Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2023 i National Geographic Traveller Food

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THE LENGTH OF A TRADITIONAL FRENCH BAGUETTE. THE LONGEST ON RECORD WAS JUST OVER 435FT, AND WAS MADE BY A TEAM OF ITALIAN BAKERS FOR A FUNDRAISING EVENT IN JUNE 2019 12 MILLION The number of people in France who make the pilgrimage to a traditional boulangerie every day. The daily ritual makes local bakeries a focal point of the community 4 THE NUMBER OF INGREDIENTS IN A TRADITIONAL FRENCH BAGUETTE. A 1993 GOVERNMENT DECREE STIPULATES O N LY FLOUR, WATER , SALT AND YEAST SHOULD BE USED 6 billion The number of baguettes baked each year by boulangeries in France. Algeria’s national federation of bakers, meanwhile, has previously claimed their country tops this, producing 49 million each day 1929 THE YEAR THE PO’ BOY IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN…

“When Latvians drink birch sap, it ’s a sign of spring coming,” says Ervins Labanovskis. It ’s been consumed here for centuries; folk songs reference the birch tree’s alleged magical and medicinal powers, and many Latvians believe drinking the sap detoxifies the body. Ervins runs an organic birch-sap business from his home — atimber cottage in Smiltene, northern Latvia, where he spent holidays as a child. He uses sap to make sparkling drinks via a method that dates back to his parents, who’d ferment it in champagne bottles and infuse it with peppermint. As an adult, Ervins recreated the drink in his own kitchen, before teaming up with his sister, Nora, to turn their parents’ idea into a business called BIRZĪ, adding a small factor y and tasting room to…

THE EXPERTS Where’s good for churrasco in São Paulo? Catherine Balston: Churrasco — the culture of barbecuing meat — dates back to Brazil’s tropeiros, travelling traders who drove horse and cattle between commercial regions during the early days of 17th-century colonial rule. A handful of churrasquerías (steak houses) in São Paulo still use the fogo de chão technique (slow-roasting beef on barbecues built on the ground), most famously the eponymous Fogo de Chão (fogodechao.com.br), where sides of beef slowly sizzle and drip over a fire pit. It ’s an allyou can-eat affair, with waiters spinning around armed with spits of beef (more than a dozen different cuts) and sharp carving knives, waiting for diners to signal when they’re ready for more. At Cortés Asador (restaurantecor tes.com.br), Brazilian chef Daniela França…

“The only problem I have with eel these days is using a knife and fork — Iwant to use my hands,” says Jayden Lillyst. “It feels more natural.” I take his lead and hold a segment of smoked eel between my thumb and forefinger. The skin peels away with ease, leaving dehydrated, salty flesh. It ’s hardy and intense, a ribbon of brittle fish ‘crack ling’: a desirable, crunchy addition. A longside it on the tasting platter are creamy eel pâté and arancini flecked with smoked eel — the latter a more subtle introduction for first-timers. Here, in the cafe of the Tae Rak Aquaculture Centre, a four-hour drive from Melbourne, in southwest Victoria, eels aren’t the only local speciality on the menu. Other dishes incorporate river mint, lemon myrtle…

Tell us a bit about your cooking style. Accessible and unpretentious. You can tell what you’re eating just by looking at the dish — t here’s no artifice or frills. The most important thing for me is using the best seasonal produce and letting the ingredients shine. I’m drawn towards seafood as I was born close to the best fish ports in Catalonia. What’s your favourite dish on the Barrafina menu? Aside from the classics, of which I’ll never tire — tortillas, croqueta de jamon and gambas al ajillo to name a few — I’d say grilled squid with chickpeas, bomba ibérica (a ball of potato, meat and cream) and mushrooms with cured egg yolk. What are some of your hero ingredients? Mushrooms and truffles. What’s the best advice a…

A short drive inland from Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, Wimborne Minster — known simply as Wimborne — often slips under the radar of visitors. But even a brief stroll around the market tow n’s narrow streets will reveal plenty of places to fill your stomach, whether it ’s pubs, restaurants or independent shops packed with local produce. Tucked away at the end of Mill Lane is a local favourite: the Old Malthouse Bakery. Run by family team David and Ann Mirus and their son, Stefan, it regularly sells out of the delicious, freshly baked goods that come out of the wood-fired oven — so it ’s worth getting there ea rly. Be prepared to leave carrying a clutch of brown paper bags bursting with generous-sized cheese scones, crusty loaves and signature…

