The New World endowed the rest of the globe with one of the spices of life: chilies. The word comes from the Aztecs’ Náhuatl language. The Taino Indians called them ajíes, and in the Incan Quechua tongue they are known as uchu. The 1st of January is a festive occasion…
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Cigar Aficionado: A Look Back Essay
NEW WORLD CHEF For Florida “fusion cuisine” pioneer Norman Van Aken, co-owner of NORMAN’S in Coral Gables, the kitchen is his classroom. By Mervyn Rothstein January/February 2000 ~~~~~~ On West Flagler Street in Miami, not far from Calle Ocho, the long street that’s the…
A Word On Food: Barbecue
Few food topics unites us and divides folks in the USA like barbecue. I am of the belief that it is because it touches us in a very passionate place. Our sense of hunger mixed with tradition. What we grow up with. The Chinese philosopher Lin Yutang wrote, “What is…
A Word On Food: Ventanitas
In 1971 when I … and three other wanderers .. crossed the short span named the ‘Cow Key Channel Bridge’ from Stock Island .. the island to the immediate north of Key West I passed forevermore through a magical window of life. What was unfolding all around me that Spring…
A Word On Food: School Lunches
When it came to going to school my sisters and I lived in a world that was routine. No home schooling existed. Many of you would add; mercifully. The only thing that prevented us from attending grade school every weekday from September until June would have been a white out…
City & Shore Feature and Interview
Journalist Greg Carannante of City & Shore Magazine asked some fun questions to me for City & Shore Magazine. I appreciate the fun he injected into the interview format! Have a read. “Let’s not allow the huffing and puffing of the current celebrity chef trend drown out the bellwether contributions…
A Word On Food: Tubers
Archeologists have discovered signs of potato cultivation as early as 9,000 years ago in the Andean valley. Researchers believe that people first domesticated the wild tuber on the shores of Lake Titicaca, along the borders of modern-day Peru and Bolivia. These early inhabitants bred yellow potatoes and white potatoes, fat…
FLAMINGO MAGAZINE PONDERS THE BEARD AWARDS
Journalist Eric Barton writing for Flaming Magazine asked some questions about if those of us in Florida should still care about the annual James Beard Awards. It is a lengthy piece with an examination of the highly esteemed awards now coming under fire from some quarters. You can and should form…
A Word On Food: Pasta
We have been together on this program awhile you and I. We are getting close to A Word On Food show #400. Yet how have I not yet done a show on pasta? It is one of those things that is so common in our lives we can forget them….
The Orlando Sentinel and Florida Foods
“When you’re the Eagles…” Chef Norman Van Aken begins, “you’ll have one fan yelling for ‘Desperado’ and another for ‘Tequila Sunrise’ and the band has to deal with that, of course, but they’re also artistic in nature. And they have to evolve so they don’t feel like a lounge act.”…
FLAMINGO MAGAZINE ON NORMAN VAN AKEN
NORMAN VAN AKEN The founding father of New World Cuisine has been busy tackling several new projects during quarantine. Photography courtesy of Norman Van Aken Chef Norman Van Aken has no shortage of accolades. You can find his name in the list of Who’s Who in American Food and Beverage from the…
A Word On Food: Medianoches
Saying medianoches might sound to some like I’m saying midnights as in a plural of them. But since is this is “A Word On Food” and we are in Southern Florida many of you knew I was and am… speaking of the sandwiches so named. The debates as to the…
A Word On Food: Mexican Breakfasts
Evidently we need to handle the fact that … though the virus we are beset with may ebb and flow … it is not likely to go altogether away anytime soon. It will take longer if folks don’t listen to the medical and science experts that I am sure of….
A Word On Food: B.L.T’s
Very few sandwiches have attained the notoriety that we know them by their initials alone. Take five. Think about that. After P.B.J’s it gets a little tougher to think of others that make it to that pedestal of comestibles we arrange between slices of bread or, if you prefer ……
The New York Times Visits Miami
The article provided in the link was written by award winning journalist Brett Anderson (@BrettEats) in for The New York Times. (@nytimes). It is a feature on local rising star chef Niven Patel who is moving forward despite the challenging times for which I say, ‘Bravo!’. Each generation in every…
A Word On Food: Preserves
I’m thinking maybe more than a few of you folks listening might have wondered what I meant by the word preserves. We don’t converse about preserves like we did in the faraway 1950’s. Nor the term canning. But preserving and canning were big in our childhood home. And it is…