Spring 2021: The Movement Issue

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MANAGING EDITOR EDITORIAL STAFF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR DESIGN STAFF PHOTO DIRECTOR PHOTO STAFF

DIGITAL CONTENT DIRECTOR DIGITAL TEAM

CULINARY DIRECTOR CULINARY TEAM

MARKETING DIRECTOR MARKETING TEAM FINANCE DIRECTOR FINANCE TEAM

WEBMASTER COMMUNICATIONS

Maggie Tang Helen Wu Amanda Zheng, Anusha Mathur, Anushka Dasgupta, Ayelet Gross, Christine Kong, Dhivya Arasappan, Emily Truong, Rebecca Jiang Malia Kealaluhi Amy Yang, Anna Chen, Hailie Goldsmith, Hannah Chan, Joy Chen, Monika Lee, Olivia Tang, Sonia Shah Alaina Chou Alan Jinich, Anna Feng, Daniel Shi, Danielle Gin, Emily Chen, Emily Yao, Erica Xin, Justine de Jesus, Liliann Zou, Maria Murad, Monika Lee, Pinn Chirathivat, Ria Vieira, Shirley Li Shirley Yang Michelle Kwon Ananya Malhotra, Emily Chen, Emily Liu, Hye-Jin Kang, Isabelle Lin, Janet Lee, Manasa Sudunagunta,Serena Huang, Shreya Subramanian, Sophie Meinen Sarah Bernstein Alex Doppelt, Anh Ngo, Anna Feng, Anna Ponte, Anya Arora, Apoorvi Bharat Ram, Arin Senior, Eesha Balar, Erin Schott, Grant Li, Jalen Patel, Lauren Traas, Lulu Schmitt, Max Tsiang, Milan Chand, Neha Gupta, Neha Jain, Pinn Chirathivat, Randy Bach, Rishin Sharma, Sharon Dong, Sydney Sariol, Vaishnavi Pachava, Yani Li, Yujung Lee, Zoe Millstein Josephine Cheng Beverly Feng, Kade Shippy, Roni Itkin-Ofer Diya Sethi Alina Zhao, Allison Chen, Ashley Leoni, Beverly Feng, Chloe Barshay, Michelle Yeung, Rain Liu, Rebecca Wirtschafter, Ruby Chen, Toby Dorfman Vibha Makam Shaila Lothe

SOCIAL IMPACT CHAIR

Randy Bach

SOCIAL IMPACT STAFF

Eesha Balar, Erin Lee, Serena Huang

EVENTS CHAIR

Stephanie Yoon

EVENTS STAFF

Ana Ponte, Eitan Goodman, Michael O’Farrell

Letter From the

Editor Dear Reader, I miss swarming up to carts of steaming hot dim sum and fighting for the freshest bites of har gow. I miss sipping on a gently cooling latte in the corner of a coffee shop, sitting adjacent to strangers deep in conversation. Some part of me even misses clicking on old Bon Appétit test kitchen videos, oblivious about the problematic inner workings of the company. These enjoyable tidbits in my life vanished all in 2020, and I was relegated to ordering groceries online. Half of the time, something would be amiss about my order, like McIntosh apples instead of gala or a bonus package of minced beef.

Food is as volatile as it is grounded in tradition. In the past year, the food industry has gone through major changes alongside the pandemic and the BLM movement. As a “foodie” myself, I have learned to give up my previous indulgences to recreate simple meals at home, swap out fancy latte art with makeshift cold brews in a French press, and nurture my own sourdough starter to satisfy my artisanal bread cravings. After the fallout of my previously beloved channel Bon Appétit, I started watching small Tik Tok chefs and following BA member’s individual ventures (in the form of YT channels, patreon, IG stories) instead. Much like all these changes in our world, the way we think about food should change too. Over the years, Penn Appétit has been evolving to be more conscientious of the social world of food.

With the Movement Issue, we hope to probe readers, writers, and eaters to think a little deeper about food.

The Movement Issue can be interpreted as how the movement of people have impacted food— through immigration, travel, social dissent. Movement can also

be more literally applied to the way food is prepared, presented and eaten, daily bites of life filled with motion.

The way we act as consumers constitute movements— going vegan, buying local, eating sustainable. Food is a dynamic entity, one that transforms with people, movements, and extenuating social circumstances.

Even now that vaccine rollout is speeding up and we are regaining small parts of our old lives, I will hold on dearly to my quarantine habits (namely, sourdough bread) and welcome all the changes this new chapter will bring.

Sincerely, Helen

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Masthead

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Letter from the Editor

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Bites, Camera, Action

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The Science of Sky-High Food

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It’s Alive!

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The Host & The Chef

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Familiar to Some, Obscure to Most

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From Kolkata to Indianapolis

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Food to Plate: A Long Dish-tance Relationship

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An Ode to Woks

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Social Media Food Trends

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Beginner’s Guide to Bread Baking

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Feeding the Resistance

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Move Aside Bon Appétit

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Food is Fuel

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Date Energy Bars

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Searching for the Familiar in the Unfamiliar

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Backseat Bonding

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The History & Origins of Eating Customs

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Bringing the Chemistry Lab to Your Kitchen

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More Than Matzo

RECIPES 58

Scallops in Lemongrass Coconut Broth

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Masala Fries with Caraway Sriracha Mayo Dip

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Kumquat Meringue Tart

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Deconstructed Tiramisu

T H E MENU

BITES,!

CAMERA ACTION

By Amanda Zheng and Helen Wu

Have you ever savored a dish that was almost “too pretty to eat”? How about a meal that simply screamed for attention, putting gasps on the face of you and your fellow diners? Beyond just the taste, the presentation of foods is a major factor of the dining experience. Many restaurants will go to great lengths to impress you with a slurry of performances before the food even hits your taste buds. The movement and excitement in these eclectic serving techniques will undeniably result in an unforgettable dining experience. Here are some dynamic dishes from different cultures that we recommend you try!

Cheese

You might think that cheese is very...still.

But in recent years, many restaurants have become internet famous for setting cheesy dishes in motion. One well known dish is Raclette, a unique European tradition of melting Alpine cheeses right on the wheel and scraping them onto various dishes. This creates the perfect oozey and warm cheese to dip and complement anything from potatoes, vegetables, breads, and meats. Many Italian restaurants have also incorporated cheese into their presentation by tossing your pasta in front of you in a ginormous wheel of parmesan. These preparation styles vastly enhance your enjoyment of seemingly mundane ingredients such as cheese.

Teppanyaki, also known as Hibachi, is a Japanese style of cuisine that cooks food directly on an iron griddle. The food has evolved into a performative art form with the chefs performing tricks like creating onion ring volcanoes, tossing eggs into their hats, and even flipping shrimps into customer’s mouths. In our opinion, the most delightful aspect of Teppanyaki is its communal feel— guests are seated around the rectangle Teppanyaki grill facing each other. This creates the perfect environment for savoring bites of food in between lively conversation among the guests and the chef.

Conveyer Belt Sushi Conveyor belt sushi was invented by restaurant owner Yoshiaki Shiraishi because he had trouble staffing his restaurant. Inspired by conveyor belts at a beer brewery and designing this idea for five years, he opened the first conveyor belt sushi restaurant in 1958. Since then, this conveyor belt sushi restaurants have opened all across the world. After all, what better experience is there than food being immediately served at your table? In this dining concept, sushi is freshly made and placed on a conveyor belt to allow for all customers to browse and take as much as they want whenever they want without the waiter as the middle man. This versatile concept can be adapted to any food that can sit well on a moving belt, such as noodles.

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Dim Sum

The OG style of eating dim sum is cartstyle. Traditional dim sum restaurants resemble mobile restaurants that serve you various small plates and desserts that roll around on carts. Similarly to the conveyor belts, the food is brought right to your table already ready to eat! But it’s not that easy. For sought after dishes like har gow, shu mai, or char siu buns, you need to fight for your share. The fun of dim sum is to enjoy your tea, good company, and keep a vigilant eye for your favorite dishes when it passes you in a moving cart. With this style of food presentation, you’re bound to “order” more than you can eat.

Teppanyaki

Flambe

This is a French technique that involves dousing your food in a bit of fire and settling it ablaze! The heat evaporates most of the alcohol, leaving a subtle hint of liquor and caramelization. One lesser known flambeed dessert is figgy pudding, an English dish typically made with dried fruit and suet (fat around animal kidneys). This Christmastime pudding is dramatically set on fire before it is coated with brandy or cognac sauce. Other exhilarating desserts under this genre include Baked Alaska, Crêpes Suzette, and Banana Foster. If you’re up for the challenge of setting your food on fire, make sure you take the right precautions!

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BY AMANDA ZHENG, ILLUSTRATION BY MALIA KEALALUHI Most people just think of airplane food as some undesired, but necessary sustenance to keep their hunger at ease during a long flight. While hotly disputed, I personally looked forward to being able to pick my meal and counted down the aisles as the cart containing my surprise approaches me. When I finally get the new, warm, perfectly packaged meal, I always looked forward to looking through each of the sides and comparing with my parents who had gotten different meals.

While it is definitely not everyone’s first choice of meal, there is actually a lot of science behind the way food tastes thousands of feet in the air and what the $6 billion dollar airline catering industry does to prepare it.

