanley S. Jenkins. During the Roaring Twenties, Jenkins was less enamored by Jay Gatsby’s parties on Long Island than he was with the greasy food at nearby Coney Island’s amusement park. He discovered that if he placed boiled ham, wieners, cheese—or even fruit such as cherries or strawberries—on a stick and then dipped them in batter and deep fried them, the result would be heavenly.

He filed a patent in 1927 for a machine called a “Combined Dipping, Cooking, and Article Holding Apparatus” that simulated the process. In the patent Jenkins wrote, “The resultant food product on a stick for a handle is clean, wholesome and tasty refreshment.” Yes, that’s right: Jenkins’ idea of wholesome refreshment wasn’t lemonade or watermelon, but rather fried meat on a stick. He was a true visionary. Countless other innovators also introduced handheld food in the ‘20s. Frank Epperson patented the Popsicle. William Isaly invented the Klondike Bar. Clarence Birdseye discovered frozen fish sticks.

Handheld snacks

Frank C. Mars—founder of the Mars chocolate company—produced the Milky Way candy bar. And Otto Frederick Rohwedder gave the world the coolest invention ever: sliced bread.

These brilliant innovators were businessmen who knew they had products that would blow up in the open market, but another part of them recognized that eating finger foods was fun, or better yet, it just felt natural. Silverware was thought of to be the necessary middleman between the food and mouth, but they wanted to cut it out entirely.

The idea was radical, and was initially embraced by culinary experts who weren’t strangers to the bizarre: vendors at state fairs. Handheld foods, at first, became popular as specialty items at these festivals. The most common item was the corn dog but, like Jenkins, vendors learned that basically anything could be dipped in batter and shoved onto a stick. Whether the consumers realized it or not, the impaled pieces of meat were a culinary game changer. Customers could take their food on the go, eating it as they rode the Ferris wheel, pointed at animal cages, and played carnival games.

That convenience translates perfectly to the American household. Think of how many times you’ve grabbed a handheld food like a granola bar while running out of your home in the morning, or snagged a sandwich at a cafe during a quick lunch, or ate a burrito for an on-the-go dinner. The trend that Jenkins and other innovators in the ‘20s gave

Overall: ⅖ star s Cereal Bars Mornings are spent scrambling to get ready for class, work, or the gym. It’s tough to make time for breakfast, let alone pour a bowl of cereal and sit down and eat it.

This is what makes cereal bars incredibly convenient.

Popular brands like Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Cocoa Puffs have all gotten the shrunken treatment, but convenience doesn’t always equal success. The bars have a sweet milk layer in its middle, but it’s such a small sliver that you can barely taste it. And it definitely doesn’t do its job of counteracting the dryness, so you’ll need a glass of milk anyway. In the end, maybe the crunchy, dry bars aren’t so convenient after all.

Overall: 5/5 st ars Go-Gurt This snack is most common in children’s lunchboxes, but there’s no shame in adults buying it for themselves either. The product comes in watermelon, mango, strawberry, and blueberry, and has the same sugary, fruity taste as yogurt in a cup. But the slurpability adds an extra dimension of flavor that can’t be explained, like how macaroni and cheese shapes are tastier than original Mac. Go-gurts won’t replace Yoplait or Chobani in a healthy diet, but it’s perfect as a snack or dessert--especially if you freeze it first.

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birth to has been fully realized.

Nowadays, food corporations are hiring armies of ethnographers and marketing research teams to tell them what’s become increasingly obvious: they should make on-the-go meals and snacks. If the ‘20s were times of birth and creation for finger foods, then these are times of innovation and transformation. Companies are taking foods that are already popular and making them hand-friendly.

They took one of America’s favorite meals, pizza, and converted it into pizza bites. These bites compromise on taste but make up for it with convenience. The greasy mess and sliding cheese is gone, and the multiple steps required to make the pizza are simplified to one. More than any other meal, food companies have transformed breakfast into a hand on affair. Soft and syrupy French toast has been reimagined as dipping sticks, or in laymen’s terms, four inch strips of heaven. Cereal, on the other hand, didn’t have nearly as successful a transformation. It was condensed into a crispy granola bar form, and by granola I mean that it has the same dryness and texture as a pine cone.

us at Super Bowl parties, family get-togethers, and movie nights. Strangers become friends as they take turns dunking their tortilla chips into warm cheese dip, and brothers and sisters grow closer over a plate of rich homemade chocolate brownies.

The next time you grab muffin bites while you walk out the door in the morning, or drive home at night with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a meaty burrito, be thankful for handheld food. Now, excuse me while I lick off my fingers and dig into another plate of gooey chocolate chip cookies.

But faith is restored by Pop Tarts minis, which are penny-sized crisps filled with the same delicious fruit jelly as their larger version, muffin bites that perfectly capture the pastry’s spongey texture and chocolate chip or blueberry flavors, and mini bagels with their signature circular shape and signature cheesy pizza topping. Lunch and dinner have become finger friendly too. We’re getting our hands dirty eating burritos, subs, nachos, ribs, burgers, hot dogs, and even delicacies like lobster. Instead of reaching for forks and knives, we’re reaching for napkins instead. Ditching silverware benefits today’s multitasking culture, as most people are texting, Googling, tweeting, Facebook-ing, Instagram-ing, Snapchat-ing, Netflix-ing, or Spotify-ing while they eat.

