Rachel Laudan

Ensaimadas are the utterly delicious coiled flaky pastries made of wheat flour and lard, and found in Menorca (which I have visited) and Mallorca (which I have not). How did these two little islands in the Mediterranean come to have these pastries and when, what are the connections with the series of invaders (including Muslims [...]

A couple of days ago, I had a sharp “oh no!” reaction to a Facebook thread where lots of people I respect were enthusing over the prospect that the famous Catalan chef, Ferran Adrià, was thinking about opening a Mexican restaurant in Barcelona.   And since I’ve been trying to figure out why my first reaction [...]

I’d wanted to meet Cruz Ortíz for several years after reading his excellent book Puerto Rico en la olla:¿somos aún lo que comimos? (Madrid: Doce Calles, 2006).  In that, he takes six typical foods of the island–rice, habichuelas (beans or frijoles in Mexican Spanish), harina de maíz (cornmeal used to make funche or mush), bacalao [...]