Airplane cabins are pressurized and highly regulated, as our normal breathing level of oxygen is not found in the middle of the sky. As a result, Cabin humidity is typically lower on a plane than we are used to on ground level. This dries out our nose and affects our sense of smell, which is one of our sensory inputs that affect our perceived flavor.

In order to compensate for the taste changes, airline meals contain a lot of sodium because people lose about 30% or more of their taste for salt. By the same logic, other flavor enhancers like sugar and even tomato and mushroom powder are also added.

However, these flavor restrictions have not stopped chefs from coming up with elaborate and delicious menus. Singapore Airlines’s menu ranges from flaxseed waffles to dim sum yam cake to ricotta cheesecake with brioche croutons to steamed sea striped bass with black bean sauce. In addition, most airline menus change seasonally and by region to appeal to customers.

For more information, check out this behind the scenes video about how airplane food is made:

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is a traditional Korean delicacy that can be found at restaurants throughout South Korea and Koreatowns within the United States. The dish consists of severed octopus tentacles that are still wriggling on the plate alongside complementary vegetables such as carrots, pickled turnips, and cucumbers. The octopus is also typically drizzled with sesame oil and seeds, and best paired with a few glasses of soju.

Although the flavor is generally known to be pretty mild, the incredibly unique texture and eating experience is what attracts bold diners to try the dish. Thoroughly chewing is crucial, however, as sannakji has an approximate fatality rate of 6 people each year.

Sannakji

Translating to “Dancing Shrimp”, Odori Ebi is a Japanese sashimi prepared by shelling live shrimp and serving them immediately to customers while they continue to twitch. This dish is often referred to interchangeably as “drunken” or “live” shrimp, as it can also be found in the carts of street vendors from Northeast Thailand or restaurants across China.

There, shrimp or prawns are sometimes doused in Baijiu, a strong Chinese grain spirit, before serving to customers. Because the alcohol marination dehydrates the shrimp, they are able to absorb much more flavor in whichever sauce the chef decides to move the shrimp to (a chaser for the shrimp, if you will) and still remain moving when they come out of the kitchen.

Dishes that LIterally Jump Off the Plate

BY REBECCA JIANG, ILLUSTRATED BY MALIA KEALALUHI Growing up, I used to accompany my mom to our local fishmonger on the weekends where I would watch her engage in an impassioned negotiation of the freshest seafood for the lowest price possible. Watching her satisfaction as she walked away with a red snapper that was just taken out of the tank was always intriguing and in retrospect, has influenced my appreciation for fresh ingredients. However, I was recently introduced to foods that redefine our meaning of “fresh” -- a few of which might push my mom to draw the line during her Saturday morning negotiations.

The practice of eating foods while still alive or moving is still relatively prevalent in cultures around the world, ranging from Sardinia’s Casu Marzu, a soft cheese created with live maggots that is now banned from commercial sale, to Japan’s Ikizukuri, a style of cooking that keeps seafood alive during preparation and is served immediately. While some eat these dishes as part of tradition, others have historically eaten live foods for the shock factor, utilized as content for Western TV shows such as Survivor and Fear Factor.

Here are a few of the foods from around the world that will truly bring your palette to life: When hearing the phrase “Throw some grub on the barbie!” exclaimed in a deep Australian accent, I wouldn’t think to imagine a grill topped with white, caterpillar-like organisms. However, known to the region as witjuri,

witchetty grubs are the larva of the cossid wood moth, and

It’s

ALIVE 12 penn appétit

they have been a key diet component of the Aboriginal community of South Australia for generations. They are said to taste like almonds when raw and are not only used as sources of protein but also as medicinal treatment for burns and injuries. Witchetty grubs can also be served cooked, which they then become similar in texture to other animal meats and taste like— you guessed it— “chicken.”

These dishes might not be the best for those with sensitive stomachs or significant phobias of worms, but many of their preparation styles have been cultural strongholds for centuries. Consuming live insects or animals has also become a topic of controversy among those concerned with animal cruelty, as the question of where to draw the moral line has yet to be succinctly answered. Some of these delicacies are gradually becoming outlawed over time, pushing establishments to sell them surreptitiously. But for the adventurous diners that can’t make it all the way across the world to check off their bucket list of foods to try, Sik Gaek in New York still serves Sannakji live. I do think it’s safe to say that my mom will be sticking to her regular fishmonger.

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&

T H E HOST T H E CHEF

BY SAM KAUFMANN AND XANDER GOTTFRIED ILLUSTRATION BY MALIA KEALALUHI

“So it all starts with Vincenzo.”

“Vincenzo was this massive old Sicilian dude who used to be a chef at some random place in San Francisco. I think part of the reason I moved into Riepe freshman year was because I knew Vincenzo would be there-” “Vincenzo was loud.”

“Reminds me of someone. Sam met him first—”

“I was in the lounge, he was messing with the foosball table, and he was like, ‘It’s nah workin’’ and I was like, ‘Yeah dude, it’s been like that.’ So we got to talking about the pasta night he was hosting the next day, and I offered to help. And I’ll never forget how he said it.”

“That deep, resounding Italian bass.”

“‘Come over tomorrow mornin’, 9:30. We makin’ meatballs!’ So I rolled two hundred meatballs the next morning before my lecture.”

“How many of those did I eat?”

“Yeah, Xander had a good bit. So you started helping at the second Pasta Night?”

“Yeah, I asked to help at the next one. Had to pay my weight in pasta.”

“So we kept doing this, biweekly. We’d come in at 4:30, drop our laptops, drop school, and just be in Vincenzo World.”

“We’d show up and cook and just feed people pasta for, like, four hours straight. Like, boatloads of pasta. Maybe two hundred people would filter in and out.”

“And it was just this feeling. Seeing people lining up at the door, everyone looking forward to just not having to work for a few hours, people talking, being happy. And I got to be like a mini Vincenzo, dishing out the goods to all my hallmates. It was like a high.”

“Yeah. Front-of-house, back-of-house. I think we fell into our rhythm, Sam would dish out the pasta and chat with everyone, I would be more hidden in the back, talking with Vincenzo and boiling pounds and pounds of pasta. For me it was an escape. Not having to deal with people or work, just burying my head in pasta water steam.”

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“So that was kind of how I adopted Xander—” “Excuse me, am I a pet?”

“Extrovert adopts introvert. That’s how it works. But I think both of us wanted to keep feeding people. We were kind of like, ‘If we feed people, they will be our friends.’ Which is so true. You have no idea. Food is so effective, it’s ridiculous.”

“We really ran with that concept. We hosted two Passover seders, a bunch of Shabbat dinners, potlucks, a hotel-sized pancake night—”

“That was a whole thing. It was actually a mystery pancake night. I would tell you what was up with that but then I’d have to kill you.”

“I would do the menu, Sam would do the invites, and he’d somehow get Hillel to pay for it.”

“I started off writing up nice, formal invitations. Gave that up because it wasn’t worth it. Plus, it was more fun just talking to people, just telling them, ‘Hey. Xander and I are doing a thing. You’re cool. You should come.’”

“At the end of the day I think you weren’t really inviting friends but people who you wanted to be friends with.”

“Yeah, I didn’t realize that at the time.”

“The pinnacle of it was when we got an off-campus apartment, the Pondertorium. It didn’t feel like Penn. It was pretty far from campus, and I created a fermentation station for kimchi and garum—”

“It created a really good vibe for hosting. You wouldn’t think you could get a bunch of college students to actually bring dishes to a potluck.”

“Well, to be fair, people were always flaky. But we always had a quorum, and I think we connected people who wouldn’t have made connections if they hadn’t come to our dinners.”

“Then March happened.”

“Yeah.”

“So that killed our plans for the next big dinner party. Among other things. It was hard breaking the lease to give up the Pond. It was a home, and a place we had created where people had connected with each other.”

“For the first month or so we were isolated, which was so different from how it was at the Pond. I was still cooking because I’m never not cooking, but neither of us was able to bring people together until we discovered the Zoom birthday party.”

“Xander had this great idea for one of our friend’s birthdays. Rowana loves soup, so he came up with a recipe, I invited people, and we all cooked soup together over Zoom.”

“It got kind of chaotic because everyone except Rowana had the recipe, but it brought back the good vibes. I also mailed a few sourdough babkas to people for their birthdays.”

“So now we’re here. We rented a house way off campus, and we do weekly Shabbat dinners with eight people in a quarantine pod. Same eight people every week, the really close friends we made from all that time sharing food with people. But it’s not the same. What I really want is to invite people we don’t know as well, bring them in, hear their stories.”

“We might try to host a grad party in the spring—I want to roast a whole pig. But it’s possible we’ve already hosted our last big event.”

“And come May, it’ll be over. Going to different places. I don’t really know if all this is transferable, whether you can just invite people over and make a community once you’re a real adult. And I won’t have Xander to make the incredible food that brings people in.”

“And there’s no point having good food with no one there to share it.”

“But I’m hoping to take this with me for my entire life. I’m going to try to keep hosting people. Life is just better when you can build the basic human connections that come with eating together.”

