Photo courtesy of Erica Simone on flickr.

Yesterday I posted a list of 100 Things Omnivore’s should give a try (according to Very Good Taste) and with it the list of what I had tried, what I want to try and what I will give a pass to. I also mentioned that I’m fascinated with boundaries that people create with food and I think the reasons people choose not to eat certain things can be divided up into several categories:

Because it looks too much like a North American domestic animal.

This seems to be the biggest reason people can’t cross food boundaries - because what is food in one culture is often a pet or domestic animal in another. A lot of people are horrified at the thought of eating dog because they picture Fido instead of a nameless animal raised and bred for eating. Horse is another one. I have friends who keep Guinea Pigs and Chinchillas who shudder at the thought of Cuy on a plate in South America.

Somehow that doesn’t seem to be an issue for me. I wouldn’t eat them here, but were I in a culture that ate any of the above, I would not hesitate to dig in. And this is possibly a surprising revelation because when I was a kid we lived on a hobby farm and one of the reasons I became a vegetarian was because my friends the cows would disappear, followed by about 6 months of meatloaf. I also hated meatloaf, so it may have been a convenient excuse.

Because it’s gross.

This is another thing that swings wildly from culture to culture and (in my mind) can usually be overcome by some mental gymnastics. The reason we often use foreign or alternate words for food in place of a bald drescription, is to distance yourself from what you’re eating. A “dragon’s claw” sounds much better than chicken foot, “venison” sounds better than “Bambi”, and “foie gras” sounds much better than liver of geese force-fed through a tube in their stomachs.

But it all still tastes good.

I try to try everything once. I’ve eaten fish eggs and eyes, haggis, chicken feet and heart, blood sausage and black pudding, and some other things that my fellow diners have cringed at. That said, I don’t think I could eat Balut or a large eye (like a goat’s), and I haven’t had the courage to try brain yet. I’ve had head cheese and sweetbreads and I didn’t enjoy them, so won’t be having them again.

Because it is too cool for eating.

OK, this one is maybe mostly my own. I think many animals are just too awesome to eat, despite deliciousness. Fish and shellfish don’t bother me in the slightest (and in fact are a huge part of my diet) and I love squid, but octopus is a different matter. I won’t touch octopus with a fork (or chopstick for that matter), although I have had it in the past. The reason is because octopuses are amazing creatures. The great pacific octopus grows larger than me  and can take on a shark, but will release you from it’s grasp if you tickle it. They have both long and short term memory, can learn to open jars with their arms and will navigate through a tight maze not much bigger than themselves. They are one of my favorite creatures and I will not put them in my mouth because they are just far too cool for that.

Whale Sharks apparently they taste like tofu, but there is no way I’m going to be tasting one of these gentle giants. I’m fascinated with one and one of my life’s dreams is to swim alongside, not see it on my plate.

Because it’s endangered.

This section should be a no-brainer, but in fact it’s hard. Endangered means different things to different people. I won’t eat shark, eventhough it’s not technically on the endangered list.  Shark harvesting practices are brutal and wasteful and according to wikipedia, “some species have been depleted by over 90% over the past 20-30 years with a population decline of 70% not being unusual”

No shark for me. Which mean’s no shark fin soup either. I have a vague memory or ordering it with my friend’s parents in Chinatown when I was a kid, but I unforunately don’t remember the taste of it at all and it’s going to have to stay that way unfortunately, because I can’t conscienciously eat one.

But, I have eaten Abalone. Abalone is endangered and delicious. I’m sorry.

Also, no whales or any kind of African bush meat (Elephant, Lion, Hippo, Rhino, etc.).

Because it’s rotten or poisonous.

Self-explanatory, except I wouldn’t normally eat anything rotten or poisonous either and Fugu could easily be considered poisonous. Similarly, some fermented dishes could be considered rotten, so I’ll have to be careful about saying never. 

Because it tastes bad.

Well there’s no accounting for taste, as they say, and if you don’t like the way something tastes, you definitely do not need to eat it, but the caveat is that you will have had to try it at least once to know you don’t like it.