Farida Zeynalova I didn’t know what to expect from a family meal in east Iceland. But within minutes of arriving at the home of farmers Auja Stefánsdóttir and Steinþór Björnsson, I felt like an old friend. They filled me in on local gossip as we tucked into fermented shark, sheep testicles and a lamb thigh roasted to perfection. BREAKING BREAD, P 94 Qin Xie I’ve made a lot of pilgrimages to celebrated restaurants, and the chefs at the top of their game are always deeply plugged in to their communities. It’s like absorbing the essence of a destination in one meal. At Hiša Franko, in Slovenia, for example, you’ll enjoy curd cheese from a nearby dairy and learn about local farming traditions. COVER STORY, P 48 Jessica Vincent Eating fish…

Spotting the first of the year’s wild garlic always fills me with joy — it’s a signal that spring is nigh and that t here’s a glut of root vegetables just around the corner. I hadn’t tried wild garlic before I moved from New Zealand to the UK 18 years ago, but ever since first tasting it in the kitchen at the Savoy, I’ve been a fan. Its fragrance and flavour is intense — like a hit of fresh garlic and chives, with grassy notes. It ’s super versatile, and can be used in place of garlic, leeks or chives. Cooking it — as opposed to using it raw — does dial down the flavour somewhat, but you can add a small amount of white garlic to intensify it. It…

I grew up eating porridge, potatoes and hamburgers. Stews were a big thing, too. The main one in our house was hamburger stew, with ground beef, onion, garlic, potatoes, carrots, turnips and cabbage. We didn’t have a lot of money — it ’s a poor man’s stew, but it ’s really good. There’s a Canadian bread called bannock and it’s one of my absolute favourite things. It ’s our biscuit, basica lly, and it ’s really fabulous. You can pair it with anything you want, rea lly. Soups are our go-to; we live in such a cold country that ever y day you put on a new soup. The typical Canadian soup would be yellow split pea and you’d have that with bannock. My go-to is lentil soup — if…

“I remember ver y well,” says Albert Franch Sunyer of his light bulb moment. “I was inside one of the rubbish rooms in a restaurant in Helsinki. There were five big containers and you couldn’t walk into the room because of the amount of trash.” It was filled with bio-waste and vast amounts of packaging, all kept fiercely air-conditioned round the clock, he recalls. At the time, the Catalan-born chef was three years into a series of stints in the Finnish capita l’s top kitchens, including two-Michelinstar Chez Dominique (now closed) and Olo (one star). The latter is where he met chefs Carlos Henriques and Luka Balac, with whom he’d go on to establish Nolla, the first zero-waste restaurant in the Nordics. There’s no kitchen bin at Nolla. No singleuse…

In South West France, cassoulet is more than king: it’s God Himself. That’s according to the celebrated belle epoque chef Prosper Montagné, any way — and almost a century after he said it, no one’s arguing. This humble bean stew is as much part of the cultural identity of the Occitanie region as rugby and red wine. It’s nothing fancy — aslow-cooked dish of white beans and meat (three different types are apparently mandatory in ever y dish, according to the États Généraux de Gastronomie Française of 1966, a kind of Vatican Council for French food), flavoured with garlic and vast amounts of animal fat. It’s comfor t food extraordinaire, but cassoulet worship isn’t all peace and love. As chef André Daguin puts it, “cassoulet is not really a recipe,…

Exciting things continue to happen in Tok yo’s dining scene. In the 2023 Michelin Guide to the Japanese capital, 200 restaurants were awarded at least one star — more than in Paris and New York combined. Of those, 12 come with lofty threestar status, including chef Seiji Yamamoto’s artistic kaiseki (multi-course) menu at RyuGin and the Edo-style sushi at Masahiro Yoshitake’s Sushi Yoshitake. British chef Daniel Calvert — himself no stranger to a Michelin stars — described working in the city as ‘ever y chef ’s dream’ when he launched his restaurant Sézanne at the Four Seasons Hotel Tok yo at Marunouchi in 2021. And he’s not the only one who thinks this way: Virgilio Martinez and Massimo Bottura are also among the acclaimed international chefs to have opened outposts…