“When you watch a group of people eat something you’ve just served them, and everyone’s faces just light up…”

BY CHRISTINE KONG PHOTO BY SHIRLEY

Scandinavian

FAMILIAR t o

S o m e ,

t o

M o s t

OBSCURE :

U N I Q U E c u l t u r a l d i s h e s A

s a first generation Asian-American, comfort food means a hot bowl of bone broth soup and spicy, sesame-peanut noodles. Comfort foods, while personally meaningful, are also often culturally meaningful. Our comfort foods map who we are and where we came from, high-

lighting some of the most important parts of our identities.

Since coming to Penn, I’ve been surrounded by cultures and identities that I have never been around before. In doing so, I’ve become really curious about lesser known dishes from other cultures. So,

here I’ve compiled a list of less common cultural foods in Philadelphia. Maybe you can discover a new favorite comfort food, or even discover an entirely new culture’s cuisine altogether.

Admittedly, when I think of Scandinavian cuisine, the first thing that comes to mind is Ikea meatballs. Although Ikea is great, there is so much more to Scandinavian food. Due to the cold weather, Scandinavian cuisine includes lots of preservation techniques such as fermentation, smoking, and salting.

Of course, seafood, specifically salmon, cod, and herring, are staples.

Noord offers classic Nordic dishes—don’t miss out on the smørrebrød, or open-faced sandwiches that combine the best Scandinavian ingredients into one bite.

S e n e g a l e s e Malaysian Packed full of flavor and history, West African cuisine has been on the rise recently for its delicious and healthy options. At Kilimandjaro, a Senegalese restaurant, one of the most popular dishes is thieboudienne, a traditional fish dish stewed with rice and vegetables and flavored with tomato sauce, peanut oil, and unique spices. Important spices and spice blends in West African cuisine include za’atar, ras el hanout, cumin, fenugreek, grains of paradise, berbere, and more. Couscous, rice, and plantains are the perfect side complements to hearty and spicy main dishes.

Malaysian food represents the multi-ethnic makeup of its population, with its food having influences from Chinese, Indian, Malay, Thai, and Indonesian cooking techniques. The banana leaf is one of the most notable ingredients in Malaysian cooking—you can find lots of banana leaf dishes at the aptly named restaurant, Banana Leaf Malaysian Cuisine. Some of its special dishes are the banana leaf chicken wings and satay, pad thai, and hainanese chicken. The menu also features roti, curry, and dumplings, a true testament to the multicultural makeup of Malaysian cuisine.

Peruvian cuisine reflects many local Peruvian practices such as cooking techniques from the Incas. Surprisingly more multicultural than many people would think, Peruvian cuisine is full of influences from Spanish, German, Japanese, and African cuisine. At Vista Peru, fresh ingredients are emphasized, with some of the most popular dishes involving seafood (there’s even a whole section on the menu dedicated to ceviches). Corn, potatoes, and other tubers are also an important part of Peruvian cuisine. In fact, Peru has the widest variety of potatoes in the world!

You have probably heard of chicken pot pie and whoopie pies, but did you know that they play a big role in Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine? The traditional German cuisine is known for its comfort food feel and use of local, seasonal, produce. You can get lots of comforting Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine at Reading Terminal Market, where the Dutch Eating Place is one of the most popular eateries. Offering many options from chicken corn soup to hot apple dumplings and homemade chicken pot pie, there is something for everyone.

P e r u v i a n Pennsylvania Dutch

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From Kolkata to Indianapolis: How Food Changes with Immigration BY PHOTO

ANUSHKA BY

DASGUPTA SHIRLEY LI

Just as America is defined by the immigrants that live here, American cuisine is defined by its immigrants’ cuisine. Even in Philly, food heritage is strongly linked to Dutch and Italian populations that popularized cheesesteaks, hoagies, strombolis, and soft pretzels. Walk down Locust and you can eat Greek at Estia, Mexican at Jose’s Pistolas, or grab Halal from a food truck. It’s no surprise that Forbes writes that the United States has the most diverse food in the world.

Even in my suburban Midwestern hometown, one of the local takeout shops is owned by my friend’s parents: first-generation Chinese immigrants. There’s a tiny Mediterranean restaurant in the heart of a manicured main street that serves phenomenal gyros, all owned by a Jordanian family.

But just as immigrants have completely evolved the food landscape, they have also been impacted by forces of assimilation: pressures to homogenize with a “standard” American culture.

In my own experience, I’ve found that the Indian cuisine my parents and their friends make at home is completely unlike that served at restaurants.

My parents are from the northeastern Indian state of West Bengal, whose cuisine includes loads of fish dishes, vegetable curries like panch michali thorkari (literally translates to five-mixed vegetables) or shukto, and other dishes with lentils and rice. You’d be hard-pressed to find a restaurant serving Bengali cuisine in the US, unless you explore ethnic enclaves like in Jackson Heights or Astoria, NY.

An incredibly diverse culture, the term “Indian food” in America primarily encapsulates the cuisine of one state, Punjab (think naans, tandoori chicken, or biryani). Don’t get me wrong, this food is delicious, but has led to a large misconception of Indian cuisine by the majority of Americans.

Through immigration, food is forced to adapt to new ingredients and palettes of the new consumers. Ingredients like green mango, which

are abundant in India, are rare and expensive here, leading to the substitution from mango to tomato chutney. Additionally, Indian foods range a lot spicier than traditional American cuisine, and a restaurant catering to an American audience likely cuts back on the use of green chili peppers or Kashmiri powder. Limiting spice or substituting milder ingredients are just more ways foods are altered.

Increasingly, there are movements to commercialize traditionally cultural foods. Trader Joe’s sells frozen Palak Paneer and Chicken Tikka Masala, somewhat traditional foods that take hours to prepare. Their Chinese line (named Trader Ming’s, which is pretty offensive) offers frozen Pork Shu Mai and Wonton Soup. There’s debate about if these offerings make cultural foods more accessible, or if they’re simply a way to profit off other cultures. Personally, a frozen dinner of Trader Joe’s channa masala saves me on a busy weeknight, but I do think we should seek to support immigrant-owned brands.

Nowadays, originally less popular foods are also gaining traction. I remember my absolute shock when a friend mentioned he was making khichdi, a South Asian dish made from rice and lentils. I grew up eating it at religious events, but he said he heard it was a “high protein food for vegans.” At a local cafe, you’ll probably find “golden milk,” which I grew up calling haldi doodh, a milk infused with turmeric known for its immuneboosting properties. Similarly, coconut oil, ghee, and ashwagandha are some of many Indian foods that are mobilized in new Western wellness trends.

Reflecting on this all — commercialization, transformation, even appropriation — ultimately,

immigration changes the food landscape of its destination, but the food landscape also changes the nature of a cuisine. With this comes drawbacks, but it is also what makes the American food landscape so diverse and unique. Just as foods are passed down from generation to generation, they are transported from place to place, a fixture of the people that move with them.

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Fancy dinner — tiny portions, extravagant meat that I’ve never heard of, and decadent desserts. Comfort food — plates heaped with spices and traditional foods from different cultures.

Classic American meal — crispy fried chicken, seasoned with cayenne pepper and garlic powder.

No matter what meal people are cooking, whether it’s a fancy dinner, comfort food, or a classic American meal, one thing is for sure: the ingredients are being flown in from all across the world. Globalization has allowed people to experience foods from different cultures from the comfort of their hometown.

But, with everything organized into 10 neatly stacked isles it’s easy to forget all there’s an elaborate process behind getting the tuna from Japan into the Acme meat & fish aisle. The term “food miles” is used to describe the distance food travels and fuel used to transport it, from cultivation to processing, and then consumption. Most food goes through several phases of production, including passing through packaging and distribution centers before it even reaches the grocery store. On average, every meal in the US travels 24,000 kilometers to get to your plate.

Most foods are transported by sea, using specialized cargo and container ships. Road and trail transportation is used to transport food at the national and continental level. Airfreight is used for highly perishable foods that would spoil on a long inter-continental sea voyage. In order to transport foods these long distances, much of it is picked while unripe, artificially ripened after transport, and then processed in factories using preservatives to keep it fresh.

However, all of these methods of transportation consume fossil fuels and cause an increase in greenhouse

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gas emissions. Airfreight is the most pollutive method of transportation, generating 50 times more CO2 than sea shipping.

How can you be more environmentally conscious when shopping for food? Avoid air freight goods as much as possible. Foods that travel by air all emphasize freshness; they needed to get to the grocery store fast. Many containers list the food’s country of origin, so in general, avoid foods that have a very short shelf life and have travelled a long distance. This includes some fruits and vegetables from far away; asparagus, green beans, mangoes, and berries often fall into this category.

Well what foods should you buy? Organic strawberries (during the strawberry season), beans, potatoes, tofu, rolled oats are all great options. Grains, nuts and seeds, mushrooms, and seaweed also have a very low carbon footprint.

Constantly being environmentally conscious can be overwhelming. But, when it comes to food, it’s important to be aware of where it’s coming from and do our best to consume ethically and sustainably. And of course, when food does come from afar, take a moment to marvel at the process of how it got to your plate.

Food to Plate: A Long Dish-tance Relationship And of course, when food does come from afar, take a moment to marvel at the process of how it got to your plate.