I think that’s it. There is obviously a huge list of things out there that fall under the above categories, but don’t normally show up on the menu. Chameleons are too cool for eating, but I’m pretty sure they are also inedible. Hopefully most things on the endangered list are not readily available in restaurants, but that’s something that’s bound to be different depending on where you are. Etc.

What about you? What’s on or off your list?

I have in my drafts folder something that I was going to post today, about what people will and won’t eat, any why. I used to be a vegetarian for years but now there are very many things I won’t try and I’m fascinated with the barriers and fear we create in our diets. I’ll post that other one tomorrow and we can discuss, but for now, Travis has linked to a meme set up by Andrew at Very Good Taste, listing 100 Foods every Omnivore should try eating, and being a list junkie and food-lover of course  I have to see how I measure up.

A couple of them I’m sure I must have had at some point, but I can’t pinpoint the exact occurance, so I’m leaving them as un-tried.

Rules:

1) bold those you have tried
* 2) Asterisk any items you’d be interested in trying but have not yet.*
3) Italicize any item you’ll never eat again.
4) Strikethrough those you wouldn’t eat on a bet.

1. Venison
*2. Nettle tea*
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
*5. Crocodile*
6. Cheese Fondue
7. Black Pudding
*8. Carp*
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
*21. Heirloom tomatoes*
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
*30. Bagna cauda*
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
*33. Salted lassi *
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
*42. Whole insects*
*43. Phaal*
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
*46. Fugu*
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
*50. Sea urchin*
51. Prickly pear
*52. Umeboshi*
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
*57. Dirty gin martini*
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
*63. Kaolin*
*64. Currywurst*
*65. Durian*
*66. Frogs’ legs*
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
*74. Gjetost, or brunost*
75. Roadkill
*76. Baijiu*
77. Hostess Fruit Pie.
78. Snail
*79. Lapsang souchong*
80. Bellini
81. Toam yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
*84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant*
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
*89. Horse*
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
*97. Lobster Thermidor*
98. Polenta
*99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee*
100. Snake

There’s also a couple of similar lists on Lists of Bests:

BBC’s 50 Things to Eat Before you Die.

“Buster McLeod’s” 10 Things I think you should Eat before you die.

and “Missy Wombat’s” 50 Vegetarian Foods to Eat Before you Die.

If you do it yourself, leave a comment so I can see what yours look like!

Well VinoCamp has wrapped up for 2008 and it went off with a bang.

We started off with a talk by Dr. Hennie J.J. van Vuuren, founding director of the UBC Wine Research Center, followed by Kathy Malone of Artisan Wine Co onBC’s various wine growing regions. To get the palate warmed up, we also dipped in to a Wild Horse Canyon Sauvignon Blanc and a Rigamarole Red. I’m sure it’s not the first time I’ve started drinking at 10:45 AM, but it’s definitely not a regular occurrance, so that took some getting used to.

Bradley Cooper of Township 7 winery followed with a talk on Crushpad, a US wine making facility where you can make your own luxury bottle of wine with the help of professional wine-makers, customized to your tastes. I’m not sure that I would ever use this facility for my own production (I don’t really need to have 25 cases of wine in my house), but they also have a commercial component where you can market and sell your wines.

There was a Food & Wine Pairing 101, by Michelle Bouffard and Michaela Morris from House Wine, an Indian cooking class from Bal Arneson, a glass comparison by Riedel rep, David Sanders, a discussion about Organic and sustainable winemaking by Anthony Nicalo of Farmstead Wines, and a closing address on wine blogging by Kelly Robson, Chatelaine’s Wine writer.

(See some much better blog coverage from Kelly and Colleen.)

I’ve never been to a wine event quite like this one and I was so pleased to see such a great range of interesting and knowledgeable speakers as well as  have the opportunity to sample some really excellent wines.

We drank a lot of wine. I’m going to have to add them all into Cork’d before I forget.

 Thanks to everyone who came, looking forward to seeing you next year!

More photos in the VinoCamp flickr pool.

VinoCamp Vancouver is coming up fast this Saturday, August 16th from 10 AM to 6 PM at UBC’s beautiful Botanical Gardens.

The schedule and speakers have been finalized and there are some great speakers and panels to go along with the tasting. It’s going to be a great day!

