From Food Cart to Restaurant for Three Weeks: Tábor Authentic Czech Eatery

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Jun 232012
 
From Food Cart to Restaurant for Three Weeks: Tábor Authentic Czech Eatery

Two days remain to experience Czech cuisine at a brick-and-mortar restaurant here in Portland, Oregon. For three weeks until June 24, Karel and Monika from the Tábor Authentic Czech Eatery food cart will have served their home specialties at Enzo’s Caffe Italiano on NE Alberta Street while Enzo vacations in Italy. Not only is this “unique and trailblazing collaboration” an excellent instance of utilizing spare business capacity, the narrative on the reverse of the menu claims it’s the first instance in town of a collaboration between food carts and restaurants.* […] Continue reading >

The Soup That Is Christmas

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Dec 202011
 
The Soup That Is Christmas

The American Christmas table is different from the Slovak one: no fish, no potato salad, no bobalky, but, most importantly, no kapustnica. Early on in my life as a transplant, I realized I could live without all the traditional Christmas dishes except for the sauerkraut soup. The holiday connotes a lot of things—the tree, presents (socks!), snow (if you’re lucky), family, old movies—but what really makes Christmas for me is, indeed, kapustnica. As the first course, it brings the family together at the dinner table. It’s the ultimate comfort […] Continue reading >

We Hold Our Food Truths to Be Self-Evident

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Nov 182011
 
We Hold Our Food Truths to Be Self-Evident

This is a reprint, with permission, of “Food Truths: Taquerias and Cherry Pie”, an essay my wife Lindsay Sauvé wrote and published on her blog Blue Palate on September 24. Everyone has their food truths, and immigrants and transplants in the U.S. are no exception. In fact, being away from home may accentuate your food truth, make it even truer, so to speak. What’s your food truth? *** There is no lentil soup like my mother’s lentil soup, no sour cherry pie like my grandmother’s, certainly no sauerkraut like my father-in-law’s. […] Continue reading >

Cooking Slovak in America: An Interview With Lubos Brieda

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Nov 112011
 
Cooking Slovak in America: An Interview With Lubos Brieda

Following up on my review of SlovakCooking.com, I asked Ľuboš Brieda who runs that site a few questions about his experience as a Slovak transplant. *** American Robotnik: You started SlovakCooking.com after beginning to miss the tasty Slovak home cooking in the U.S. and wanting to learn a few recipes. There’s a huge gap between learning to cook Slovak dishes and sharing the recipes on a website. What compelled you to take your craving for Slovak food  public? Ľuboš Brieda: You make it sound as if one day I […] Continue reading >

I Survived a Peanut Butter Pickle Sandwich

 Posted by  Facestuffing, Kultur Clash  No Responses »
Oct 112011
 
I Survived a Peanut Butter Pickle Sandwich

Living in a new country means constant learning. Food is no exception. When you get used to, and even begin enjoying, a new dish or an ingredient, the learning curve flattens and further learning occurs on the edges of your experience. This has been the case for me with peanut butter, the principal ingredient in a peanut butter jelly sandwich, or PBJ. After several PBJ fits and starts during my stateside travels last century, I adopted PBJ into my breakfast diet about 8 years ago, after I settled in […] Continue reading >