What’s the Tigray region like? Tigray is very remote with lots of mountains; in some places, there aren’t even any roads. It ’s part of a developing nation, so there’s an element of poverty — more than 60% of people live in rural areas where life is very traditional. Yes, there are big modern cities scattered around, but even where there are options for modernity, people still [don’t choose that modernity] because the culture is something we cherish. What are the classic flavours you’ll find there? Tigarus [people from Tigray] are well known for cooking food with spices. We have a distinct spice mix called berbere, which can be made into a paste called dilik. Berbere is like a chilli powder but with over 15 ingredients, including garlic, cumin, onions,…

BETTESHANGER, KENT UPDOWNFARMHOUSE.COM Kent ’s gastronomic reputation has been on the rise for a few years now, with towns like Whitstable and Margate drawing both culinary talent and hungry diners to the South East. One of the newer additions to its food scene is Updown, a 17th-century farmhouse flanked by ramshackle outbuildings, walled gardens and woodland, that’s been transformed into a restaurant with rooms. Having started out as a series of supper clubs with guest chefs including Noble Rot’s Alex Jackson and Café Deco’s Anna Tobias, Updown properly opened last summer, just outside Deal. It ’s the passion project of Ruth Leigh and Oliver Brown — formerly of Le Cafe Anglais and, in Brow n’s case, Bri x ton’s Duck Duck Goose. Depending on the elements and day of the…

What did you eat growing up? Iraqi food cooked by my mum — she’s one of the best cooks I’ve ever known. From comforting stews with rice to Iraqi classics such as dolma, maqluba and kibbeh, there was always a freshly cooked meal on the table. My favourite memor y is coming home from school and immediately knowing what was for dinner as soon as I opened the door, just by the aroma. What are some of your favourite Iraqi/Middle Eastern dishes? There’s nothing quite like my mum’s Iraqi dolma. It ’s sweet, tangy, and deeply flavourful, and a lot of love goes into it. I also love quzi (a roasted leg of lamb served over yellow rice with almonds and raisins). Simple but so good. What do you love…

At Food, we’re very much of the opinion that Michelin stars aren’t the be-all and end-all, and that the label ‘fine dining’ doesn’t guarantee a fine time. But we also feel there’s a place within the grand culinary spectrum for destination restaurants — the high-concept establishments with reputations so weighty people are prepared to travel to them. We’re talking restaurants in spectacular, often remote locations, where once-in-ageneration talents are free to explore the outer limits of their abilities, offering menus packed with creativity and expertise that take diners on a culinary journey, often lasting several hours. It’s true, they’re not for ever yone. It’s also true they offer the type of experience very few of us could afford on a regular basis. But this is similarly true of theatre trips,…

BACKGROUND Dal can technically mean any pulse, dried pea or bean, but masoor dal — split red lentils — make a good entry point as it’s considered the easiest to both cook and digest. Across the Indian subcontinent, eating dal is a daily ritual, and the dish is therefore the yardstick by which cooks are measured. SEASONING Some claim seasoning lentils at the start makes them tough or chew y. Ignore them — you’ll need less salt this way. For every 200g dried lentils, add a few whole cloves of garlic and one tablespoon each of red Kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric and salt. SOAKING The traditional cooking fuel in India is dried cow dung, which burns inefficiently, so soaking dried pulses slightly reduces the thermal energy required. Plus, it rehydrates…

How often do you walk into a wine bar and order a grenache? Not often, I suspect, or at least not consciously. It’s one of those grapes, like sangiovese, that just isn’t particularly famous in its own right, even though it’s a constituent part of wines as well known as Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Confusingly, t here’s also more than one type of grenache, the most common being grenache noir, which is grown throughout the Mediterranean, especially in the Rhône and Languedoc regions of Southern France, as well as Spain, where it ’s known as garnacha tinta, and Sardinia, where it ’s called cannonau. Grenache is characterised by a high a lcohol content — often as much as 15% — and for generally being a full, rich plummy wine. It’s at its best…