Register before it fills up: http://vinocamp2008.eventbrite.com/

There’s been a lot of summertime drinking going on chez moi, but it’s been a while since I’ve posted a Happy Hour and it’s also been a painfully long time since I’ve been trying (and failing) to get to The Cascade Room. We can all breathe a collective sigh of relief because now both of those things have happened.

The thing about The Cascade Room is that they are trying to bring back the “golden age of the cocktail” so there are martinis on the list, but nary a cosmo to be seen. Instead there are drinks reminiscent of another time; gimlets, sazeracs, old-fashioneds and pimm’s. They also have wallpaper, but I’ll get to that later.

Last night I was drinking bourbon since I’ve been on a bourbon kick most of the summer and while you may not think of bourbon as an ethnic drink (coming as it does from our American neighbours), let me tell you why it is: We have no bourbon in Canada. Not any of the good stuff anyways. We have rye. And the Shebeen sees Scotch and Irish whiskies done well, as do a few other places around town. But most places (BCLD included) have only a limited selection of bourbon and it’s rare to see a bourbon cocktail on the menu.

So when I saw the mint julep I ordered it straight away. It’s been ages since I’ve had a proper mint julep.

Giant and full of crushed ice, it arrived on the table like an oasis in the desert. Minty and fresh, all subtle flavours mixing together deliciously and not struggling for dominance. I sat and sipped and watched the Main Street crowd go by while I waited for my drinking companion. In many ways the mint julep is the perfect drink for summer, but I wanted to experience the full range of what The Cascade Room had to offer, so I moved on to The Cascade Room Cocktail: “bourbon shaken hard with fresh pressed apple & lime juices, vanilla bean, bitters and egg white, served straight up with a shaving of roasted hazelnut.”

I’m generally of the opinion that the simpler cocktails are the better ones; rye and ginger, vanilla stoli and coke, scotch and ice…so i admit that I was a bit hesitant about this one. And…I didn’t love it. The bourbon, apple and vanilla flavours went well together and should definitely be attempted again in another experiment, but the hazelnut seemed like overkill to me and I think the eggwhite definitely ruined it. No matter, there are still several drinks I need to try in the full compliment of bourbon-based cocktails before I can move on to another section of the menu. Next up:

Sazerac: bourbon, bitters and sugar stirred over ice and strained into a chilled absinthe and pastis washed glass with a lemon twist.

Millionaire: Tennessee sour mash whiskey shaken with lemon juice, grenadine and egg white, served straight up.

and my personal favorite, the Whiskey Sour: bourbon, lemon juice, and sugar, shaken and served over ice.

Most drinks are $8 or $9 and all contain at least 2oz of premium liquor, which is why I only managed to have 2 this past evening. But I will definitely be back soon. I love the “novelty” of serving almost all classic cocktails (they also have some new concoctions on the fresh sheet), I love the decor, which is part modern mixed with gorgeous lush wallpaper. I love the signs on the walls. I love the blue neon sign on black. I even love the snacks. Of course I love the snacks! Rolled in lemon pepper batter and dipped in sundried tomato aioli, this is the best calamari I’ve had in quite a while.

About the only thing I didn’t love was the service. While it wasn’t exactly lacking, it was sitting right on the line. A puff of air from the kitchen could have sent it right over into bad. There was no smiling, there was no picking up of feet (by that I mean service was not slow but sluggish), and there was no…enthusiasm. We were looked after and suggestions were made based on what we were drinking (which could imply attentiveness) but even this was done so apathetically as to be disappointing. We’ll see how that goes. I will kee you abreast of any developments after future visits.

Tonight is a dark ‘n’ stormy night, so before I head off I will leave you with this parting shot:

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The Cascade Room

2616 Main Street, Vancouver

Trying to find food on the way to the fireworks, there were a couple of options, but Gyoza King (don’t bother clicking the link unless you can read Japanese) won out because they had the shortest wait time.

Fine by me, I am a huge fan of Gyoza King and hadn’t been there in a while. Authentic Japanese with a seemingly strong stance against sushi (they have shirts and signs indicating that there is no sushi whatsoever to be found on the premises, although several of their dishes bear striking resemblance…), their specialty is obviously gyoza. There are 6 different kinds of gyoza - ranging from vegetarian to prawn - and even though some of the dishes we’d ordered after the gyoza showed up first, it was simple and delicious, with a solid wrapper covering piping hot, meaty filling.

