• Skip to main content
  • Skip to site footer
Umami Days

Umami Days

Congee days and ramen nights

  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Salads
    • Soups
    • Main courses
    • Side dishes
    • Sweets
    • Beverages
  • Kitchen
    • Kitchen how-tos
    • Cooking ingredients
    • Kitchen tools
  • Food Tales
    • Edible Garden
    • Dining
  • Newsletter
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Salads
    • Soups
    • Main courses
    • Side dishes
    • Sweets
    • Beverages
  • Kitchen
    • Kitchen how-tos
    • Cooking ingredients
    • Kitchen tools
  • Food Tales
    • Edible Garden
    • Dining
  • Newsletter

Food Tales

To understand food and its cultural and social significance, it is often necessary to go beyond recipes and cooking tips. This section includes a comprehensive guide on ramen broth, a history of mac and cheese, a dive into the (mostly Western) misconception that sate / satay is peanut sauce and how chocolate evolved to become the (second?) most popular Valentine's Day gift.

Bubble tea and pork bun

Sago, boba and bubble tea

Know exactly what you're getting. Sago and boba are not the same. There is a disctinction between bubble tea and milk tea. Boba shakes do not contain real tea.

Read more →Sago, boba and bubble tea
Vietnamese lotus tea (tra sen)

Is Vietnamese lotus tea real tea?

It depends. Trà sen is real tea. Trà tim sen is an infusion. Both are sold as Vietnamese lotus tea.

Read more →Is Vietnamese lotus tea real tea?
Tamsui Old Street

In Taipei, we skipped the night markets and headed for Tamsui Old Street

When you haven’t slept in 48 hours, the moment your head touches the pillow, you sleep like the dead. We flew to Taiwan on Friday on a 6.00 a.m. flight. That means …

Read more →In Taipei, we skipped the night markets and headed for Tamsui Old Street
Mature coconut

Non-food uses of coconut at home

Long before coconut gained global attention, coconut consumption was already a lifestyle in the tropics. We ate coconut meat, drank coconut water, and cooked with coconut …

Read more →Non-food uses of coconut at home
Raw sea urchin (uni) over rice

Edible sea urchins and uni sashimi

Contrary to popular belief, the edible part of the sea urchin is not its eggs but gonads — the testicles of the male or the ovaries of the female — that are pried from …

Read more →Edible sea urchins and uni sashimi
Sangria

A punch called sangria

A drink that was all the rage in the U. S. in the 1960s, it's tempting to label sangria as a retro punch but it's much older than that. And, contrary to popular belief, …

Read more →A punch called sangria
Napoleones

In Bacolod, a search for the best Napoleones

In Bacolod City, when you go looking for Napoleones, four establishments are often recommended by the locals: Roli’s, Virgie’s, Pendy’s and Bongbong’s. Which is the best?

Read more →In Bacolod, a search for the best Napoleones
  • Previous
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 8
  • Page 9
  • Page 10
  • Page 11
  • Next
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • No AI
  • Contact

Created by a human for humans · Copyright © 2026 Connie Veneracion · All Rights Reserved