Posted: 22 Apr 2014 - David Lebovitz
I’ve become weary – and wary – of
the American aisles in European supermarkets. And have come to the conclusion
that people think we all eat badly because we live on bottled salad dressings,
orange cheese in squirt bottles, and strawberry Fluff, which is something I’ve
never seen in America. And I like Fluff just fine. (Just the plain, though. The
red scares me. However truth be told, I’ve been known to succumb to the magic
of Lucky Charms, a long time ago.) But when that’s the sole image representing
American food, it’s sad to me, because we’ve had a wonderful renaissance in the
last few decades of marvelous farmers’ markets sprouting up everywhere, even in
the middle of the most urban city in the world, New York.
Of course, no one is exporting fresh
American goat cheese to France, farm eggs, small-batch jams, or artisan honeys,
since they have those things in abundance here. (And the French have their
share of goofy foods
too but they don’t seem to make it across the Atlantic.)
In Switzerland recently, while
touring with my group, I noticed at the sweet little auberge near Lausanne
where we had dinner the final night, that the blackboard propping the door open
said the plat du jour
was fondue with
bear’s garlic (ail
des ours). Although lunch that day was cheese beignets,
and dinner the night before was fondue at Café
Grütli, and
we’d had a cheese-tasting that afternoon at a cheese-ripening cave, for some
reason, I was hungry for yet another hit of melted cheese. Happily, the owner
was kind enough to bring me, and my group, a small pot for a taste. And let me
tell you, if we weren’t facing another full-on dinner of Swiss food, I would
have scraped that entire pot clean.
Continue Reading Wild Garlic (or
Ramps) Pasta...
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