I could eat gyoza for days. Cheap, tasty, filling and easy to eat…it’s no wonder that almost every country in the world has some form of dumpling.

And unlike that other staple of Japanese cuisine, the thick cuts of fresh sashimi, gyoza is easy and cheap to make. So predictably Gyoza King and several other eateries on this stretch of Robson are filled with ESL students from Asia attending classes nearby. They can usually be found giggling and slurping noodles at the bar or in the raised section of the restaurant where you need to remove your shoes.

Tourists and other sullen adults tend to gravitate to the other side of the room, but the youthful atmosphere permeates. Servers are usually smiling (altho sometimes they seem frazzled, despite the restaurant’s small size) and small bits of pop culture add to the decor, such as a toy Yoda ready to hurl mints from the candy dish.

It’s fun and - although we had to wait 20 minutes to get a table on fireworks night - fast, but the food doesn’t disappoint. Their menu is divided into various sections, alongside a hefty specials page, and we chose the Saba Miso (mackerel in a tangy miso sauce), Scallop hotate with Mushrooms, and Albacore tuna marinated in vinegar and served sliced thin over white rice to accompany our beer and gyoza.

The Saba Miso was perfectly tangy and flavourful and the fish so well done that it broke off with the tip of a chopstick. I tried to savour it while scooping up mouthfuls, but alas, it was gone far too quickly. The subtle taste of the scallop and mushroom dish faded a bit between the stronger fish dishes, but there were no complaints.

Did I mention it was cheap? We were full and happily sated for $40, food and beer combined.

I tend to think of cosy little Japanese eateries like this one as more for winter. Curled up in a corner with a bowl of noodles and perhaps a book and some never-ending gyoza sounds idyllic to me, but now that I’ve sampled the summer fare, I’m pretty sure I’ll be back before the seasons change.

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Gyoza King

1508 Robson Street, Vancouver

There used to be a time where anyone wanting to take me on a cheap date could just walk me around the corner to the pet store where I would spend an hour in front of the chameleon tank. Now it seems that I can get in dinner and a show. At Sha Lin Noodle House they make all their noodles fresh on site and a window into the kitchen lets you keep an eye on the process while you’re waiting for dinner. A plexiglass partition does double duty keeping things sanitary and keeping the kids away from the vats of boiling water too.

Notice that I was the only one up there with the children, but I find it very interesting to see how food is made, especially something as mundane as noodles. These guys were on to something way before Fuel’s open kitchen hit the streets.

Here’s a video I found that showcases the noodle-making technique a bit better:

Now for the food.

We ordered a green onion pancake to start, followed closely by handmade cutting noodles with beef and broccoli. At that point, I was starting to get pretty full. The green onion pancake was flaky and savoury, made with just a small amount of oil, and the freshly made noodles were both delicious and interesting in that they were not uniformly shaped.  A pan fried dumpling, dipped in vinegar (only available at dinner) followed after I had already eaten too much food and so the majority of it had to be saved for lunch the next day.

Entertainment plus way too much food plus 2 beers for $30.00 equals a definite success.

The service was quick too. Food and beer were brought to the table almost immediately and while the pan fried dumplings did come last, after a bit of time, it was still much quicker than the potential 20 minute wait the waitress warned us about. We seemed to have just beat the rush because as we were tucking in to dinner a long line up started forming of hungry diners and people eager to pick up their take-out orders. It’s definitely a neighbourhood favorite and be prepared to wait a bit if you go at dinnertime.

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Sha Lin Noodle House

548 W Broadway, Vancouver

It took me a while to get to the Richmond Summer Night Market this year. They almost didn’t secure the space for the market, then the food section started off a bit stunted due to water problems and then well, then my weekends just seemed suddenly full. But I finally made it there this weekend for one of my favorite kinds of moveable feasts; the kind where you are the one wandering through the crowds and stands, searching out new delicacies and old favorites until you’re quite full.