BY ANUSH MATHUR ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOY CHEN

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AN ODE TO WOKS

by Emily Truong Photo by Shirley LI

Flames flashing up the curved sides, the sizzle of cold oil meeting scorching hot metal, the food floating above the pan for a split second—I couldn’t look away.

I love watching other people cook more than I actually enjoy cooking sometimes. When I was younger, I loved peering into the kitchen of a local Chinese restaurant that I can’t quite remember the name of. I was fascinated by how the chefs used their woks to prepare the food.

It wasn’t a style of cooking I was used to seeing at home, at my grandparents’, or on the TV.

Wok cooking is like a dance of quick and decisive motions. The process takes only a few minutes, the ingredients quickly seared and flavors locked in thanks to the high heat and the thermal conductivity of the pan. There’s a certain

炒 锅

procedure and order to stir frying in a wok, and each movement is exact and precise, from swirling the oil around to tossing the contents. Everything is intentional and nothing is for show—the mesmerizing toss circulates the heat and ensures that nothing burns.

What makes the wok a kitchen essential has to be its versatility. While woks are mainly used for stir-fry, there are endless possibilities to what you can make in a wok. Between my dad and I, we used to own three woks—one for deep frying chicken, churros, and beignets; one for him to make stir fry, banh xeo, and frittatas; and one for me to make Rice Krispie treats and the occasional bowl of fried rice. We were always using our woks, and usually there’d be at least one or two sitting on the down or ready to go or already in use.

The art of the toss

Tossing your ingredients allows you to achieve that perfectly browned, flavorful stir-fry—the contents of the wok cool as they leave the pan, keeping them from burning while still allowing the Maillard reaction to occur. It’s difficult to master, much like flipping pancakes, but according to a group of physicists at Georgia Tech, the perfect wok toss requires pulling the wok back while rotating it counterclockwise to toss the food, then pushing it forward while rotating it clockwise to catch it.

Less is more Just because woks can hold a lot of food doesn’t mean you should.

Overcrowding the wok when stir-frying might result in a loss of flavor, as having too many ingredients will lower the temperature of the wok and make it harder to quickly cook everything evenly.

Branching out You can make so much more than just stir-fry in a wok. Try using your wok to steam, braise, or even deep fry—the sloped sides catch splattering oil and the shallowness of the pan makes it easier to move the food around as it fries.

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social medi a d o fo trends

BY ANUSHKA DASGUPTA ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOY CHEN

The food industry is largely affected by social media — nearly 50 percent of consumers have dined at a restaurant due to the influence of a post by its social media account. In the last year, quarantine has made social media a pipeline to make recipes more accessible and popularize certain recipes. Likely, you or someone you know either picked up cooking as a hobby or, if you already loved to cook, dove headfirst into a particular food sphere — bread-making, vegan cuisine, coffee preparation. Here’s a brief survey of different platforms and the foods that occupy them.

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INstagram TIKTOK Think feta pasta, Dalgona coffee, vodka pasta, or the tortilla wrap hack. The food in TikTok trends is sometimes already part of culinary traditions, but TikTok serves as a way to popularize them, reaching millions of likes and views. For the most part, trying these recipes at home turns out well, or whatever ‘hack’ they provide is useful. While it’s easy to look down on TikTok in general and look further upon TikTok trends as useless fads, the platform has made recipes more accessible and helped home cooks grow by going viral.

One of the things I like most about TikTok is that technically anybody has the chance to go viral with a recipe (given, the algorithm likes you too). What’s more, the whole subgenre of “Food TikTok” is populated with diverse, talented cooks that offer thousands of recipes. Some of my favorite creators are @ shceckeats, @shreyacooksss, and @coffeebae97, whose coffeepreparation videos are truly sublime.

@scheck

@

As a consumer, I love using social media to learn about food, recipes, and restaurants. On the flipside, growing a popular account can be difficult because these platforms are oversaturated with content. If you’re looking to become a social media famous food personality, think carefully about the platform(s) you choose and how to tailor your content for that platform.

@coffeebae97

pinterest From mason jar salads to charcuterie boards, Pinterest has remained popular for foodies through the years. Like Instagram, there’s an aesthetic factor — think tasteful minimalist cakes and perfect pasta bowls. But Pinterest also has loads of random recipes for every dietary need or bizarre craving, generating titles like “spinach muffins.” Pinterest is easy-to-use and efficient for consumers, but it’s a lot harder for a content creator to get popular solely on Pinterest. Instead, most use Pinterest in conjunction with their other platforms — usually an Instagram page or a food blog.

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Instagram food is all about appearance; after all, the platform is derived from scrolling through a feed and tapping to like a pretty picture. Some trends include raindrop cakes, cloud bread, and insanely indulgent milkshakes. Of course, the platform is diverse, and there are also many home cooks that grow accounts sharing personal recipes. Additionally, Instagram remains the main way restaurants and cafes use social media to market their brands. In recent years, this focus around the aesthetic quality of foods and Instagram’s growing commercialization has oversaturated the platform — lookup “burger” and you’ll find tens of thousands of well-composed, flawless photos of restaurant-quality burgers. The caption remains more of a secondary piece, so arduous, complicated recipes are usually reserved for other platforms. At the same time, Instagram remains a popular way for individual creators to document their kitchen creations or create their own food review pages.

Youtube YouTube has long been a popular food platform. When I was younger, I adored YouTube baking videos, trying to recreate unique baked goods like rainbow cupcakes with my friends. Now, YouTube’s food community is somewhat streamlined with the popularity of Tasty-style videos, which are overhead shots of recipe preparation. Some other popular food channels include Binging with Babish, Bon Appétit, or NYT Cooking. For the most part, YouTube food videos are well-produced, often backed by a larger corporation. For this reason, it’s often much harder for smaller creators to gain popularity. At the same time, YouTube has created a new generation of ‘celebrity chef’ personages.

While these videos are well-produced, they’re more laid back and personal, allowing viewers to learn recipes, but also seemingly spend time with the chef.

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ARTICLE BY AYELET GROSS PHOTOS BY ALAINA CHOU Imagine a cake that is less sweet, chewier, denser, more difficult to prep and bake, and you have bread, cake’s less dessert-y cousin.

Every baker, whether amateur or professional, will eventually undertake baking bread at some point in their career. Bread baking has the reputation of being a particularly laborious process, and for good reason: it requires a different kind of attention than cakes, cookies and pastries.

Kneading is exhausting, yeast can be fickle, and sourdough is in a league of its own. But don’t be fooled into believing that all bread requires the same level of skill and commitment. All household-name breads can be divided into different tiers of bread-baking difficulty.

It’s time to up the bread game. The middle ground of laborious bread making techniques includes the vast majority of breads. They all require both yeast and kneading time, and any differences are a product of shaping or adding to the dough in a unique way.

For instance, brioche is made with milk, ciabatta incorporates additional olive oil, baguettes are famously sausage-shaped.

Indeed, there are some ways to ease the effort of baking. Perhaps consider using instant yeast instead of active dry yeast.

Active dry yeast is what most recipes call for, and requires “blooming” in a watersugar mixture before baking begins.

On the contrary, instant yeast can be folded straight into the dough. Or maybe consider using a dough hook or bread machine to lessen the work of kneading by hand.

So you think you can bake? Then let’s introduce sourdough, an undeniably time consuming endeavor. Unlike most breads which employ manufactured leavening agents such as yeast or baking soda, sourdough is unique because the bread rises naturally, with just flour and water. The flour itself contains both lactic acid which provides the famous “sour” taste, and also yeast which releases carbon dioxide to slowly raise the dough over time at the inclusion of water. This process of natural rising takes place in the creation of what is called a sourdough starter. A starter has to be made before baking can actually begin because the natural yeast in the flour requires proper time to ferment. The steps of creating a sourdough starter can be simplified to mixing flour and water, waiting until the mixture ferments, discarding half the mixture, mixing in an equal

White bread, Whole Wheat, Brioche, Ciabatta, Pitta, etc.

Sourdough

T “ NO

L

AL

amount of flour and water, and repeating that multiple times over the course of one to three weeks. Depending on the environment, colder rooms and higher altitudes can make the process even trickier! It is totally acceptable to use a store-bought starter, but what’s the fun in that? Once the sourdough starter is ready, grab your favorite sourdough recipe and simply bake bread as normal with the inclusion of some starter.

The typical kneading, rising time, and baking time is all still necessary, which is partially why sourdough requires so much effort. Store a sourdough starter in the fridge and continue frequent feedings to keep the sourdough viable for baking. Stale sourdough even makes for great crackers and breadcrumbs. And if sourdough baking really isn’t working for you, ditch the yeast and whip up an easy crowd-pleasing batch of banana bread to lessen the sting.

”

Welcome to the beginner breads! Soda bread gets its name from incorporating baking soda as a leavening agent instead of yeast. The buttermilk in the dough activates the baking soda once in the oven, meaning no rising time and no kneading.

Similarly, artisan bread forgoes kneading in favor of a long rising time in the fridge.

Quickbread is perhaps the easiest bread, because it is debatably not bread at all.

Quickbread has no yeast and no kneading.

