Latest news with #foodmemories
Arab News
4 days ago
- Arab News
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Cold Kitchen'
Author: Caroline Eden During my recent visit to Scotland, while walking the cobblestoned streets beneath moody skies and with a grumbling stomach, I dipped into a nearby bookshop to whet my appetite before heading to dinner — and discovered a book offering a sort of charcuterie board of travel morsels: Caroline Eden's 2024 release, 'Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Journeys.' The book invites readers into Eden's Edinburgh basement kitchen to recall where she went and what she ate in Eastern Europe and Central Asia over the course of a year. The title refers to the part of the kitchen often used for preparing cold dishes, like salads, preserves and such. But in Eden's hands, it becomes a metaphor for freezing memories. The book is a slice of life, a scrapbook of scrumptious crumbs that make up a medley of a meal: Recipes, descriptions and reflections — arranged seasonally. It is presented with three chapters per season, starting with winter, spring and summer, then ending in my personal favorite: autumn. Each segment pairs a place with a dish. Eden, an award-winning travel writer, is best known for her color-themed travel trilogy — 'Black Sea,' 'Red Sands' and most recently, 'Green Mountains.' She understands how food anchors us; how we truly are what we eat. What we feed our bellies shapes our sense of place long after our suitcases — and we — roll away. One moment that stayed with me was Eden's detailed description of the Uzbek melon in the beginning of the book, honoring winter — its sticky sweetness, its lingering scent. I have tasted it in Uzbekistan while journeying there myself, and the fruit is as she describes: dense, perfumed and indulgent. That single taste can lodge a landscape in the mind. In 'Cold Kitchen,' a dish becomes a way to mark time. A menu gives us a moment to sit with grief — to remember someone or somewhere. It allows us to take a second taste from our own history, a portal into a past version of ourselves. Picking up this memoir in Edinburgh felt just like reaching for the perfect fruit from an orchard — something local, ripe and firm, yet delicate to sink into. Truly food for thought. Though Eden's kitchen is 'cold' by name, it radiates warmth.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
THE CANNY COOK: Anyone for rotisserie chicken baguettes?
In my 20s, I spent a couple of lazy summers driving around southern France, drifting between hilltop villages, sun-soaked markets and crystalline lakes for an afternoon dip. By far my most vivid food memory of those trips is of the rotisserie chickens we'd buy from stalls by the roadside – slowly spinning on their spits, with deep-tan skin and buttery juices dripping down onto potatoes below. We'd take them, packed in butcher's paper, to the lake with a fresh baguette, a tub of aïoli and a head of lettuce… the makings of the best sandwiches I can remember. I recreate them to this day, and while my local supermarket couldn't have less in common with a Provençal rotisserie, their chickens hold up surprisingly well. It's something in the cooking method – the low-and-slow direct heat and the continuous basting – that renders the skin sticky and golden and the meat fall-off-the-bone tender. Rotisserie chickens are the ultimate convenience food, particularly in peak summer when I wilt at the thought of turning on the oven. They make an easy protein in salads – maybe with leaves, avocado and a Caesar dressing, or in a crunchy Asian-style slaw. They can easily be shredded into tacos and tortilla wraps, or tossed with cold noodles and a spicy peanut dressing. Though, for me, nothing beats those baguettes. 1 baguette, £1.20; 180g aïoli (or mayonnaise), £1.60 METHOD Separate the leaves from the lettuce and rinse. Spin or pat dry with kitchen towel. Pull the meat from the bones of the rotisserie chicken and shred. Also shred the skin and mix everything together. Taste and season with a little salt and pepper if it needs it. Split open the baguette and spoon on some of the aïoli (or mayonnaise). Fill with chicken and lettuce leaves and enjoy.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
From dining with Andy Warhol to trying lobster with producer Allan Carr, choreographer ARLENE PHILLIPS shares her life in food
My first food memory is of my mum's incredible roast potatoes. They were delicious – crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle, with lots of little crunchy bits scattered around. I'm obsessed with roast potatoes to this day. Growing up in Manchester, my mother was a good traditional cook and baker who made lots of Jewish food. Incredible chicken soup with kneidlach [matzo balls]. And birthday cakes decorated with colourful icing. She died when I was 15 [from leukaemia], and my sister Karen became the cook. I was the cleaner and the washer-upper. Food, and what we could have and buy, was limited. There was still rationing, so we never wasted anything – we'd eat an apple right down to the last bit. At Manchester High School Central, the grammar school for girls, I hated food with a passion. Meatballs made with fake meat and mashed potato made from powder. Worse was the sago or rice pudding. I couldn't touch it. When I came to London and discovered Spaghetti House it was like stepping into paradise. I'd share plain spaghetti with my best friend, as I was working all kinds of jobs so that I could study dance. To this day, I love Spaghetti House. The food doesn't taste quite the same, but it has so many memories for me. The fact that I can now afford anything on the menu – you never get over that. When you've struggled with money then have enough to buy what you want, it always feels special. In 1979 I went to Los Angeles to make the film Can't Stop The Music with Village People and the producer Allan Carr. He took me to the Palm for lobster. I didn't know how to eat them, but they were so tender. Once, in New York, Bianca Jagger, who I used to teach to dance, invited me to Le Cirque with Andy Warhol. You could order the most incredible food and Andy sat mostly in silence. I couldn't eat anything as I was enchanted by him. Mick Jagger popped in, too! Happy memories. I put on weight whatever I eat. Sometimes I think I may as well paste this cake right on me because I know it's going to show. I used to dance eight hours a day, but still had to be careful about what I ate. I'd try every crazy diet going then abandon it and just eat. Vegetables and salads became my obsession. When I was young, my treat was always a cream puff, and even as an adult I'd chase one just to sink my teeth into all that cream. I never gave up my love of food, I just commanded myself to eat less, and eat healthily. I'm famous in the theatre world for carrying chicory around with me. If I was hungry it would fill me up and I wouldn't put on the pounds. I've been lucky to have partners who cooked. Angus [who she has been with since 1985] is probably one of the best cooks ever. He's famous for his spaghetti bolognese, which has a divine touch, along with endless other pastas, amazing confit duck, wonderful sauces and dips. His roast chicken is just beyond. I'm sensitive to even the tiniest amount of garlic. And what's awful is Angus loves garlic – he wants it in everything. My comfort food is mashed potato, eaten with a spoon and lots of butter. I always have goat's cheese in my fridge, salad piled high and lots of vegetables. It's a very healthy fridge. My last supper would be sushi of every kind. Then for pudding, definitely a knickerbocker glory.
