Joe Ray
Food & Travel / Words & Photos
EATING
THE
MOTHERLAND
Food writer and photographer Joe Ray's gastronomic visits in Europe - the home of his ancestors - and beyond.
Archives
Blogs by journalists
/////////////////////////////
Click here
to receive email updates
when stories are posted
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Go ask AlÃcia
I got a whirlwind tour of the AlÃcia food research center today at Món St. Benet, about an hour outside of Barcelona.
The center, whose name is a mix of the Catalan words alimentació and ciència (food and science) is chef Ferran Adrià ‘s dream child, focusing on gastronomic research, improving eating habits, including pushing for better school and hospital lunches. It’s sort of like an Alice Waters dream project with more test tubes and scientific gear.
It was an unfortunately quick tour, but at first glance, I love the idea that kids come here to learn good eating habits. Instead of a field trip to the museum, you go to the lab of food. Pay attention America!
Another favorite is a quote from AlÃcia coordinator Pepe Zapata – “We don’t deal with processed food here. You can put vitamins in milk, but why not get them from the products they originally come from?â€
AlÃcia
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
+34 938 759 402
workshops and guided tours:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
+34 902 875 353
P.S. - Speaking of Alice and school lunches, Mrs. Waters and collaborator Katrina Heron had a February 19 op-ed piece in the New York Times – “No Lunch Left Behind†– detailing what is needed to help make school lunches better - a worthy read.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sardine is not a four-letter word
QUIBERON – After three and a half hours on an early train from Paris and another hour on the bus, the idea of sitting around tourists and retirees in a restaurant didn’t really float my boat. Returning from a meeting to set up an outing with a gooseneck barnacle fisherman, I walked right in front of the solution: La Belle-Iloise cannery.
Five minutes and a six-can variety pack of sardines later – everything from the little silver fish marinated in muscadet to two peppers, olive oil and lemon – I was in business. Sitting on the seawall, I ate a tin of sardine à la tomate served on pain Poilâne that I smuggled from Paris. Though there’s a fierce debate as to whether La Belle-Iloise or La Quiberonnaise makes the better sardine it didn’t seem to matter; in the space of five minutes, three people walked by jealously eyeing my picnic and smiling. One guy even offered up a “Bon Appetit!â€
On the bus, I had listened to an interview with Alice Waters who extolled the virtues of both cooking and eating with friends, yet here I was, straddling the seawall by myself, getting a sense of place from a can.