Mooncake and the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
Read more about this delicious pastry, what it symbolizes and the 3,000 year-old festival when making and sharing it is one of the most important traditions.
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.
The carrot cupcake at Yellow Chair Cafe in Saigon
When Alex and I attended a coffee class in Saigon in early March of 2019, there was a short break between the “smelling” part and the actual coffee making …
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.
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 …
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, …
What’s the difference between dalandan and dalanghita?
Dalandan is Citrus aurantium (bitter orange, sour orange, Seville orange). Dalanghita is Citrus nobilis (mandarin orange). But where do ponkan and kiat-kiat fit in?
Fish roe and eggs: are they the same?
Fish roe and fish eggs are terms used interchangeably but you have to broaden your definition of “egg” to understand. Are fish roe and caviar the same? Read on.