Conflict Cuisines @ AU

I think Anita McBride pretty well captured the mood this morning when she said, "It's a great day for food."  Johanna Mendelson Forman, a scholar-in-residence at American, and her class put on a day-long conference on gastrodiplomacy, or "people-to-people eating."

The general aim of gastrodiplomacy is to establish common ground between groups, to use food and the practices surrounding it as insight into larger questions of culture, and to humanize the other through interaction with their cuisines and the people who make them.  It's about more than the food itself, but the ways in which food is prepared, served, and shared, as well as about the people making it, the ingredients they use, and the experiences they bring forward with food.  Food transcends language barriers, and the act of eating something which a stranger has served you requires trust and the willingness to transcend cultural barriers.

The event, called "Conflict Cuisines: The Kitchen as the New Venue for Foreign Policy," hosted several panels on the intersection of diplomacy, peacebuilding, culture, conflict, and food, as well as featuring a fantastic lunch composed of selections from displaced diaspora chefs in the DC area, tying the visceral act of eating to the ability to understand culture and come together.  There's apparently a running joke in DC that you can tell which countries we're at war with by looking at which new restaurants open in the city, but the joke has some element of truth.  Conflict displaces people, and many times those displaced need to use food as a means to make money, which panelist Manolia Charlotin noted about the role of immigrant street vendors in New York.

Overall, the themes of the day broke down into three categories: culinary diplomacy, food as a tool of war and peacebuilding, and the role of culinary tourism and nation-branding.  Stories were shared by panelists about their experiences with food as a uniting or dividing experience, and insights into the lives of others were highlighted.  The politics surrounding food, because food and the acquisition of food is political, as well as the history of food and the role that colonialism can play in food came up.

One of the most interesting things raised, for me, was the idea that the language of food and the language of diplomacy are extremely similar.  We talk about "breaking bread," "breaking the ice," and "getting people to the table," demonstrating the deep relationship that food has with sharing experiences and coming together.

The darker sides of conflict cuisines were raised as well: as the former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Tara Sonenshine noted, food is "at times, a weapon," used to further the aims of the powerful at the expense of those in need.  Access is not always even, and while Yael Luttwak talked about the promise of weight-loss groups in bringing women in conflict areas together, Kimberly Reed from the International Food Information Council discussed the question of food security as the world's population heads toward 9 million.  Questions of food imperialism, food authenticity, and undermining indigenous food practices were raised.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't talk a bit about the food: Syrian shawarma, Israeli chickpea salads, hummus (of questionable origin, which is apparently a hotly contested debate), Peruvian marinated chicken over rice, Vietnamese rice paper rolls, Salvadorian pupusas... I didn't love everything (in fact, I really need to lay off the chickpeas before I become an actual chickpea), but the pupusas were absolutely delicious, and the experience of eating food and interacting with those who made it and sharing insights with others (like the man behind me in line who had no idea what shawarma was) got to the heart of the importance of food as a shared experience.

Also, I took some pictures when I remembered to, so enjoy!

AI and the Love of Food

I know I'm technically on hiatus, but we'll go ahead and say that's a recipe hiatus, which is in part because I tend to eat just shy of awfully while working on finals.  But this blog is about more than just recipes: it's also about reviews, food news, food science, and interesting developments in the world of food.  And I couldn't not post about Chef Watson.

Watson, as you may know, is an IBM-designed Artificial Intelligence computer system.  Watson has been on Jeopardy, has solved countless problems, and uses the combination of the power of the internet, massive computing power, and access to data systems, combined with the ability to observe and interpret that data, to learn the way that humans do (or at least a complex model designed to simulate that process).

And last week, in conjunction with the Institute of Culinary Education, Watson released a cookbook.  Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson is the joint effort of Watson's ability to learn and problem-solve, combined with the human knowledge of chefs from the ICE, to test the ability of the process to solve problems in ways that humans alone may not have considered.  Watson, given input on the recipe to create, generated an ingredient list, and the ICE chefs attempted to turn the ingredient list into a cohesive dish.