It is included in this list because it has the sweetness and density somewhere between bread and cake. Think banana bread, pumpkin bread, and zucchini bread.

Labor Intensive:

L.

Soda Bread, Artisan Bread, Quickbread.

Standard Breads:

UA

Baby Breads:

BR

EAD

D E T I S C RE A

EQ

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FEEDING THE RESISTANCE

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BY REBECCA JIANG PHOTO BY ANNA FENG When thinking about the social and political movements that have characterized global history, food is likely within the tail-end of topics which come to mind. The significance of restaurants during notable struggles such as the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s largely remains to be acknowledged, but food was truly a multi-faceted aspect of civil rights history -- transforming from a divisive mechanism of segregation to an ideological (and physical) fuel for social justice reform.

Lunch rooms in the South were among one of the most visible examples of segregation, as Black individuals were denied access to something as trivial as a milkshake, which many of us see simply as a late night diner indulgence. The role of food as a point of racial division eventually gave rise to acts of nonviolent resistance such as the infamous Greensboro Sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter, where food served almost as a proxy to shifting power dynamics.

However, by the same token, restaurants were pivotal in supporting the fight for civil rights, transforming from establishments of sustenance to impromptu safe havens and meeting points for planning resistance. Paschal’s in Atlanta, Georgia was deemed the unofficial headquarters of the Civil Rights Movement, where Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Andrew Young, and several other leaders would discuss strategy while owners and brothers James and Robert Paschal provided the comfort of soul food classics such as fried chicken, collard greens, and cornbread. They also often posted bail for Black activists who had been jailed and gave them free meals as they were reunited with their families.

Georgia Gilmore, an unsung hero of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, organized a group of women called the “Club From Nowhere” to prepare meals of fried chicken sandwiches, pork chops, and greens, serving them at protest meetings. After being fired from her job as a cook because of her activism, she decided to start a home restaurant that became home to guests such as King and Lyndon B. Johnson. While restaurant spaces were usually divided along racial lines, Gilmore’s kitchen served as a culinary bridge for white and Black people.

We often don’t think about the ways food symbolizes struggle, turmoil, and perseverance. However, many dishes around the world are a product of periods of social and political change.

From Cha ca La Vong, a Vietnamese vermicelli plate served at revolutionary meetings, to the Indigenous Food Sovereignty movement that is still extremely relevant today, food is so nuanced by the context it arises in, and it’s worthwhile to understand the role it plays in history.

Illustrated by Olivia Tang

by Helen Wu

A year ago in the midst of the pandemic, my greatest joy was making food and watching Bon Appétit test kitchen videos.

Trapped indoors with little to no creative outlet, I poured hours into fostering my sourdough starter, making phyllo from scratch (I should’ve taken all the warnings from the internet telling me it’s not worth it), and watching BA members cooking from their homes. Despite the limitations of the pandemic, the BA YouTube channel was arguably at the height of its success.

For years, the familiar faces of the test kitchen have been steadily amassing a cult following.

Then, amidst the outrage of George Floyd’s murder and momentum of the BLM movement, the Bon Appétit empire started crumbling. It all started with BA posting a black square reading “food has always been political” on Instagram. BA staffers came forward to denounce the food giant’s hypocritical actions for focusing on Eurocentric foods and rejecting recipes from other cultures.

The reputation of the organization came under fire when a picture of former Editor in chief Adam Rapoport donning an offensive Halloween costume of a Puerto Rican stereotype circulated on the internet. It became clear that discrimination is a systemic issue at BA when BIPOC staff members such as Sohla El Waylly announced that BA did not compensate her for her video contributions despite paying her white colleagues. By August of 2020, most of the familiar faces that made up BA had left the company to pursue their careers elsewhere. In October, BA announced a new team of eight producers, many of whom were people of color. I, among other viewers, perceived this to be a disingenuous gesture that further tokenized BIPOC staff at the company.

The issue of systemic injustice in the food industry goes much deeper than a lack of

representation, and a change in staff is not enough to solve the problem.

Even though Adam Rapoport should be out of sight and out of mind, an anecdote about his attitude towards foods of different cultures still sticks out to me as a valuable indicator of a pertinent issue in the food industry. During the fallout last year, former BA staff Illyanna Maisonet came forward stating that Adam Rapoport overturned her pitch for a Puerto Rican dish because staff of color had an easier “path to a green light”.

This story represents the experiences of many minorities in the food industry who are frequently underappreciated or discredited for their contributions. Their recipes for ethnic foods are often branded differently than Western dishes— peak into a magazine and you’ll see words like “soul food”, “hearty”, “comforting”, but seldom “sophisticated” or “essential”.

I think it’s time we abolish this subtle difference in the way we think about food from different cultures. I want unadulterated recipes created by people of color on the front page, presented to me as “the necessary recipe to make”, and not just some side dish for when I’m feeling adventurous.

Thankfully, this vision is possible.

Platforms like Tik Tok have uplifted and popularized POC content creators and lesser known recipes. Many former BA staff now have their own ventures across Youtube, Patreon, Instagram where they make their own rules. This new wave of independent content shows us that food can be delicious, impactful, and impressive without being backed by archaic institutions.

Electrolytes: These charged particles or ions are crucial in maintaining fluid balance, preventing cramping, and even regulating your muscle contractions. Important electrolytes include sedum, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. While many energy drinks advertise their electrolyte content, it’s crucial to read labels and the list of ingredients to be aware of what you are consuming.

Caffeine: For those that are caffeine sensitive, these energy drinks with caffeine may not be the way to go. But if you find that caffeine wakes you up, many electrolyte-containing energy drinks also come with caffeine. It is important to remember not to consume too much caffeine, which is often associated with high blood pressure and increased heart rates.

Gels: For long-distance runs like marathons which are all about high speeds and sustained effort, fueling before and during the activity is important. Gels, the go-to choice for many long distance runners, are a packet of energy that can be squeezed into your mouth during a run. They are highly portable and are designed to deliver sugars like glucose and fructose that can be quickly absorbed to combat depleted glycogen stores. Depending on the type, gels may also contain caffeine, electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals.

By Dhivya Arasappan Sometimes I wonder whether we eat to live or live to eat?

But it doesn’t have to be an either/or scenario—perhaps we can do a bit of both.

From rolling out of bed to walking to the dining hall to pick up something for dinner, we move our bodies every day. And even when we think we’re sitting still for hours on end grinding out school work, our bodies are still moving.

At a cellular level, many of the foods we eat are broken down into sugars, amino acids, and fats, all of which play an essential role in fueling different cells.

With all the running and lunging, stretching, and swinging involved in squash, it’s no wonder why I sometimes feel like I’m about to fall apart at the end of a practice session.

But I’ve learned through trial and error that how I feel is often related to how I fuel and hydrate both before practice and afterward.

Not enough fuel makes for a very cranky and distracted practice—after all, no one wants to train when they’re hungry. From my personal experience, it’s much harder to push yourself physically and mentally if you’re thinking about your grumbling stomach.

So whether going for a long run or jumping into practice for a sport, the key to any sustained effort or exercise

is carbohydrates. Two types of carbs are important to consider: simple and complex. While both help to restore your glycogen stores after training, they have some specific benefits as well.

Simple carbs are the ones we most often think about—simple sugars like glucose, fructose, and sucrose, found in bread, fruits, and table sugar, respectively. They primarily serve as a quick burst of energy. Complex carbs like starch and fiber, on the other hand, are typically found in plant-based foods like whole grains and starchy vegetables.

These complex carbs take longer to break down, fueling your body and providing sustained energy over extended periods of time.

Carbohydrates, whether from a smoothie, banana, or an energy bar, can be a good way to fuel before a workout session or practice so that you can train more intensely or for a longer duration.

The closer you get to a training session or race, the less protein and fat you should consume as these take longer to be broken down and may not be fully digested by the time you start.

It’s typically advised that you eat some sort of meal prior that includes a mixture of carbs, proteins, and healthy fats. Depending on my mood, I go for the eggs, avocado, and toast combo or almond butter toast and fruits a few hours before exercising and a combination of carbs or proteins anywhere from 30 minutes to

an hour prior to the activity. Foods like bananas or an apple with peanut butter (or almond butter!) are some easy ideas to try.

And while these are general guidelines about what may work, whatever source of energy gets you moving and feeling your best changes from person to person. As a result, it’s important to find what works best and build a routine over time. At the end of the day, the food that you eat is what fuels your everyday activity. And as a self-proclaimed foodie, hopefully, it tastes good too ;)

Date Energy Bars Yields: 8 large bars/ 16 squares

Directions: 1.

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 15 min Date bars are easy. You can make this recipe in no time at home once you’ve found your perfect dates and the sharp blades of a food processor.

Ingredients: • • • •

1 cup of seedless dates (12-15 whole, pitted dried dates) ¼ - ½ cup of dried fruits (of choice) 1 cup of nuts (of choice) 1 pinch of salt

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2.

3.

4.

Blend ingredients together until thoroughly combined in a food processor.

You may need to separate the dates if they start to clump together. Scrape the edges of the bowl and beneath the blade to make sure nothing is sticking. Continue processing until the ingredients gather into a ball.

