Podcast: Food in The Land of the Rising Sun

As we conduct interviews with people who have experienced Japanese cuisine first hand, we get a peek at Japanese culture.

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What Goes On In The Cafeteria?

You are about to find out.

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Recipe Contest!

Attention all FoodStuffs readers! Artichoke magazine is having a dessert recipe contest. This is your chance to be featured in our food magazine! We want your favorite, most tasty dessert recipe. Be creative, but not too complicated. The winner will be named and have their recipe published in the Spring Edition of our magazine.

Please give entries to Ms. Young or email them to artichokezine@gmail.com by April 30. Each submission should include the name of participant, the entire recipe and all ingredients with exact measurements. A picture may be included, but is not required.

Politics of School Lunches

  Have you ever wondered what goes in to making those appealing French fry's in the school cafeteria? There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes in government buildings that tells your school what and how they can feed you. Read more when Artichoke comes out!

Chef With No Borders

One would have to grow a third or fourth arm to count all of the places Aisha Essien has traveled to. Even then it would be incredibly difficult. The upcoming Artichoke magazine features Aisha recounting her extraordinary travels throughout Africa and South America. She shares unique insight about the differences she observed in the culture surronding food, as well as culinary knowledge, learned from working at restraunts and even owning one of her own.

Concessions Trailer's secrets

Every one's seen all those trailers around town. However, there's a surprising amount of political maneuvering along with competition in this industry. Also a look into the technicalities behind trailers and into F.N. Goode Burgers. All in Trailer Trash:The trend of concession trailers nation wide and the politics trying to destroy them, in the upcoming spring issue of Artichoke. --Blair C.R

Healthy Food, Healthy Mind

Do you struggle with fast food addiction?
Do you want to live a healthy life but don't know how to?

In "Change Your Ways, Change Your Life," Birdman will reveal the secrets to how food can be an integral part of a healthy lifestyle.

--EMG--

Kebab Crisis, Lucca, Milan

In an effort to preserve the "culture" of Italy, small town Lucca placed a ban last year on any new restaurants, cafes or bakeries opening that don't serve all Italian food. This has had a big impact on the hundreds of kebab vendors who roam the streets of Lucca and now Milan. They are struggling to find ingredients that satisfy the "all Italian" label. It has been difficult for officials though to determine what food is foreign, and what is authentically Italian. They seem to be letting French cuisine slide, however bans have been placed on the importation of all Chinese vegetables. Truthfully though, Italian food has been contributed to from Chinese and Peruvian cuisines alike as well as many others. What are the implications of this for the rest of the world? Will we eventually become so wrapped up in our own cultures we will outlaw all foreign competition?

Portion sizes since the last supper

Hey readers, here's a really short and curious article from the New York Times about portion sizes for the last thousand years. A study conducted by two brothers looked at 52 different paintings from 1000 to 1800 of the last supper found that the portion sizes and plate sizes increased significantly over that time. So apparently the trend of recent years of increasing portion sizes isn't a singular event.

This Monday evening is the first night of Passover, as all you Jews out there should know. This weekend, while I was taking a break from cleaning out the house for that holiday, I came across this article in the New York Times about a Seder in the White House. It's nice to know that we have people running our country that enjoy a good meal even if it is not related to your religion.
Make sure to enjoy your matzo! (or not...)

Recipe Not For Vampires

So after watching Anthony Bourdain: no Reservations show on Provence, i really wanted to make aioli. Aioli is a french sauce that's an emulsion of ground garlic and olive oil. Most people describe it as mayonnaise but its very different. It has the bite of the garlic and a smother texture because of the olive oil being dripped in slowly. Its a very traditional Provence recipe and is most commonly served with steamed or boiled vegetables and possible fish.

You will need: A few cloves of fresh garlic (anywhere from 3 to 5 for a small batch), 2 egg yolks, and lots of olive oil. Start by placing the garlic in a mortar and grinding it with pestle (can also been done in a blender). Then incorporate the two egg yolks, after separating. Then slowly, incorporate the olive oil while stirring constantly.