But handheld eating isn’t as solitary as it sounds. It’s actually the opposite; pizzas, buckets of chicken, sandwiches, vegetable plates and pastries are what unify

Overall: ⅘ stars

Ice cream sandwich Like Klondike bars and popsicles, the ice cream sandwich is a handheld take on one of the most popular desserts in the country. Its design is ingenious: a rectangle of hard serve vanilla ice cream with a chocolate cookie holding it together. The cookie gives you something to hold onto without getting your hands messy, but be careful: if you don’t eat it quick, it’ll melt all over you. www.simmermagazine.com 25 Overall: 5/5 stars

Overall: ⅘ star s Portable soup Soup is a food that many didn’t think could be made handheld. But Campbell’s revolutionized the product when it released tiny plastic soup containers. It’s easy to make; just heat it up in the microwave and drink it out of the cup or pour the steaming broth into a bowl.

I rarely stray from the tried and trusted chicken noodle flavor, but tomato soup, minestrone, and tomato and vegetables are also available to soothe your taste buds.

The only con is that the portion sizes are much smaller than desired, and you might have to eat two to get a full meal out of it.

Pizza Rolls It would be an injustice for someone to claim that these rolls perfectly capture the taste of pizza, but they still provide a delicious alternative. They contain the same melted cheese, tomato sauce, and even toppings like pepperoni, green peppers, and onions. Skeptics ony need one bite of the warm bread and the flavorful insides oozing inside their mouth to become believers.

A DESSERT A DAY:

THE HEALTHY WAY Indulging should be something that everyone does on a daily basis. Whether it’s taking a break once in a while, going for a stroll on a nice day, or having dessert whenever you want to, nobody should feel guilty for treating themselves.

Dessert is one of the more common indulgences that we enjoy. However, rich, sweet, and creamy desserts are regularly accompanied by some sensation of guilt. So I got to thinking. What if we were able to really feel good about allowing ourselves a little something sweet every single day? This is not some far-fetched notion. It is possible, and actually even more satisfying to

// By Jennifer Myers

create desserts that are tasty and also good for you!

Being vegan, I find that I make substitutions and experiment on a daily basis. I have tried and tried to make vegan recipes, but often they look weird or have a strange texture. Yes, it can be frustrating when things go wrong, but the experimentation is all a part of the fun! Plus, when things turn out just right, it’s that much more rewarding. Below are a few recipes that I have experimented with several times before coming to these scrumptious conclusions. So indulge your taste buds, try out these treats, and get ready for a food adventure.

(Note: food processor required)

FUNKY MONKEY VANILLA ‘ICE CREAM’

Ingredients

2 bananas 1/4 cup milk (I used almond) 2 Tbsp sweetener of choice (agave nectar, honey, or maple syrup) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Pinch of salt

Directions

Let’s face it, ice cream is yummy. It’s velvety smooth and refreshing on a warm summer night. Regrettably, ice cream isn’t as nutritious as it is delicious. It’s no secret that this creamy concoction is incredibly high in calories, fat, and sugar. There is another way to create that same rich, creamy texture and addicting flavor while still being healthy. By freezing and blending bananas, you can get the same smoothness without the processed sugars and fats. It’s so simple that ice cream parlors are cashing in on this healthy substitute, too. I actually got the idea from my local parlor, which now sells “banana whips” (frozen blended bananas). I decided to try it out for myself, and came up with something tremendous.

Break bananas into small chunks. Freeze overnight.

Blend all ingredients together in food processor. (Note: drizzle agave around the blade of your food processor to allow for smoother blending) Scoop ice cream into freezer-proof container and freeze for two hours.

Possible add-ins: cookie dough or brownie batter, Nutella, peanut butter, nuts, fruit, etc.

Having some doubts about how these treats are healthy and tasty? Don’t take our word for it! We asked a group of Emerson students to try out these baked goods, before revealing the secret ingredients in the recipes. After their first few bites, a few students made comments like, “They [the cookies] taste like the Chips Ahoy soft version!” and, “I would eat these for breakfast.”

After they finished eating, the secret ingredients were revealed. The shock on the students’ faces was unanimous when they found out that they had just eaten chickpeas and prunes.

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PROTEIN-PACKED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients

1 can (55.5 oz.) chickpeas ¾ cup brown sugar, maple syrup, or agave nectar ½ cup flour ½ cup peanut butter ¼ cup milk (I used almond milk) 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Ordinary cookies can easily contain thirty percent of your daily value of saturated fats and a generous 200 calories in just one cookie. By replacing the butter in any cookie recipe with chickpeas and peanut butter, you can cut down on saturated fat and power your body with an extra boost of protein.

The peanut butter also adds an extra gooeyness, keeping your cookies soft even after they’ve cooled. They’re chewy, they’re chocolaty, and they’re healthy: a perfect combination that will always have you coming back for more.

These chickpea-based cookies provide three to four grams of protein per cookie and only around 90 calories. Chickpeas are great— they’re high in fiber and vitamin C.

Directions

1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar ¼ teaspoon almond extract Chocolate chips (as many as you’d like!)

OIL-FREE BROWNIES

Preheat your oven to 350ºFahrenheit.

In food processor, blend chickpeas, peanut butter, milk, and brown sugar until smooth.

Add vanilla extract, almond extract, and apple cider vinegar and blend.

In a separate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients.

Add the chickpea blend to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Form dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

What else don’t we know about prunes? Well, they actually contain the most antioxidants of any food, and they also have fiber and potassium. In fact, one prune has thirty percent more potassium than a whole banana! Not only are these brownies oil-free, but they’re actually really good for you.

Ingredients

8 dried prunes 7 dried dates 1 cup flour ¾ cup cocoa powder ½ cup milk (I used almond milk) ½ cup white sugar 1/3 cup water ¼ cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºFahrenheit.

Warning: the prune and date paste is weird! Really, it’s supposed to look like that.

In a food processor, blend prunes, dates, and water into a smooth paste.

Stir in milk and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

Add prune mixture to dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Pour batter into pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Let cool before slicing. www.simmermagazine.com 27

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