Is there any culture, ethnic group or country that doesn’t have some sort of salted pork or beef dish; one that often sits front and centre? Religious dietary strictures aside, of course. And yes, I know the same process isn’t… Read More »Salt me some meat, mate.

“I need it every night”… If push came to shove I’d have to say that the Rhodochrosite is my all time favourite rock because — depending on how it’s cut and polished — it can look EXACTLY like a cooked… Read More »Ham or bacon? “Rock is dead they say, long live rock”.

A less-played Who track, “Armenia City in the Sky” was an acid-trip paen (allegedly)… …but catching a news report this morning brought it to mind, especially the very first line “If you’re troubled and you can’t relax”, which effortlessly and… Read More »Armenia City in the Sky; or simply any place that doesn’t try to kill us, maybe?

This description may have — once or twice in the course of 50+ years of, conscious, eating — been aimed in my general direction. But I’m no match for the appetite (or range of food-stuffs eaten) of the protagonist, Tarare,… Read More »Who are you calling a glutton?

Don’t those words make “you shiver with antici–Pation” (a hat tip there, for Tim Curry’s “Rocky Horror” tour-de-force)? Known as Pi dong, in Shanghai where it’s frequently used to ‘stuff’ soup dumplings. It’s a rich stock, sliceable when chilled but… Read More »Jellied stock…

The second solo LP by — post-Roxy Music — Brian Eno dates from 1974 (and is still a real banger by the way) and has been described thus “… inspired by a series of postcards depicting a Chinese revolutionary opera titled Taking… Read More »On “Taking Taiwan (By Taste)”.

Eating bitter. 吃苦 (chīkǔ) A Hakka concept. There’s an element of “pain first, then pleasure” (or maybe better, say “sweetness” rather than “pleasure”, so that you don’t think I’m simply straying into S&M territory) or “no pain, no gain” implicit… Read More »Am I bitter? Nope.

The hand-built kimchi jar has gone into the kiln overnight, for its first firing to biscuit. We suitably propitiated the kiln god and rang the kiln bell. It’ll have cooled enough be able to be handled around 8pm tomorrow I… Read More »Kimchi Kojin kilned

At £140 for a ‘bespoke’ one, naaaah, I think I’ll pass, thanks BAO London…

Thanks to historian and writer Gareth Harney, for bringing to my notice this piece of (expensive) Roman whimsy. The bronze item was found whilst excavating in the ruins of the (buried by the eruption of Vesuvius) Villa dei Papiri, a… Read More »A pork clock; or a time-zone BLT?

An old friend suggested this was redolent of one of the more extreme-end-of-the-scale Heston Blumenthal dishes; one I agreed I wouldn’t be trying at home. The caesium has accumulated in the atmosphere, soil and ground water from years of bomb… Read More »Caesium-soaked truffles along with some radioactive boar meat

What sort of sick, sick, pervert hid this horror at the allotment, found lurking in the grass, bringing terror to adults and children alike. Those cold, dead, staring eyes… It should be smashed to smithereens, the earth surrounding the powdered… Read More »The stuff of waking nightmares

You may recall Lydia Lunch, who came out of the 1970s’ New York City “no wave” scene as the singer and guitarist of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks? This piece isn’t about her as it happens (altho’ it is about… Read More »Let’s EAT BITTER or Lydia’s Lunch…

I found this piece on the Museum Of London website whilst researching my stations’ route. Despite their disavowal, it seems to me to be actually much closer to the reality of today’s London than maybe anyone is prepared to admit.… Read More »Visiting Vauxhall whilst eating The Victoria Line, 3 of 16

Eh, fill yer what? Rhyming slang son, rhyming slang. “Derby Kelly” is belly. Pretty sure I was introduced to boiled beef & carrots (albeit mashed, natch!) by my Mum. Equally pretty sure that there were no Gerbers or similar bottled… Read More »Fill yer Derby Kell, gal!

I swore I wasn’t going to invoke Proust but as I was constructing a snack for lunch, I had just such a moment. A soft cottage roll, cut in half, both sides slathered with butter, then a layer of English… Read More »Mum’s chip butty

Wu geng chang wang (“Wu geng” is apparently an indication of time, 5am, in old Chinese and “chang wang” simply means intestines); the dish is usually made up of preserved mustard leaves, tofu, pork intestine slices, and congealed pork blood… Read More »Guts in the gloaming or 5am intestines 五更肠旺

Great observation; until today the reason for something that we’ve probably all noticed happening, certainly hadn’t occurred to me, even though I’ve used the juice in this way. “There’s an enzyme in pineapple that tenderizes meat, which is why it… Read More »Pineapple fights its attacker

This extract below came from a short chapter (entitled 家 jiā – Home) in Xiaolu Guo’s “A Lover’s Discourse” which I’m reading through at the moment. I’m not 100% convinced she’s correct but hey, it made me smile wryly… The… Read More »A pig in a house is a person. Or 家 jiā a home…