Food Fair holding on school by cooking Conchiglie e lenticchie

Last week, I got a chance to prepare a dish for student at a food fair in school. As one of my groupmates is a vegan, I chose to cook a dish called Conchiglie e lenticchie. It is one of the traditional Italian dishes. Above all, it is a vegetarian food for vegetarian and vegan.

The History of Conchiglie started from middle age of Mediterranean. The people at the northern Mediterranean were love shells but as the terroir, there didn’t have many shells produced. Therefore, there was a chief created a pasta which look like a shell and become one of the famous pastas now a days, which is Conchiglie.

It is not hard to make this dish. Here is the recipe link: https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/pasta-e-lenticchie-pasta-and-lentils

However, there still had some challenges for me when I was cooking. The main challenges are about the sauce, lentils and pasta. When I was cooking the sauce, I discovered that my lentils were not soft enough after I boiled it. Therefore, the time I was used was longer than it needs which makes my dish was little bit overcooked and the sauce were bit insipid because I added more water. About the pasta, as we need to cook the dish and prepare for next day, so we can’t cook with the pasta together, which made the taste of pasta and sauce feel like separated.

At the food fair, we presented my dish was cooked by fresh food, and it is a food for vegans. Therefore, lots of students and tutors were interested on our dish. I think they were pretty enjoying my food as they give a “like” after they ate it. Hence so far, I’m satisfied on my dish.

Half day trip at Brunswick Street

As I’d a research for European culture, I went to Brunswick Street at Fitzory. Actually, I’d never been to there before. Thus, the first impression of there was a mixture with mult-cultural commonalty. There’re lots of different cuisines, such as European, Asian and even Mexican, with not an expensive price. Especially the ambiance impressed me a lot. Even though there are so many different styles, you won’t sense the feeling of messy. The only thing that you can feel is comfortable and harmonious.

After I finished my work, I decided to stay at here for rest of the day. The street is so long, I used more than 1 hour to walk around it. The street is combined by restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries with different cuisines. I chose a Spanish restaurant for my lunch. After I learned the subject which about European cuisine, I learnt a lot about Europe food, which makes me have another new impression for European cuisines. Thus, I knew in different region of Spain, there are different own cuisines. Therefore, I talked with the waiter about which cuisine is the chiefs good at. And then I think a get the best dish after I did it.

When I was having my meal, there was a Chinese family. They made me remember the day at my homeland and family. As my family was usually bring me to the western restaurant for meal, which made me have little homesick. Therefore, I think I will bring my family to this street to have meal if I have chance because I think here is a good place in Melbourne for people to have meal.

Review of

<Haute Cuisine> is a 2012 French comedy-drama film. It’s about Hortense Laborie, a renowned chef from countryside, is appointed from the President of the Republic for his personal cook at the Elysee Palace.

The main idea of the film is about conflicts between dream, power and honour. At the first half, we know the dream of Hortense is simple. She just wants to cook her food perfectly and everyone are enjoying on it. Then, what the president want is similar to Hortense. The president wants the food tasted like his grandmother did. He wants to eat the real “French cuisine”. Not the fancy things like sugar craft flower. According by <Writing out of the Kitchen> by Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson, he presented that invention of French cuisine isn’t mean the creation like Nouvelles cuisines. It means creation by the French cookery and taste.

“Culture depends on cookery.” -Oscar Wilde

Therefore, what the president and Hortense want are working on these inventions.

However at the second half, the conflict arises from chiefs from main kitchen. Their aims of being a chief in palace are for the honour and victory. In order to get president’s appreciations, they make many complicated dishes to show their abilities. That’s also why they hate Hortense, because they believe she used the sexual skills rather than using her abilities, to get appreciation and her position right now. Female was discriminated at that time.

Therefore, Hortense finds out that here isn’t what she wants, so she chooses to leave the palace and works on her dream. Thus, what the film wants to present is hope the readers can follow your dream and discard your burdens.

Foie gras, the past and present

Foie gras is a famous French dish. it’s produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and China. Therefore, as I am a Chinese who love the Foie gras, I want to share its past and present to you here.

About Foie gras:

Foie gras is considered a luxury food product made of the liver of a goose or duck (normally for Chinese, they think that it just made by goose as the translation. After I did this, I found that it also made by duck!) that has been especially fattened by force-feeding corn with a feeding tube, this process also known as gavage.

History of Foie gras:

The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding. Somehow, the practice of goose fattening spread from Egypt to the Roman. However, as the fall of Roman empire, foie gras temporarily vanished from European cuisine. Nonetheless, Jews and Gallic farmers preserved the foie gras tradition until the rest of Europe rediscovered it centuries later in 16 centuries. Foie gras became famous after serve it to the king Louis XV. And after that time, it was praised by many different bards, musicians and nobilities, which laid the extraordinary position of taste for Foie gras around the world.

Foie gras in French cuisine:

There’s a main cuisine in France called Nouvelle Cuisine, and Foie gras became the innovator of Nouvelle Cuisine. Since it’s an unprocessed material, it’s one of the best materials for cooking Nouvelle Cuisine. Thus, it’s normal in French cuisine now.

Referents:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras

【French Revolution and Nouvelle Cuisine Innovation】by Hayagreeva Rao

Lampredotto Sandwich

In Florence, there has a king of snack on the street. Although you far away from the shop, you still can smell it. That is Lampredotto Sandwich. It is a typical Florentine dish from an ancient tradition which you still can find in several kiosks(called Trippai) on the streets of Florence.

What is Lampredotto?

Lampredotto a kind of tripe, boiled in a broth containing herbs and tomatoes. And then put in a bread, salsa verde, spicy extra virgin olive oil and etc of Italian food. However, there are many countries that don’t use tripe for cooking so you hard to find it outside of Florence.

History of Lampredotto Sandwich:

Normally, Europe people don’t really use tripe for cooking. So how did lampredotto become a Florence cuisine? According to the reading <Food and Foodways: Explorations in the History and Culture of Human Nourishment>, it more writes the history of Italian food habits as the history of appetite and hunger. So originally, it was a poor sandwich when the leftover cuts of meat were all that the city’s poorest people could afford. By the 19^th century after the recipes has been codified, Lampredotto sandwick become a food which can let people savoring characteristically. Therefore, wooden carts began to sell cooked offal, pushed by hand and, later, attached to bicycles.

Postscript:

Before I wrote this blog, Lampredotto is one of my unforgettable eat in Florence. Then, I discovered how to cook it and how was it created. Above all, the most important thing is the memories behind it! Thus, i hope readers can have a try when you go to Florence!