The human element here is important.  While I see vast potential for the role of AI in problem-solving for engineering, medicine, and other hard-science based processes, a machine might be able to understand flavor pairings, but the aspect of turning "list of flavors" into "recipe" requires imagination and love.  Until you can create an AI that dreams (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, anyone?), that element will inherently be lacking in problem-solving, which is part of why IBM designs Watson's projects to function in conjunction with the human element.

As for reviews of the cookbook?  Early reviews are mixed.  Many praise the innovation of the process, while others point to failures to either take an ingredient list and get the recipe right, or to create a well-balanced ingredient list in the first place.  Others praise the inventive rethinking of dishes, like an Indian-inspired paella, which transcend the traditional boundaries of food cultures.  In all?  It seems like the reviews consistent with many cookbooks -- every one has its all-star dishes and a couple duds.

What does this say about the future of AI or the future of food?  In terms of food, I think Chef Watson's recipes may help chefs rethink traditional pairings, just by generating a new way of thinking about flavors, but I'm not sure AI-generated recipes will ever transcend the human element of lovingly crafting a recipe.  As for AI?  I'd say the future looks delicious.

Hiatus and Superfood Challenge

I'm going to be taking the next couple weeks off for finals, but as an attempt to off-set this, I will try and do a challenge week when I come back.

Like my freezer chicken week, I will aim to post 3 recipes in 7 days surrounding a theme!

The theme will be Miracle or Super Foods, where every recipe will incorporate a superfood and talk a bit about why that food is so super for you!

Shrimp in Spicy Tomato Cream Sauce

I had frozen shrimp, I had tomatoes. I was craving them. This was born.

It's a jambalaya-inspired Italian-Asian fusion dish.  Begin by preparing your rice, according to package instructions. This also works great with leftover rice - the stickier and softer, the better.

If you have fresh shrimp, peel and devein them.  If you've got frozen shrimp, thaw them under cold water until soft, then peel and set aside.  I used 6 large shrimp for one serving.

Start your sauce by adding two tablespoons of olive oil to a pan over medium heat.  When it starts to shimmer, add a clove of garlic, chopped.  Dice one medium tomato (I used a plum tomato), and add it to the pan.  Once your tomatoes soften, add one cup of chicken broth, half a cup of white wine, and increase your heat.  

Once the sauce has reduced by about 1/2, add a tablespoon of butter and a splash of milk, as well as a tablespoon of sweet chili sauce, and stir to incorporate.  Add your shrimp and cook about 2 minutes per side, or until pink and opaque.

Spoon your finished mixture over your rice and serve!

Fresh and Frozen: A Quick Guide to Produce

Maybe when I have more time and graphics skills, I'll turn this into an infographic, but I promised a few weeks ago that I would talk to you about frozen veggies (and maybe also some fruits), and what you absolutely should not buy frozen.

First and foremost, the big thing with frozen produce is how you're going to prepare it -- frozen produce is often boiled or steamed, because it helps with the de-frozening (yes, I know it's defrosting, but I like mine better), which means that it may not work well for veggies that get bitter when boiled, like asparagus or brussels sprouts!  Otherwise, if you're planning on working with them frozen (like frozen fruit for a smoothie), this may not be an issue, and the freezing process actually seals in some of the sweetness.

There's also some chemical/food sciencey things to keep in mind when deciding the fresh or frozen question.  Is this produce in season?  Often, frozen fruits and vegetables are frozen at the peak of their season to maintain the perfect ripeness.  Out of season, good corn can be really hard to find, and a frozen variety is a great way to go.  Some people actually think that, out of season, frozen peas are really preferable to their fresh counterparts, because the freezing process keeps them nice and sweet.  This rule, however, does not apply to tomatoes -- out of season, these should be bought canned, not frozen, because while out of season tomatoes lack their perfect sweetness, exposure to cold can cut that sweetness even more.

As for CHOOSING your fresh produce, the How to Adult team has this handy guide to selecting fresh produce:


Hope this helps with future produce-buying needs.