humanity

Humanity topics include pieces on the real lives of chefs, professionals, amateurs, inspiring youth, influencers, and general feel good human stories in the Feast food sphere.

What Donuts Teach Me About Life
Holy Holey Fried Dough Discs, Batman! Life is sweet, especially when you have these little gourmet discs in it. But what do donuts teach us about life? What else do they offer except flavorful calories and tooth cavity risks?
By Lo Mitchell5 years ago in Feast
Farmer, Dishwasher, Millionaire
Imagine, for a moment, that you’re on your way to dine at one of the world’s best restaurants. Maybe you’re going to Mirazur, entranced by the glamorous French Riviera and breathtaking views of the Mediterranean. Or, possibly, you’ve chosen Lima’s Central, and you’re ready to experience an adventure through Peru via the restaurant’s elevation-inspired tasting menu. Or perhaps you’ve been hearing about René Redzepi on shows like Chef’s Table, Ugly Delicious, or Parts Unknown, so you’re off to Noma in Copenhagen to see what this New Nordic cuisine is all about.
By Kristy Ockunzzi-Kmit5 years ago in Feast
Whose Up For Supper
Whose Up For Supper How would you like some bull head caught right out of a stream that ran just off my grandfather's land, or home made pizza that had homemade spaghetti sauce for the foundation of one of the best pizza's in my days growing up? How would you like some EEL...Yes I said eel for dinner or a green grape pie for dessert?
By Tina Miller5 years ago in Feast
Migitas
I still remember the first time I ever smelled my first batch of migitas. I was little must have been maybe 3 or 4, and was walking by the kitchen, my mom was cutting up some tomatoes that looked extra juicy on a white plastic cutting board. I remember sitting at the countertop mesmerized by that color. She cut up the tomatoes then grabbed some corn tortillas and with her hands started shredding them, I distinctly remember the sizzling of the pan as the shreds of tortilla hit the pan.
By Celia Sanchez5 years ago in Feast
Kitchen Tales
Beyond macaroni cheese and our weekly plate of liver and onions, I can't remember a single meal my mother cooked from scratch.
By Kate McGovern5 years ago in Feast
Wacky Wednesdays
When my son was in Montessori I volunteered to be snack chairman for a year. That entailed getting a snack, milk, and juice for approximately twenty children in early care. Providing a morning snack, juice, and milk for upwards of eighty children during regular class hours. Then making sure the after-school group of twenty plus children had something. The school had a no-sugar policy. The toddler class was not allowed grapes unless they were cut in half to lessen a choking hazard. Also, the school was required to meet certain health guidelines on dairy, fruit, and protein and post the weekly menu on the bulletin board for the health department to inspect. I knew none of this when I volunteered for the position.
By TG Gilliam5 years ago in Feast
The Way of Toast
Camp toast. It’s like comfort food on the trail and so simple to make. Spread some almond butter on it and top it off with some fruit, and you have yourself a hearty breakfast that delivers on nutrition with minimal time expenditure.
By Kennedy Farr5 years ago in Feast
The Bircher Muesli Mutiny
Howdy to all of you super-outdoorsy souls who are already planning your menu for this spring’s camping, climbing, rafting, bicycling, kayaking, or hiking trip. It’s a general truth that dehydrated meals are the way to go when you’re going to be carrying any kind of weight on your back or in your boat . . . and it’s also true that while some of these expensive, ready-made meals that you buy in outdoor stores are pretty darned good, others are, at best, kind of mediocre. Why not set mediocrity aside and start each day on the trail with a fresh and energizing cup of Bircher muesli? It’s easy to make, and it tastes great.
By Kennedy Farr5 years ago in Feast
Brandy Milk Punch
My foodie heart comes from the city where I was born, raised and lived for over fifty years. In New Orleans, it is always about the restaurants. My parents and my maternal grandmother Memére most enjoyed the seafood places that diced Lake Pontchartrain. These were popular, unique, crowded on Friday nights, and all independently run. But Lenfant’s was my most favorite, close to our home in Lakeview, an upper middle class New Orleans neighborhood that changed drastically post Hurricane Katrina. There were starched white table cloths in the old pink building at Lenfant’s, and it was located next to a noisy railroad track. Demolished completely in later years, my visual memory still holds a clear, unforgettable picture of us sitting and enjoying the best ever seafood.
By Rita Huie5 years ago in Feast
Cooking for the neighbors
Wiping sweat from her brow, with hands triumphantly on her hips, Arya looked down at her counter. Plated and pretty, she completed the final recipe for her cookbook, her dad’s manti recipe. Armenian dumplings, smothered in a stewed tomato sauce, topped with strained yogurt and brown butter. The earthy cumin fragrance and the sharp scent of sumac lingered in her apartment. Her neighbors have grown quite used to the smell, and the deliveries coming from Arya’s apartment these past few months. At least twice a week, she heads to the Fausto’s apartment, decked in her wildly Jackson Pollack-ed apron, with a bit of fresh bread, baked goods, and sometimes full meals, when her feverish day of cooking ends. They are always grateful, and even give her honest feedback when she asks. Every recipe, and “Fausto feedback,” is recorded in her little black notebook: very used, with sauce and grease stains on almost every page. She bought that book the same day she lost her job, two months earlier.
By n5 years ago in Feast
Carnivore!
have a confession. I am a carnivore. I’m also extremely weird. Let me explain the carnivore part first. You see, I LOVE meat. I can eat chicken, literally, every single day and not get tired of it. Porkchops? Bring it on. Beef? Oh, heaven! And that’s just listing the basic. I think the only meat I don’t like is fish (and even then, some get a pass like canned tuna fish) and slimy seafood like oysters. And the only reason I don’t like ham is the salt content but when I can get my hands on a ham that is unsalted, oh, delish!
By Carmen Corridon5 years ago in Feast
Bean Sorting
Laurel always loved to cook. From her earliest years, the kitchen had been her playground. When she was six it was her job to sort out the broken beans and little stones from the pinto beans her father, Joseph, would make. Later that summer she graduated to smashing and peeling the garlic. She was so small she had to stand on a chair and push all her weight to mash the clove under the flat side of the blade. Her father had developed a system of measurements for teaching her recipes at such a young age, she was too young to work with ounces, cups, quarts, tablespoon and such, and so he divided it into “long pour” and “short pour,” “dad sized pinch,” and “kid-sized pinch,” small blue cup with the little flower on its side, and large coffee mug with a picture of the Coneheads from Saturday Night Live. Rice was one small cup of rice and two small cups of water. Mexican beans were half an onion cut in half again, four cloves garlic mashed, one small cup of pinto beans (sorted of course), two dad-sized pinches of salt, and two Conehead-cups of water.
By Laylah Muran de Assereto5 years ago in Feast