La Bastide de Moustiers PROVENCE, FRANCE Best known for haute cuisine at his Michelinstarred restaurants in Monte Carlo and London, Alain Ducasse showcases a different side to his culinary repertoire at La Bastide de Moustiers. Surrounded by fragrant Provençal herbs and flowers, with olive trees providing shade, this was Ducasse’s home before it became a restaurant with rooms. While the atmosphere is homely, the menu of hearty French dishes prepared by chef Adrien De Crignis, such as local venison with vegetables from the garden, is more than worthy of its Michelin star. In the morning, baskets overflow with perfectly flaky, butter y croissants. Five-course menu: €95 (£84). bastide-moustiers.com WHERE ELSE TO EAT: Moustiers is in a rural area, so dining options are limited, but the main village — roughly a…

The Western Al Hajar Mountains climb to around 9,780ft above sea level, creating a climate that’s made the area an important centre of agriculture. The Sayq Plateau and Al Jaba l Al Akhdar — ‘the Green Mountain’ — are famed for verdant terrace fields, built around the ancient Aflaj irrigation canal. Here, local villagers grow juicy pomegranates and sweet-scented damask roses, whose petals are distilled into Oman’s celebrated rosewater, used for flavouring coffee. The menus at Juniper Restaurant at Alila Jaba l Akhdar draw heavily on locally grown fruit, vegetables and beans. The cliffside restaurant takes inspiration from the majlis — the sitting rooms where Omanis gather for discussions, celebrations and entertaining. It ’s also where they eat their meals and enjoy kahwa (coffee), ser ved with platters of soft…

THE COOKING CLASS ATELIER HERMANAS LORO “You need to eat croquetas with your hands,” says Isabella. “That way you feel the textures and the contrasts both in your hand and in your mouth. You just don’t get that same crunch if you use cutlery.” Compliant, I bite into a croqueta made with cecina de León (a local cured beef) and parmesan. Its granular, breadcrumbed shell explodes under the pressure, releasing a bechemel sauce that’s rich and full of flavour. I’d made this filling earlier under close instruction, stirring the onions as they sweated down in a puddle of local olive oil and watching as they acquired a soft, glistening texture — it ’s satisfying to now detect that sweetness in the sauce. Mónica, Isabella and Marie José, better known as…

OUR PICK DARK RYE AND HONEY CAKE Regula Ysewijn For her latest book, food historian Regula Ysew ijn is returning to her roots. Born and raised in Antwerp, Ysew ijn has compiled a love letter to the baked goods of the Low Countries, exploring Belgium, the Netherlands and Lu xembourg via breads, cakes, waffles, tarts, pancakes, pretzels, fritters and pies. Festive periods such as Lent, Christmas and St Martin’s Day are used as the linking threads between each sweet, sticky and savour y dish, highlighting the fascinating history and traditions behind the bakes. Look out for recipes such as mastellen (cinnamon buns) and worstenbrood (sausage bread), learn the surprising stories behind popular dishes such as the Belgian waffle and find out how the ‘stroop’ (syr up) in stroopwafels is made.…

PASTA ACADEMY, LONDON • PASTAEVANGELISTS.COM/COLLECTIONS/PASTA-ACADEMY “On average we eat pasta five times a week — and the other two are pizza,” laughs Sofia Gallo as she gathers her ingredients on the bench. Her summary of Italians’ dining habits may be slightly tongue in cheek, but Sofia certainly knows the countr y’s cuisine. She grew up in Campania, and later brought her own brand of Italian cooking to the BBC’s MasterChef, where she reached the quarter finals in 2021. Tonight, she’s teaching a class at Pasta Academy — the London cooker y school from Pasta Evangelists, whose fresh pasta deliver y business took off during lockdown. The two large tables are neatly laid with aprons, wooden boards, individually portioned ingredients and — what else? — glasses of Aperol spritz. A hatch…

I’VE BEEN EATING… The gumbo at Louie London. The flavour depth of the dark roux base in the grav y and accompanying crab rice made it as good as any thing I’ve had in Louisiana. Another musttr y is the lobster roll with Old Bay-spiced crisps. Lauren Gamp, art editor I’VE BEEN DRINKING… Beesou. This B Corpcertified aperitif, made using British honey, is wonderfully balanced. It ’s just bitter enough to be pleasantly bracing and is also a great drink to sip neat. It ’s excellent in cocktails, too. Glen Mutel, editor I’VE BEEN ADMIRING... Fair Shot Cafe, a social enterprise that provides hospitality training to youngsters with learning disabilities. It’s just relocated from Mayfair to Covent Garden, where it serves speciality coffee and an all-day menu, including tempting brunches.…