Topic: Cuisine of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco

Edited 12/31/2013

Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

Situated at the harbor area of San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf is loved by tourists yet often looked down upon by locals.  But behind what they show for visitors is a deep history of culinary geography, starting with Italian-American fishermen coming to San Francisco to make a living feeding the population of the newly-founded city.  Often, they made much more money than the gold miners, many of whom never found any gold at all.

So where in Italy did these fishermen come from?  Italy has many cuisines depending on the region.  Locating where one of the more influential fishermen immigrated from may give insight as to how the cuisine of Fisherman's Wharf was formed.  Achille Paladini, the "Fish King" of San Francisco, earned his moniker because of his wealth stemming from selling fish to gold miners.  Also known as the man who popularized cioppino (recipe) in the United States, Achille was born in 1843 in Ancona, Italy, a town on the Adriatic coastline in the Marche province.

The Marche province is famous for seafood, especially for a dish known as brodetto (recipe), a fish stew similar to cioppino.  I would guess that the American version of cioppino originally may have partially been inspired by brodetto, because of the introduction of cioppino by Achille Paladini, who came from the same region that features brodetto.  Of course, it was also most likely influenced in equal part by Portuguese-American fishermen, because they had a fish stew even closer to cioppino.  Paladini could have also been inspired by Portuguese-American fishermen in the area as well.  I do, however, believe that the original idea came from brodetto, and modified by Portuguese-American influences.

Brodetto.

Cioppino.

Restaurant Highlight: La Trattoria, The Blackberry Cafe

Edited 12/31/2013

For this Restaurant Highlight, I'm going beyond Redding and covering one restaurant in Arcata, California, and one in Thomastown, Ireland.


La Trattoria (Arcata)

Used with permission from James Becker of La Trattoria.

http://www.latrattoriaarcata.com/

Review: The best Italian food I've had in Humboldt County is here.  When I was attending Humboldt State University, I went here for special occasions: end of a semester, birthdays, and the like.  There is a rotating menu, so the choices are different every time.  I especially like their pasta dishes, but everything's good.  The service is great as well.

Geography: Like many other national cuisines, "Italian cuisine" is a blanket term for many styles of cooking found within the region.  La Trattoria's rotating menu uses many local ingredients, which vary depending on season.  In the winter months, they use dishes from northern Italian cuisines, and from southern Italian cuisines in the warmer months.  Not only does this allow the restaurant to use fresher and more in-season local ingredients, but it also allows it to focus on many climactic areas of Italy, a few at a time.


The Blackberry Cafe (Thomastown)

The staff of the Blackberry Cafe.  (Used with permission from Jackie Hoyne of the Blackberry Cafe.)

http://www.theblackberrycafe.ie/

Review: On my visit to Ireland, I stayed at the Carrickmourne House B&B in Thomastown for a total of two nights.  For those not familiar with Thomastown, it is a small riverside village in the southeast of Ireland.

While in Thomastown, I often ate at the Blackberry Cafe.  It is the quintessential Irish cafe: local ingredients, good food and drink, and friendly people.  The scones and the tea are the best I've had.  If you're in Thomastown, I suggest giving the place a visit.

Geography:  In the Irish countryside, "local" means local.  Even in places such as Arcata in the United States, many foods are branded as local, even if they are sourced up to 250 miles away.  Irish localism is more strict.  In rural Ireland, if you see a dish advertised as locally-sourced, it's probably 15 miles away or less.  This definitely holds true at the Blackberry Cafe, where most items are local.  This could be due to the high density of farms in the Irish countryside -- look from any hill (and there are many hills) and you will see at least two.  The abundance of small farms makes getting truly locally-sourced food much easier.

Belated Restaurant Highlight: New China, Yaadgar

Edited 12/31/2013

Today, I will be reviewing two more restaurants in Redding.