Dump the dough onto a high walled baking vessel prepared with parchment paper. Press the dough with your hands until it forms a thick square, roughly 8”x8” in size.

If the dough is too wet, bake it in a preheated oven (350 F) for 5-20 minutes or until suitably dry Transfer the dough into a cutting board and divide it into large bars or small squares as desired.

Notes: If the chocolate bars are baked, be aware that the chocolate will melt and this will change the texture of the bars. Freezing also changes the texture of energy bars.

Chopped dates are not recommended for this recipe because they are often covered in cornstarch or sugar to prevent sticking Energy bars can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks with parchment, or wax, paper separating bars Different nuts contribute to the different textures and flavors of these bars: cashew adds richness and a creamy taste; peanuts brings out the nutty flavor; almond adds a wonderful crunch.

Photo by Ria Vieria Suggested flavor combinations: Blueberry • 1 cup of dates • ¼ - ½ cup dried blueberries • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 1 tsp lemon juice • ½ tsp ground cinnamon (optional) Apple • 1 cup of dates • ¼ - ½ cup dried apples • 1 tsp vanilla extract • ½ - 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cherry • 1 cup of dates • ¼ - ½ cup dried unsweetened cherries • 1 cup almonds • ½ - tsp ground cinnamon PB & J -esque • 1 cup of dates • ½ cup dried raisins or cherries • 1 cup peanuts Chocolate • 1 cup of dates • ½ cup of almonds • ½ cup of pecans/ walnuts • 3 tablespoons chocolate (chips or chopped chocolate)* • 2 tbsp cocoa unsweetened powder

A pack of 20 butter tortillas from H-E-B—a

SEARCHING FOR THE

familiar

IN THE UNFAMILIAR

By Emily Truong Photo by Alan Jinich

Texas grocery store chain and quite possibly one of my favorite places in the world—sat high on my college packing list, up there with my laptop and a new winter coat. It was an essential.

The tortillas were one of the last things I packed, squeezing it into my mom’s carry-on, and one of the first that I unpacked, tossing them straight into my minifridge.

For the first week or so that I was on campus, I desperately missed home. I missed Tex-Mex food and sneaking downstairs at 2 a.m. to pan fry dumplings and my dad’s affinity for hiding mushrooms in my food. I mostly sat around eating tortillas, warmed up in my microwave until they mimicked the ones fresh from the machine, and bánh tét, Vietnamese sticky rice cakes stuffed with mung bean and pork—foods that remind me of home and of my family. I didn’t feel up to exploring the city or even the University City area with my friends. All I wanted to eat were familiar foods.

When I travel, I have similar cravings for food that I could find at home and an aversion to trying local restaurants and cuisine. A few years ago, my family took a trip to New York.

My mom, a lover of foodie Instagrams, scouted a long list of restaurants and foods we had to eat, but halfway into our trip, I no longer wanted to eat at the places on her list. I’m not much of a picky eater, but I felt uncomfortable in the city and missed my bed, and all I wanted was to eat something familiar and comforting.

We all feel that every now and then, a desire for something familiar when surrounded by everything unfamiliar .

As much as we want to be adventurous and try something new, sometimes the shock of a new environment takes a while to wear off. Sometimes the thought of eating outside of your comfort zone makes you apprehensive, and sometimes homesickness starts to take over.

Familiar food is the perfect cure for homesickness.

It’s comforting. Safe. It’ll always be there for you.

It feels silly to order a dish or eat at a restaurant that you could easily find back home when the travel norm—as seen on Instagram and other social media— seems to be the exact opposite. You may worry about being judged for it, especially when abroad, but seeking out familiar foods shouldn’t be considered a travel faux pas.

Perhaps you have dietary restrictions—food allergies or diets to follow that are difficult to accommodate when away from home—or a stomach that may or may not appreciate certain spices and flavors, or you’re feeling homesick. That doesn’t make you a bad tourist.

It doesn’t hurt to find a balance, though, between eating the local cuisine and indulging in familiar comfort food. Slowly, I’m beginning to branch out and explore more of Philly. I’m trying to take that next step toward trying new things and make the unfamiliar familiar. There are still days where I miss Texas a little more than usual, but it’s nothing a warm tortilla from my freezer stash can’t ease.

BY ANUSHA MATHUR PHOTO BY DANIEL SHI ILLUSTRATIONS BY MONIKA LEE

BY ANUSHA MATHUR PHOTO BY DANIEL SHI

Give Eating Food in Your Car a Shot With pad see ew and pad thai carefully balanced on my knees, I sat in the backseat as my mom drove us towards home. I felt the heat radiate upwards into my legs from the thin “Thank You” plastic bags. As we drove over the bumps and holes in the road, the car began to fill with the aroma of sweet, salt, and spice.

It was just too much to wait until I got home.

“Can I pleeeease have a little bit now?” six-year-old me asked my mother with wide eyes and a grumbling stomach.

“We’re only 15 minutes from home. You can last until then” she responded with a laugh.

I turned to my sister, sitting next to me, holding 3 more boxes. After a quick glance to make sure our mom wasn’t looking we quickly opened a corner of the box, grabbed a tiny piece of pad see eww with two fingers, and popped it into our mouths.

The food warmed our insides and once we started eating we couldn’t stop. We snuck noodle after noodle until

soon enough our fingers were coated with oil and the box was half empty.

Culture is sitting around a dinner table eating traditional, home cooked food with family. Togetherness is going around and saying what everyone is thankful for before the huge Thanksgiving meal. But, to me, true bonding is the small shared moments that become memories forever. Formal family dinners don’t have the same unfiltered bliss as sneaking bites of food on a seemingly mundane car ride home.

Sometimes when my sister and I were late for school last year, we would quickly scarf down breakfast in the car, taking bites intermittently when stopped at red lights. We now habitually eat a little bit of food, whether it be three slurps of ramen or two bites of a burger, in the car on our way home from any restaurant. During the pandemic, with many restaurants not open for in-person dining, it has become almost second nature to use the car’s center console as a dining table.

I’ve learned that the car can be

so much more than just a means to get somewhere. The tight, cramped space forces you to be close to the people you’re with. Whenever my sister and I get tacos from our favorite restaurant in Santa Monica we drive to the bluffs and sit and watch the west coast waves while eating our food. It’s messy... By the end of it, taco juice and habanero sauce is smeared all over us and the seats of the car. However, it’s an experience much more freeing than sitting down for a fancy meal, being forced to use the small fork for the appetizer and the big one for the entree.

Even alone, eating in the car can be a peaceful experience. The car becomes your cave and you are secluded from the rest of the world. I often find myself parked on the side of the road, with food in my lap and music reverberating off of the walls of my car. After a few minutes, I forget that there are other cars whizzing by me. These serene moments are a time when the world slows down— a rare moment of reflection and calm. While not the most luxurious setup, eating in the car, both alone and with loved ones, is an experience worth savoring.

THE HISTORY AND ORIGINS OF EATING CUSTOMS

BY DHIVYA ARASAPPAN

Food is all about movement. At the global level, imports and exports bring produce from different countries and cultures to our plates. But the food we consume also makes a shorter trip from your plate to your mouth.

How does it get there? Across time and geography, and in consideration of regional values, customs, and cuisines, the utensils we use vary widely from sporks to chopsticks. These approaches have evolved across cultures and with new influences and will continue to do so.

FORKS, SPOONS, KNIVES

When we think about the modern trifecta of eating instruments—particularly in the western world—we often point to the spoon, fork, and knife.

And it’s true, with these three utensils, we can do everything from sipping tomato soup to cutting a piece of chicken.

Utensils reminiscent of the spoon have been around for hundreds of years, fashioned from seashells and then later from materials like ivory or slate.

Forks, on the other hand, are a relatively new development.

And despite its overwhelming presence in Western dining, the fork didn’t originate in Europe; it first popped up across tables in Persia in the 8th and 9th centuries. From there, the fork was introduced to Byzantine to Italy, becoming a popular and refined utensil.

But early versions of the fork weren’t used at the dining table but rather in the kitchen to cook and serve food. Oddly, the fork had only two of the four tines that we have today. But by the 18th century, the fork became a regular utensil alongside the knife and spoon. And today, forks are used at many tables all over the world, sometimes with different practices and customs.

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HANDS

In many parts of the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and South America, people typically eat with their hands. People tend to eat only with their right hand, whether for scooping up various gravies and sauces, tearing up pieces of flatbread, or hoisting a bite of rice to one’s mouth.

From personal experience, I can tell you that eating with your hands is a pretty effective way to deliver food to your mouth; you just have to remember to wash your hands (with soap!) before eating.

At first glance, eating with your hands may seem pretty straightforward when it comes to holding on to a slice of pizza or a sandwich. However, you might have to reassess when it comes to chapati and kurma.

When I was younger, I remember being chastised by my relatives for being a messy eater.

Eating yogurt rice with tadka and a healthy dollop of homemade mango pickle without getting the food all over the palm of my hand was a big challenge. Often, I’d find yogurt smeared across my palm—a sure sign of a messy and inelegant eater.

But one of the most challenging parts of eating with one’s hands was learning how to tear apart flatbreads without using my left hand.