We started off with the basics, Har gow and Siu Mai ($3) with a Quail Egg wrapped in bacon for good measure. Then some Sticky Rice wraps with Chicken ($3):

Mixed up the palate a little with some Nutella, Custard and Red Bean Car wheel cakes, apparently from Taiwan ($1 each):

Personally I thought the red bean paste was by far the best (the others were too sweet), but predictably, they were the ones that no one seemed to want. Nutella was in high demand:

Then some deliciously juicy Beef and Spicy Lamb skewers (6 for $10):

The BBQ Squid (below) is defiinitely a favorite of mine, but this time we tried the flattened whole squid instead. It was tasty, but rather on the chewy side, almost like squid jerky.

Then finished it off with some Dragon’s Beard Candy and bubble tea before rolling ourselves back to the car.

The dragon’s beard candy is pulled sugar dusted with glutinous flour and wrapped around chopped peanuts. The texture is not unlike cotton candy. They had quite the assembly line going here, with the old man pulling sugar, the middle woman wrapping the nuts and the last woman boxing it all up, but it was very popular and we ended up waiting quite a while. By the time we got the candy I was done my (disgusting) bubble tea and were definitely ready to leave.

I didn’t have room for takoyaki (the non-octo variety), the fish-shaped waffles filled with red bean paste (top), spicy curry fish balls or custard. And I need to go back to the better bubble tea place that was out of pearls this time around.

Good thing that I can probably make it happen since it doesn’t shut down until October 5th. Yay!

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Richmond Summer Night Market

12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond

I am often complaining that there is no good sushi in Yaletown and I’m not sure why. There is Bistro Sakana, which is pretty good (although I feel guilty ordering something other than the healthy lunch) and the rest of the places scattered around are grab-and-go quick fixes. Except that there is also Honjin Sushi, tucked away behind the Roundhouse Community Centre. I’m not sure how I manage to forget about Honjin so often. Yes, it’s out of sight of my office, but this is some seriously good sushi.

The focus at Honjin is about freshness. The house roll is a favorite, with and salmon, tuna and avocado topped with tobiko and I always get a chopped scallop cone. In any of them, the fish is always tasty and the flavours of the seafood balance well with salty seafood and toasted seeds. Generous helpings of wasabi help out on the side.

The rolls are quite an ample size, but you can see from the photo above that the contents are a bit lacking in the chopped scallop cone. Even if they had filled the cone up with rice it would have made a better impression than this bit of orange and green peeking out from the wrapping.

The decor is typically Japanese, but on a bright, sunny day the patio is a great place to be. They also have a decent amount of space, so even though it’s a busy lunchtime spot, you have a good chance of getting in.

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Honjin Sushi

138 Davie Street, Vancouver

In high school my friends and I used to drive into town from Langley and sit for hours in Wazubees. Except we called it Cafe Cafe Cafe because that’s all they had on their sign and we never thought to ask past that. There are so many establishments in this city that fall into the category of decent, possibly unmemorable food that are described as “that pho shop up on Hastings” or “the dim sum with the blue awning”. They don’t need to have a sign or even a name (although I guess they must need to have one somewhere to register as a business) because there will always be people around in the community who need to eat. This post is a tribute to all of those places.

Last week I ate at the Ginseng Seafood Noodle House. I only know the name because I made a point of taking a photo of the sign:

We went because it was late and we wanted something cheap and not too unhealthy. We were greeted warmly and after not too much deliberation, decided to order the Special Dinner for Two. Soup of the Day, a thin vegetable soup that was nourishing but otherwise uninteresting; Deep Fried Quail, a succulent, tender little bird that also came with the head; Prawns and Scallops with Gai lan, delicious, fresh steamed Chinese broccoli topped with seafood ;Bean Curd & White Nut with Vegetables, an interesting but tasty concoction involving something called White Nut (actually yellow and I’m pretty sure from the bean family) and tofu skin in soup; accompanied with Steamed White Rice and followed by fortune cookies.

I’m not sure that “special” is the right word for it, but the variety of flavours and colours complimented nicely and for $32 we ate very well.

I even ate a bit of the quail head, dipped in fortified salt. Little strange, but it was actually pretty good.

So while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the Ginseng Seafood Noodle House, I’m sure I’ll be back, and I’ll enjoy it.

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Ginseng Seafood Noodle House

Cambie Street, Vancouver