Joe Ray
Food & Travel / Words & Photos
Published Work
ARCHIVE OF THE YEAR 2006
May 29, 2006 - The Miami Herald
Paris’ book dealers being edged out by the Web
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOE RAY.
Special to The Herald.
May 25, 2006 - The Star-Ledger
Bidding Books Adieu
Web sales undercut the centuries-old tradition of selling books on the banks of the Seine.
BY JOE RAY.
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-LEDGER.
May 4, 2006 - Agence France Presse
New Danish brewers aiming to be probably best in town
COPENHAGEN—It used to be that Danish breweries were so ubiquitous that pipes ran directly from them into nearby restaurants. But gradually, the practice fell away leaving the Danes with few choices.
Now, a group of brewers is opening new brew houses and leading a charge that combines a return to diversity, a push for quality and a quest to redefine Nordic beer.
“We’re trying to relate to our country in a new way,” said brewer Jens Eiken, who will head up a September symposium of Nordic brewers, pushing them to improve the quality of their beer while refining a Nordic style of brewing.
April 17, 2006 - Agence France Presse
Improving A Dog’s Life in Greenland
ILULISSAT, Greenland (AFP) - Dogsledding above the Arctic Circle is the stuff of dreams, evoking classic tales like “The Call of The Wild”, but here in the wilds one woman is slowly changing man’s relationship to his dog.
In Greenland’s third largest town of Ilulissat, where dogs outnumber the 5,005 residents, these animals are not considered pets. They live and sleep outside, chained to rocks, often without doghouses.
April 7, 2006 - Agence France Presse
Seeking Paella Perfection
BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - Self-respecting Valencians may consider it blasphemous to eat paella anywhere but their home city, but across Spain most people just shrug and enjoy tucking into a dish which has become truly national.
In Barcelona, one of the many corners of the country that has long had its own take on paella perfection, Sunday afternoon paella has been a tradition for as long as most people can remember.
April 7, 2006 - Agence France Presse
Whale carpaccio, reindeer filet: Greenland’s contemporary cuisine
ILULISSAT, Greenland (AFP) - With his boat moored to the ice that creeps into this small city’s harbor, a longline fisherman provides a perfect example of the state of contemporary cuisine in Greenland.
At about noon, he drops the hooks he has been baiting, hops back onto the ice and pulls a freshly caught halibut from a plastic bin.
Taking the fish, he cuts out a few bite-sized snacks so fresh, sushi chefs would be wasabi-green with envy.
Although chefs here are forced to make the best out of what they’ve got with only one or two shipments a week, Greenland is not the gastronomic wasteland many might expect.
Brandchannel.com - March 27, 2006
Moritz: Another round
Behind the brand: The triumphs and tragedies.
Do enough eating, drinking or walking around in the food-crazed city of Barcelona and the signs are hard to miss: a big, blue “M” on a canary yellow background, announcing the return of Moritz beer to Spain’s Catalonia region. It’s a smart look that’s somehow both nostalgic and modern looking, which seems to be exactly the message that the recently relaunched beer brand wants to convey.
March 22, 2006 - The Boston Globe - Travel Section
Barcelona, bite after bite
The city’s top food spots mix old and new, guided by El Bulli sommelier Ferran Centelles.
Brandchannel.com - March 20, 2006
La Boqueria Covers The Market
Does the future of food shopping belong to hypermarkets like Carrefour, Wal-Mart, and Tesco? Barcelona’s covered market La Boqueria proves that delivering a shopping experience can be a competitive advantage over the big box stores.
March 16, 2006 - Agence France Presse
Sweet fans flock to Barcelona for candy cornucopia
With a mix of flair, an eye for things of beauty and, er, dried bugs, four men are turning food-crazed Barcelona into a candy lovers’ paradise on earth.
March 9, 2006 - Agence France Presse
Spain’s love affair with olive oil
If Spain were to choose a food product to fuel its country, it would be olive oil, hands down. But despite being the largest olive oil producer in the world, high-quality olive oil from Spain seems to be something that has fallen off the radar screens of foodies outside of the country.
March 1, 2006 - The Chicago Tribune
Great tapas with a twist arrive fresh out of a can
I grew up with a vague dread of canned food, but in this era of fresh, fresh, fresh, Quim Perez certainly is taking a different path, but one rooted in the country’s tradition of eating canned food.
February 5, 2006 - The Boston Globe - Travel Section
Rings, and even bugs, for your sweet tooth
BARCELONA - Toothpaste sales must be up in this town. Either that, or the city’s dentists are doing brisk business. Or both. Fueled by a mix of funkiness, glamour, and, well, bugs, Barcelona is becoming a hard candy hot spot.
Nowhere is the mania as evident as it is at Papabubble when they are making candy. To find the shop, stroll to the bottom of La Rambla Barcelona’s best-known street hang a left and walk until you hit the line of gawkers spilling out the door.
February 2, 2006 - The Christian Science Monitor
Barcelona’s Big Little Food Counter
Even someone who doesn’t cook much would have trouble walking into Mercat de la Boqueria, Barcelona’s main food market, and not getting some sort of impulse to rush out and prepare a meal. Rows and rows of artfully arranged fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses make this one of the best and most beautiful markets in the world.
Interspersed among the food stalls are kioskos, minirestaurants, each with a handful of stools. In these, cooks take the best from the market and turn it into amazing meals before your eyes.
January 22, 2006
Anti-smoking law causes few sparks in Barcelona
BARCELONA, Spain—By Joe Ray, a freelance writer who lives in Paris
It was known as something of a smokers’ paradise. With relatively low prices and few restrictions on where people could light up, Spaniards smoked with an impunity that rivaled …