This meant I had to do quite a bit of maneuvering to hold the piece of chapati down while simultaneously using my other three fingers to tear a piece off.

While it took some work, that first scrumptious bite of chapati and fish curry was always worth it.

CHOPSTICKS

Another common way to eat is with chopsticks, which dates back to 5000 years ago in China.

Like forks, they were initially made out of bronze and used to cook. According to the California Academy of Sciences, food was cut into smaller pieces that would cook faster over a fire and use less fuel due to scarce resources. As a result of these smaller pieces of food, knives weren’t as helpful, and chopsticks became the utensil of choice.

From bamboo and other types of wood to metal and ceramic chopsticks, chopsticks have been crafted with different variations and materials throughout history.

Silver chopsticks, for example, were used by wealthy people with the belief that they would turn black if they came in contact with poisoned food.

Since then, chopsticks have spread to many other parts of Asia, including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, taking on specific characteristics in their design, use, and cultural beliefs surrounding the utensil.

While Korean chopsticks are typically flat and made of metal, chopsticks in Vietnam tend to be made out of bamboo or coconut wood and are unadorned.

FORKS AND CHOPSTICKS FORKS AND CHOPSTICKS FORKS AND CHOPSTICKS FORKS AND CHOPSTICKS FORKS AND CHOPSTICKS FORKS AND

CHOPSTICKS

BRINGING THE CHEMISTRY LAB TO YOUR KITCHEN

BY CHRISTINE KONG || PHOTO BY JUSTINE DE JESUS || ILLUSTRATIONS BY MONIKA LEE

In my very first chemistry class in high school, I remember my teacher telling us about how chemistry makes up every single aspect of life. It was hard for me to believe her at first, but as I studied more chemistry, I began to see what she meant. Chemistry is the reason why bread rises, why things burn, and so much more. Here, I’m going to detail some important chemical processes that are big reasons why food tastes so good!

Jell-O

A nostalgic childhood snack, Jell-O holds a dear place in many hearts.

But, did you know about the chemistry that makes up this sweet snack? When you dissolve gelatin powder in hot water, you break the weak bonds that hold the collagen protein chains together. Each chain is a triple-helix that floats around until the gelatin cools and new bonds form between the amino acids in the protein. Flavored and colored water fills in the spaces between the polymer chains, becoming trapped as the bonds become more secure. The familiar jiggle from Jell-O is from the water trapped in the polymer chains!

If you heat the Jell-O, you will break the bonds that hold the protein chains together, liquefying the gelatin again.

Butterfly Pea

Butterfly pea is a flower native to southeast Asia that has beautiful, vibrant, purple-blue hues. Butterfly pea tea has recently become more popular in western food trends due to its stunning color and health benefits, which include antioxidant support, anti-inflammatory compounds, and even reduced stress levels and improved moods. But the most unique trait of butterfly pea, however, is its ability to change color. This is due to a simple acid-base reaction.

One of the main compounds in butterfly pea is anthocyanin, a blue-violet plant pigment whose color depends on the pH of the environment. When acid, such as lemonade, is added to butterfly pea tea, the color of the tea changes from a dark blue to a bright magenta. Conversely, if a base is added to butterfly pea tea, the color would change to green or even yellow (but unfortunately, this wouldn’t taste too good).

The Maillard reaction

What do the caramelized parts on the end of your steak, the crispy bits on your toast, and the browning pepperoni on pizza all have in common? They all happen due to the Maillard reaction! In simple terms, the Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar with the addition of heat. The carbonyl group of the sugar reacts with an amino acid on a protein to form water and an unstable glycosylamine. The glycosylamine undergoes rearrangements to produce a series of aminoketone compounds and finally, after undergoing another series of reactions, hundreds of aromatic flavor compounds are created. These flavor compounds are responsible for the distinctive, umami flavor of browned foods in everything from fried onions, roasted coffee, grilled meats, toasted marshmallows, and more.

So, even though people say that cooking is an art, there is definitely a lot of science behind it too. The next time you’re in your kitchen, stop and think about what other chemical reactions could be helping your food taste so good and have fun experimenting!

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MORE THAN

MATZO FOOD TRADITIONS FROM MY JEWISH UPBRINGING

BY AYELET GROSS PHOTOS BY ANNA FENG Growing up an Orthodox Jew meant being raised with a spirited culture, a rich history, and somewhat peculiar customs. Indeed, my religion frames my worldview, but even more so, it shapes my palate. My penchant for Challah and fake-bacon stems from the unique emphasis that Judaism places on food.

I have strong memories of food associated with every religious holiday that I celebrate throughout the year. On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, I dip apples in honey to symbolize a sweet new year. I have struggled year after year of fasting on Yom Kippur. Yet there is nothing as delicious as eating home-cooked, fried jelly donuts and potato latkes for eight days on Hanukkah. And there is no better feeling than dressing up in costumes to build and deliver baskets of food to friends and neighbors on Purim–a holiday not ulike Halloween Perhaps my absolute favorite tradition is to eat cheesecake on the holiday of Shavuot. What could be more exciting than a built-in day of the year when you are actually supposed to eat dairy?

During Passover, I do not eat any sort of grain that can rise.

No wheat, barley, spelt, oats or rye for seven days. Those yellow-capped Coca-Cola bottles that surface every March and April are actually special kosher-for-Passover sodas. Likewise, every year my cabinet is loaded up with potato bread, off-brand cereals, and lots of quinoa. Ever tried quinoa sushi? Just check your local kosher grocer during Passover. Baking

during Passover is ultimately an exercise in humility–cookies without flour are certainly more difficult, more dense, and less delicious. Brownies baked with matzo meal just don’t have that familiar fudgey kick as well.

Along those lines, not every food-related custom in Judaism is exactly... straightforward. Many people have heard the term “kosher”; it essentially refers to foods which abide by certain rules outlined in the Bible. Some examples include not mixing meat and milk together, not eating shellfish, and not eating pig. No chicken parm. No cheeseburgers. I laugh to myself when keeping kosher feels more like a game of I Spy than a religious choice. Since grocery items need to be kosher as well, I spend grocery trips walking up and down aisles like a headless chicken, searching for elusive certifications. Restaurants need to

be certified kosher as well. Man, would I kill to eat at (insert non-Kosher food spot here) down the block. Then again, it’s exciting when a kosherobservant Jew competes on Chopped, because that’s my guy up there! I feel this intangible connection to a stranger on a cooking show, because keeping kosher is just such a unique and unifying custom. Similarly, I feel the same intrinsic sense of comradery with other students at Penn who exclusively eat at Penn Hillel, the only dining hall to get hot kosher meals.

When you boil it down, food represents family. Food represents customs. The first time I ever baked with yeast was to finally make a batch of my grandmother’s delicious Challah recipe, a bread eaten every week on the Sabbath. And boy, was my Challah tasteless. But here I am now, many attempts later, serving my grandmother’s recipe to my roommates on Friday nights and bringing a small piece of home to my college apartment. Because I keep certain foods, like latkes, reserved for special occasions, my daily meals are pretty standard by all means. I live on the kosher version of your standard college-student diet. Yet, even if it is just mac and cheese, the food that I eat daily reminds me of my roots, my heritage, and ties me to my family and friends. My wonderful relationship with food stems from my religion and, despite some convoluted rules, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

RECIPES

Scallops in Lemongrass Coconut Broth RECIPE BY LAUREN TRAAS ILLUSTRATION BY SONIA SHAH

Yields: 2 servings (appetizer) Prep time: 20 min Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients • • • • • • • • • • • •

1 shallot, diced 1 inch ginger, grated 1 cup coconut milk ½ tsp fish sauce 2 kaffir lime leaves 1 stalk of lemongrass, chopped in 4 and lightly bashed ½ tsp red pepper flakes 1 tsp coriander powder Juice of ½ lime 2 tbsp vegetable oil ½ - 1 cup of chicken broth 6 scallops

•

Suggestion: 2x a handful of Popcorn

Directions 1. Add oil to a saucepan and fry the shallot on medium heat until lightly browned, approximately 4 minutes.

2. Add the ginger, lemongrass, coriander powder, red pepper flakes and continue frying for 1 or 2 more minutes, until aromatic.

3. Add the chicken broth, fish sauce, and lime leaves together in the pan and let the broth simmer for about 10 minutes. Add ¼ cup water if the broth is too thick.

4. In the meantime, make the cilantro lime dressing by placing the cilantro, lime juice, 3 tablespoons of water, salt and pepper into a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.

Cilantro Lime Dressing

5. Let the broth cool down and blend to a smooth consistency in a blender. Transfer the blender contents back in the saucepan and add the coconut milk and lime juice.

• • •

A bunch of cilantro Juice of ½ lime 3 tbsp water

6. Once the sauce is done, add butter to a skillet and fry the scallops for 2-3 min on each side until browned.

•

Salt and pepper to taste

7. Add the sauce to a plate, top with 3 scallops.

Garnish with popcorn and serve with cilantro lime dressing on the side.