New China

Photo credit: Robin Heater (me)

http://newchinaredding.com/


Review: New China is most likely the best Chinese restaurant in Redding.  Like Gold Street Cafe, it is easy to overlook, but well worth finding it.  If you're going with at least one other person, I recommend the House Dinner.  It's $13.00 per person, and for the amount of food you get, it's a great deal.  The food is wonderful, and the people who work there are some of the nicest people I've ever met.

Geography:  New China represents the Cantonese style of Chinese cooking.  It comes from the Guangdong region of China, and is what most Westerners think of when they hear about Chinese food.  The dishes that New China serves are mostly the ones whose ingredients are widely available here in the United States.  It also leaves out most Cantonese dishes that many Westerners would not be used to, most likely to promote a more welcoming environment to people who are picky in their tastes.

Chinese food is usually broken down into regional cuisines.  I may discuss these in a future series of posts.


Yaadgar Indian and Pakistani Restaurant

Photo credit: Robin Heater (me)

http://yaadgarrestaurant.com/


Review: Yaadgar is most likely the best Indian restaurant in Redding.  It is also the only Pakistani restaurant in Redding that I know of.  They do a great job serving each cuisine; the food is wonderful, and the service is great.  What I appreciate most as a cultural geographer is that they do not deliberately try to mix the two cuisines.

Geography: The reason that I appreciate that they do not deliberately try to mix Indian and Pakistani cuisines is because the two countries have distinct cultures, and the cuisines should reflect this.  There are some naturally-occurring similarities in regions along the India-Pakistan border, and they also have dishes that reflect this.  This is also good, because it serves to more accurately reflect the wide range of regional cuisines within the bounds of the two countries.

If you want to know more about the differences between the two countries, visit:

http://yaadgarrestaurant.com/blog/pakistani-food-in-redding/



Check back next Saturday for more reviews!

Topic: Culinary Regions of California (San Francisco Bay)

Edited 12/31/2013

The Golden Gate Bridge, an icon of San Francisco.

The San Francisco Bay (SFB) region is comprised of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, and the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

The area shown in red is the San Francisco Bay culinary region.

The region is characterized by innovations inspired by different cuisines, mostly from immigrants who moved to San Francisco from other countries.  It is, in this regard, similar to the cuisine of New York City.  The key difference is that countries with a Pacific coastline, and also Latin American countries, have had more influence on San Francisco because of the shorter distance.  The other parts of the region (besides San Francisco) are included due to culinary sprawl, a topic discussed in the last post.

It is possible that there will be numerous topics on the region, due to the wide culinary diversity even within the region.

Topic: Effects of Wine on Cuisine in the Hills, Lakes, and Wines Region

Edited 12/31/2013

Wine is so important to the Hills, Lakes, and Wines region of California that it plays a key role in the cuisine of the area.  Therefore, it is not surprising that French, Italian, and American food is popular there.  After all, those cuisines are famous for wine.  Often, two or more of these cuisines are mixed to form a fusion cuisine.

So why does wine have such a powerful influence on cuisine in the HLW region?  It cannot be stressed enough that wine is important not only to the culture, but to the economy.  Wine tourism is a huge money-maker in the area.  But food has been paired with alcohol almost since beer was consumed by the ancient Egyptians, so it is natural that winemakers suggest foods to pair with their wines.  This encourages restaurants, inspired by the local food movement to the north and south of the HLW region, to support local wines by serving those wine and food pairings that winemakers suggest.  This also creates a unique local food movement within the region, one that includes local wines and local food integrated with one another.

Napa County is certainly the culinary hearth of the area's cuisine.  However, Sonoma and Lake Counties have experienced what I call "culinary sprawl", the diffusion of cuisine from an original area to a new one.  As a result, culinary sprawl has also occurred from those counties back to Napa Counties and from and to each other, creating a unified cuisine, with each county having its particular niche that each county originally specialized in.  For example, Napa County's niche is wine, Lake County has its local inland fish, and Sonoma County has beef and seafood.  All of these come together, driven by Napa County's food and wine pairings, to form a cuisine unique to the HLW culinary region of California.

