China’s Black Gold
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on June 9, 2008 – 8:37 am -Originated in China and known as Yiang Yong, soy sauce has been a staple in China for thousands of years. When it comes to cooking Chinese food, it is by far the most widely used ingredient. As a result of travel, and broadened trading routes, soy sauce is now widely used in Japan, Korea, and all throughout the Southeast Asian Countries, as well as in the western world.
Tags: China, Food, Japan, Soy Sauce, Tamari
Posted in Food | 2 Comments »
Something’s Rotten
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on May 25, 2008 – 12:33 pm -The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Outlook report published a couple of days ago confirms that wheat prices should decline in the new season. I thought to myself: Wow! That’s great news! I promptly logged onto the FAO site (I’m a regular there) and I got this: International prices of most agricultural commodities have started to decline, but they are unlikely to return to the low price levels of previous years, Food Outlook reports. The FAO food price index has remained stable since February 2008, but the average of the first four months of 2008 is still 53 percent higher when compared to the same period a year ago. And this: Increased hunger likely in some poor countries.
I smell a rat! Some financial entities (read speculators), like the oil producers, are making a killing. Somewhere. Read more »
Tags: China, Crops, Environment, EU, FAO, Food, Hunger, Staple Foods
Posted in Diaries | 5 Comments »
The Wonders of Ginseng
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on May 22, 2008 – 9:13 am -In the old days, in spring, on the mountain, the medicine men had meetings in the forest. They shared information about new medicines to heal people from sicknesses. Yellow root heals colds. Cherry bark aids sore throats. Touch-me-not helps poison ivy sores. Bloodroot helps diarrhea. Tobacco and sassafras leaf help bee stings. And ginseng? It cured all.
Tags: Canada, China, Ginseng, Jesuits, Medicinal Herbs
Posted in Diaries | 2 Comments »
Peach: the Supreme Fruit
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on May 15, 2008 – 8:56 am -My very favorite dessert is poached white peach with fresh raspberries, a little vanilla ice-cream on the side and topped with raspberry coulis. As a kid I knew where all the white peach orchards stood by heart and quite often made myself sick with overeating them right off the trees. Same with cherries and apricots. And grapes (I could have fed myself just foraging in those days).
Any list of the classical fruits of China should begin with the peach. Native to China, particularly to northern and western areas, peaches, peach wood, and peach flowers have been venerated in China for thousands of years. They were mentioned in the Chinese literature of the sixth century B.C.E.. Pits and other archeological remains found and dated circa 5,000 B.C.E.., confirm origins in the north and western regions of China and Tibet.
Tags: China, Food, Peach, Stone Fruit
Posted in Food | 9 Comments »
Noodles
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on April 23, 2008 – 7:49 am -Much has been written about the origins of the humble noodle. WHO invented the noodle is a hotly contested topic - with the Chinese, Italians and Arabs all staking a claim.
But the discovery of a pot of thin yellow noodles preserved for 4000 years in Yellow River silt may have tipped the bowl in China’s favor. It suggests that people were eating noodles at least 1000 years earlier than previously thought, and many centuries before such dishes were documented in Europe. This is the earliest empirical evidence of noodles ever found.
Other theories suggest noodles were first made in the Middle East and introduced to Italy by the Arabs. Italians are widely credited for popularizing the food in Europe and spreading it around the world.
Tags: China, Italy, Noodles, Wheat
Posted in Food | 10 Comments »