I’ve recently come across a couple of videos and a podcast that I’ve really enjoyed, and wanted to share them with you here.
For months, I’ve heard about Unique Eats, a show on the Cooking Channel, from my friend Tamara Reynolds. Tamara is the force behind The Sunday Night Dinner, a supper club in NYC – that’s where these bacon lollipops came from. She also works with Unique Eats as an “eating and talking head” – and rightly so, because she knows her stuff.
One of the UE episodes is all about Queens, which is my home borough right now. They highlight three of my favorite spots in the borough: Mombar (lamb cheeks!), an Egyptian restaurant, Tortilleria Nixtamal (carnitas!), a taqueria in Corona, and The Queens Kickshaw (Gouda sandwich!). I was unfamiliar with the Korean restaurant, Sik Gaek, but I must say – after watching a little bit about it, I want to check it out. Here’s the video:
The years I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area were some of the best of my life. That was in part because of the food – it’s really amazing out there, so fresh and immediate. Recently, Anthony Bourdain taped one of his “The Layover” episodes in San Francisco! There’s both nutrient dense food featured, as well as less healthy items, but the video is highly entertaining and you get to see some nice views of the city, as well as see what SF has to offer food-wise. Check it out:
Recently, I started exploring the world of podcasts, since I now have an iPhone and am interacting with iTunes more regularly. My favorite podcast, by far, these days is Let’s Get Real. Recorded at Roberta’s in Bushwick (Brooklyn) and hosted by Chef Erica Wides, it is pro real food and anti “foodiness”, which is stuff that looks and tastes like food, but isn’t (e.g. turkey bacon, “chick’n patties”, and soy protein bars, to name a few).
I love her slightly irreverent tone and passion for real food. I look forward to new episodes each week! The latest, “Gardenburgers don’t come from gardens…” (sorry, Mom), expresses my feelings about my years of vegetarianism eating various kinds of faux meats – in hindsight, it feels a little dishonest to me.
Give up meat if you want, give up dairy, wheat, carbs, meth, crack, gin, whores, closeted gay sex, whatever you want to give up, just DO it…But don’t then try to replace the given-up thing with a simulated version of it! If you are truly repulsed by meat, or ethically opposed or whatever it is, then eat f*ing mushrooms and beans and quinoa and spinach. You’ll feel great! That’s what I call a vegetarian real-food eater. But don’t go swapping out your meat with vegetarian Foodiness, fer’ chrissakes! Why would you eat vegetarian simulacra faux-meat products like tofu-dogs or soy cheese or chik’n nuggets, if you are philosophically opposed to eating animals?
Let’s Get Real broadcasts on Heritage Radio Network on Tuesdays at 6:30pm Eastern time. The lastest episode can be heard here.
If you have any real food videos or podcasts to recommend, please post in the comments. Thanks!
I had lunch at Tortilleria Nixtamal with two friends yesterday. I loved the place! Their guacamole was the best I ever had. They had great tacos, too. We got the idea from the Unique Eats video. We’re eventually going to try all the restaurants. I’ve already been to Mombar, but would love to return with friends.