Masala Fries with Caraway Sriracha Mayo Dip

BY ANH NGO

Directions

Yields: 4 servings Prep time: 25 mins Cook time: 15 mins

For the Masala fries:

Ingredients For the Masala fries: • 2 medium russet potatoes • 1 tsp garlic powder (or 2 cloves of garlic, minced) • 1 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder • ¼ tsp ground turmeric • ¼ tsp ground cumin • ¼ tsp ground cloves • ½ tsp ground black pepper • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon • 2 tbsp canola oil • ½ tsp kosher salt • Water for soaking For the Caraway Sriracha Mayo Dip • ¼ cup mayo • 1 tsp Caraway seed, ground • 1 tbsp Sriracha chili sauce • 1 tsp lemon juice • ¼ tsp garlic powder • Pinch of salt

1.

Peel the potatoes, and place them in water to slow browning. Cut peeled potatoes into batons 1/3 inch thick.

2. Submerge the potatoes in water to keep them from browning. Soaking also takes out the excess starch and prevents the slices from sticking.

3. Meanwhile, mix the chili powder, turmeric, cumin, cloves, and cinnamon together. Stir the spice mixture well.

4. Heat an air fryer to 375ºF. 5. After 15 minutes of soaking, drain the potatoes, wipe them dry, and place them in a large mixing bowl.

6. Add the spice mixture, canola oil, and kosher salt into the bowl. Toss to combine.

7. Lightly coat the air fryer basket with cooking spray. Place a single layer of fries in the basket of the air fryer. For the fries to be crispy, you should not stack multiple layers in one basket.

8. After 7 minutes, open the basket and use tongs to flip the fries.

9. Air fry again until golden brown and crispy, about 7 minutes more.

10. Remove from the basket. Season fries with finely ground black pepper to taste, and serve immediately.

For the Caraway Sriracha Mayo Dip 1.

2.

58 penn appétit

In a mixing bowl, add the mayo and garlic powder. Squeeze in the lemon juice and whisk it all together.

Add the Sriracha sauce and the Caraway seed and blend it all using a blender until the mixture is creamy and pinkish in color.

penn appétit 59

Kumquat Meringue Tart

Yields: one 9-inch tart Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: 30 min

Ingredients For the Tart Dough:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature • 6 tbsp granulated white sugar • 1 egg • 2 cups plain flour, plus extra for dusting • ½ tsp vanilla extract • ¼ tsp salt For the Kumquat Curd Filling:

• 4 eggs • 1 ¼ cup icing sugar • 4 tbsp plain flour • 8 tbsp freshly-squeezed kumquat juice, from • •

about 4 kumquats Zest of 1 kumquat (optional) Pinch of salt

Directions 1.

To make the pastry, whiz the butter and sugar in a food processor until just combined.

2.

Add the egg and vanilla extract, then continue whining for another 30 seconds.

3.

Sift in the flour and process for just a few more seconds until the dough just comes together. Avoid overmixing to prevent the dough from developing gluten. If the dough seems too dry, you can add 1 tablespoon of cold water.

4.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Lightly grease a 9-inch loose-bottomed tart tin. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry as thinly as possible on a floured work surface.

5.

Line the tins with the pastry, allowing it to overhang the edges (since the dough will slightly shrink after baking). Prick the base with a fork and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

6.

Cover the surface of the dough with parchment paper and pour in the pie weights.

7.

Blind bake the tart dough in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until the oven. Immediately use a sharp knife to trim off the excess pastry before it hardens, then cool the shell in its tin on a wire rack.

8.

While the tart dough is baking, make the kumquat curd filling. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until the mixture is pale in color.

9.

Sift in the flour and continue mixing well until incorporated.

10.

Pour the kumquat juice into the curd, folding well to make the mixture consistent again. Add in the kumquat zest if using.

11.

Pour the curd into the pre-baked tart shell. Bake in the oven at 175C for 15-20 minutes, until the curd is set. Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely before refrigerating.

12.

To make the meringue, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk it as it heats, checking it with an instant-read thermometer.

13.

Once it reaches 60C, transfer the bowl to the standing mixer and beat at high speed until cool, scraping down the sides once of the mixer bowl, midway during mixing, and add the vanilla. Whip until the meringue is light and fluffy.

14.

Heat the broiler and move the oven rack to the top third of the oven.

15.

Spread the meringue onto the tart with a spatula.

For the Meringue:

BY AH N

NG O

• 2 large egg whites • 5 tbsp granulated white sugar • Pinch of salt • A few drops of vanilla extract • Zest of 1 lime (for decoration)

16.

Pop the tart under the broiler, watching carefully, as it will brown quickly. When the top begins to darken, remove the tart from the oven and cool completely. An alternative option to broiling is using the blow torch to brown the meringue. Garnish with lime zest and serve cold.

Deconstructed Tiramisu

Yields: 4 servings Prep time: 1 hr 30 min Cook time: 30 min

BY YUJUNG LEE

Ingredients

D i r e c t i o n s

Biscuits a la cuillere (ladyfingerstyle sheet cake) • 4 eggs, whites and yolks separated • ½ cup granulated sugar • 1 cup cake flour, sifted • 1 tsp vanilla extract • ½ cup powdered sugar

Biscuits a la cuillere (ladyfinger-style sheet cake) 1. In a mixing bowl, whip the egg yolks, half of the measured sugar, and vanilla extract on high speed for about 4 minutes until the mixture turns light ivory in color and thickens up.

2. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites on high speed, adding the rest of the sugar little by little for about 8 minutes until the mixture becomes glossy white and soft peak forms.

Whip on low speed for another 2 minutes to remove any large air bubbles.

3. Using a spatula, gently fold in the white mixture into the yolk mixture.

4. Add sifted flour and fold in. Do not overmix, mix just until pockets of flour are no longer visible.

5. Transfer the batter into a piping bag lined with a ½ inch tip.

6. On a baking pan lined with parchment paper, pipe diagonally from one side to an adjacent side.

7. Sift powdered sugar over the battered pan.

Create a generous coat of powdered sugar on the surface.

8. Bake at 375F for 7-9 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

9. Remove from the pan and flip over to remove the parchment paper.

10. Flip it back over, and cover the top with the parchment paper to prevent the cake from drying.

11. Let completely cool on a cooling rack.

Mascarpone Cream • 4 oz mascarpone cheese • ¼ cup heavy whipping cream Coffee Caviar • ¼ tsp calcium chloride powder, dissolved in ½ cup water • ½ tsp sodium alginate powder, dissolved in ½ cup water • ½ cup freshly brewed espresso • Syringe • A bowl of water Chocolate Glaze • 3/5 cup chopped chocolate, dark or semisweet • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted • ½ cup granulated sugar • 1¼ cups whole milk Spun Sugar Decoration • 1 cup granulated sugar • 1 cup water Garnish • 1 Tbsp espresso • 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder • 2-3 mint leaves

62 penn appétit

Mascarpone Cream 1. In a mixing bowl, soften mascarpone using a spatula or a whisk.

2. Pour in half of the measured whipping cream and gently whisk until fully incorporated.

3. Repeat with the remaining whipping cream.

The mixture should have a smooth consistency, not too drippy. If it is too runny, keep whisking until a soft peak forms.

4. Set aside ¼ of the cream for chocolate cream, and transfer the rest of the cream into a squeeze bottle.

Coffee Caviar 1. Mix sodium alginate solution with espresso.

The mixture will be thickened.

2. Draw up the mixture into a syringe, and push gently to create small drops of mixture over the calcium chloride solution. The drops will create a thin coat in the calcium chloride solution, resembling caviar.

3. Rinse the coffee caviar in the prepared bowl of water and drain.

Chocolate glaze & cream 1. In a saucepan, heat milk on medium heat just until it begins to boil.

2. Take off from heat, and stir in chocolate until melted and mixed well.

3. Stir in cocoa powder and stir until all lumps have dissolved.

4. Stir in sugar until everything is well dissolved and incorporated.

5. Place the saucepan back on medium heat just until the mixture begins to boil.

6. Let cool completely and whisk briefly for a minute to prevent any separation.

7. Mix the mascarpone cream and 1 tbsp of the glaze.

8. Transfer the glaze-cream mixture into a squeeze bottle.

Spun sugar decoration 1. In a saucepan, boil water and sugar on medium-low heat. Do not stir because it will create undesired crystals.

2. Boil the mixture until the consistency becomes thick and large bubbles form. Remove from heat right when the mixture begins to turn brown, or use a fork to check the right consistency. Dip a fork into the mixture and pull upwards to see if the syrup creates thin strands as it drips down.

3. On a piece of parchment paper, continue dipping the fork and stretching the sugar syrup back and forth across the surface as quickly as possible.

4. Gently gather the strands together to form a rough shape of a hemisphere.

Plating Tips 1. Use a shallow salad bowl with a flat bottom to plate this dessert.

2. Cut out a 1.5x1.5 inch square from the biscuits a la cuillere sheet.

3. Place it on the center of the plate, and brush the top with espresso.

4. Pipe small circles of varying sizes of the mascarpone cream around the base of the plate.

5. Repeat the process using chocolate cream.

6. Scatter the coffee caviar over the piped cream.

7. Place the spun sugar on top of the espresso-brushed cake in the center.

8. Sift cocoa powder over the center, lightly coating the spun sugar.

9. Garnish the cream with mint leaves, and tiramisu is now ready to be served!

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