Health Care: The Fight Against Fast Food

Did you know: A provision in the new health care legislation requires restaurants with 20 or more locations to include calorie counts on their menus. Maybe the obesity epidemic will stop and society will become healthier because of this. Or Not. I think this is WAY overdue. Fast food is, after all, the most satisfying, gut clogging food ever. And it will cut into McDonalds profit margins (slightly). And to think Republicans in Congress opposed this.

Gourmet Pasta Indeed!

If you like pasta, whether it is spaghetti, lasagna, or ravioli, you should stop by Gourmet Texas Pasta for a delicious dinner. They make everything from chocolate pasta to roasted garlic and jalapeno pasta. Check it out for yourself! It's really good, too!

Spring Break: Adventures in Food

Break is a great time of year. But it's even better when you make some good food.

Featured above is a puff pasrty pear tart, puff pastry paprika-filled twists, and puff pastry sugar cookies.

Another Poll

Please fill out this survey.

To Cook Or To Watch

Do you watch competition shows on Food Network and feel guilty about watching them? Well, Birdman will be releasing an article shortly addressing that very issue. -- EMG

The war between Food and Fashion

What's the interplay between America's toxic food environment and the world of high fashion and models? Find out in the upcoming issues of Artichoke by checking out Has fashion gone to far?.

-Blair C.R.

Tarka

The smell of flavorful food is one of the best parts of coming in to a restaurant. You know that you will have a good meal when you can smell it at the door. I also happen to love Indian food. I can generally eat most of it (as my family eats no gluten or dairy), and the flavors are really good. Tarka Indian Kitchen is really good considering it is not really expensive as some Indian food can be. Read the rest of the review once Artichoke is published!

Gastronomic Xenophobia

Food is a rich part of culture all over the world. An shared meal in many cultures is a high sign of respect. But what happens when we avoid all types of food, except what we are familiar with? See "A World of Food" by Sinead C. in the next issue of Artichoke.

Check Out Our New Logo!

Here it is.

New Artichoke Pictures!

This weekend I went a little crazy and took a few pictures... We plan on using ONE for the O in ArtichOke. Comments and suggestion are appreciated, keeping in mind that I myself have yet to look through these and eliminate the blurry ones.

Artichokes

Russian Food

So I spent six hours today at UT's Russia Day. And one thing that talked about was Russian food. We also got to sample it. I got to try kavas, which is a Russia drink that is made from fermented wheat and other plants, and is actually really good. It has as a taste somewhere between apple and grape juice. Continuing on drinks I got to try current juice (which isn't so out of the ordinary) but was still really good and just sweet enough. I also got to try some Russian chocolate which was a lot darker chocolate (as in more coco nibs) and had hazelnuts. My other little things to impart you with about Russian and Slavic food, is that bread is really important to Russian culture and holidays, the make or buy it just about everyday. Also nomads in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan eat horse, and according to the person education us, its really really good. That's it for your culture lesson for today.

Donuts Anyone?

Every one has been noticing the new trend in Austin of serving snack food out of airstream trailers. There is one on a small lot on south Lamar really close to the Alamo south, called Gourdough's that serves donuts. They serve specialty donuts of their concoction. When I ordered the wait was a little long, but considering that the donuts came out hot and were obviously freshly fried I didn't mind. I had the strawberry shortcake (I think that is what its called) which came with fresh strawberries and some yummy icing. Everything else I tried (because I was there with my parents) was really good, like the rum cake and the Funky monkey. Just note if you want to go here, the hours are ridiculous. The just really odd, but over all, are awesome. Personally I would stay away from the meat covered donuts though.

Survey! Please take it!

Click here for our survey (PLEASE).

Time to jump on the bandwagon and hang on

This is the beginning of FoodStuffs. Over the next 3 1/2 months, we will reveal horizons of culinary achievements that are possible for you. Have fun!

See our logo here. It's awesome.