Rachel Laudan

Edit.  I had planned this as a happy Christmas post. I had no idea that as I poked about in the world of bacalao I would find the fishy underside that I talk about at the end.  It left me slightly at a loss though, thinking some reality check on the extra-Norwegian world of imitations, [...]

Heike Vibrans asks a number of good questions about my earlier post on the human energy required to grind maize the traditional Mexican way before the appearance of mills beginning in the 1920s  but still not in remote villages in the 1990s. Five hours sound too much. You don’t need an almost an hour to [...]

Basket of shrimp empanadas, 5 for $30 pesos (US$2.20) Saturday saw a group of three friends in La Viga, Mexico’s wholesale market, claimed to be the biggest in Latin America and the second biggest in the world.  It’s worthy of several blogs which will be coming along. First, though, is the shrimp empanada.  The market [...]