The Authoritative Coffee: Part 2

by Nadge Ariffin, on Tue, March 31, 2009 - 3:17:38 PM
Gastropology 101

Like it has been since the first cup ever brewed a thousand years ago, it starts with a sip. It has to be a sip, because unlike wine it would be hot. Even if it’s not, it still starts with a sip, because unlike tea for example it has an expectant bitterish taste and one does not want to overwhelm the tongue with a big gulp.

That, in just one paragraph, is how I would differentiate this great beverage of coffee from the other great drinks on this planet.

Starting…  More »

The Authoritative Coffee: Part 1

by Nadge Ariffin, on Wed, March 11, 2009 - 1:13:33 PM
Gastropology 101

“I’ll have the Mo-cha…”, I began as I scanned the beverage menu.

“Mo-ka”, corrected the bright young lady serving me, as naturally as she must have corrected a hundred or a thousand other customers.

“Oh, Mo-ka…” I sheepishly repeated. As a Spanish-speaker, I naturally tend to pronounce any ‘ch’ combination with the ‘macho’ sound.

That was years ago but it made me curious as to how coffee drink names like ‘Mocha’ and…  More »

The Authoritative Soto

by Nadge Ariffin, on Fri, January 02, 2009 - 12:54:10 PM
Gastropology 101

Soto here has nothing to do with satay, that other popular dish in the Malay-Indonesian world, despite sharing the same consonants and differing only in the vowels. Indeed the two foods are as different as night and day.

Neither has it any connection with Japan, despite ‘soto’s Japanese-like sound which in that language means ‘outside’ or when capitalized (S?t?) is a branch of 13th century Zen Buddhism, although the S?t? Zen monks and followers would…  More »

The Authoritative Satay

by Nadge Ariffin, on Thu, September 04, 2008 - 2:59:56 AM
Gastropology 101

Mention ‘Satay’ and those who know this dish will most likely begin to salivate. A quintessential contribution of the Malay Archipelago to the planet’s culinary repertoire, it has been claimed by just about everybody else as ‘their’ influence.

Let’s explore the origins and hidden features of this exotic meat-on-a-stick preparation. First we need to establish what satay is and where it is found.

Satay’s most common form is of lidi or sticks,…  More »

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