Ranch land in Sonoma County (Photo credit)

A fisherman at Clear Lake.

A vineyard in Napa County.

Photo credit:

1. By Sanfranman59 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Topic: Culinary Regions of California (Hills, Lakes, and Wines Region)

Edited 12/31/2013

Sonoma County.

Lake County.

Napa County.

The Hills, Lakes, and Wines region (the HLW) is comprised of Lake, Mendocino, and Sonoma Counties.

The Hills, Lakes, and Wines culinary region is highlighted in red.

The region is characterized by world-famous restaurants featuring nouvelle, French, Italian and fusion cuisines.  It is also known for its wines, especially ones made from grapes grown in Napa County.

In the next post, I will explain how wine affects cuisine in the region.

Saturday Restaurant Highlight: Gold Street Cafe, Grace Place

Edited 12/31/2013

Every Saturday, I'm going to be reviewing two different restaurants (or places that serve food) that I've been to and, of course, tie those reviews in with geography.  First on the list is Gold Street Cafe.

Gold Street Cafe

http://goldstreetcafe.webs.com/locationhours.htm

Review: This seems at first to be just an average diner in the Redding area.  It's more than just that, though, because of its impeccable service.  While its food is not the fanciest around, it does a very good job with what it serves.  Eggs Benedict is my favorite thing on the menu.  I usually order it with mushrooms and onions instead of ham, with hash browns and extra Hollandaise sauce on the side.

Photo credit: Robin Heater (me)

Geography:  Gold Street Cafe's out-of-the-way location may steer some away from it.  I call this a "remote sense of place".  But I have found a rule of thumb: if a place looks worn down, and it has a remote sense of place, then that means the eatery is doing something right.  If it has been in business long enough to look that way even while it has a less-preferable relative location, then either the food is good, or the service is good enough to make up for it.  In the case of Gold Street Cafe, it is both.

Grace Place

Photo credit: Robin Heater (me)

http://www.graceplaceteahouse.org/

Review: If you enjoy good food and nice people, this is a place to be.  All kinds of tea from all over the world are here, which piques my interest as a food geographer.  What really sets it apart from other places is the wide variety of food and tea, and the fact that everybody is friendly.  Also, all proceeds go to help the elderly and the mentally disabled.  It is a very Christian-oriented business, but don't let that put you off if you're not Christian.  I am agnostic, and enjoy it for its service, food, and charitable causes.

Geography: For the geography of Grace Place, I want to talk about their teas.  Their regional teas mostly are representative of Eastern teas.  I am here at Grace Place now, writing this post, and have just finished a Masala Chocolate Truffle tea.  This borrows flavors from Indian (the notes of cardamom and clove) and Oregonian (the specific combination of truffle and chocolate) cuisines.  These two cuisines are famous for tea, the cuisine of Oregon more recently.  Soon, I may do a post on "hipster cuisine", and Oregonian cuisine will be talked at length about at that time.

Check back next Saturday, when I will review Brew and Yaadgar.

Topic: Local Food Trends in Arcata

Edited 12/31/2013

Arcata, in the North Coast Lowlands culinary region of California, is probably one of the more aggressively local-minded cities in the state when it comes to food.  For one thing, there are only a few zoning areas in the city that allow chain restaurants.  Nearly all local restaurants have some locally-sourced menu items.  There are three farmer's markets in Arcata, quite a few for such a small town.

The largest of the three farmer's markets in Arcata.

 The last posts have largely been focused on how food shapes a culture's identity, belonging, and connections with other places in the world.  But it goes the other way as well; identity shapes food in almost every way imaginable.  In this case, it is the independent identity and recently progressive nature that shapes Arcata that drives its local food movement.

Arcata started as a small logging town.  When Humboldt State University was founded, the major draw was the Forestry Department.  But at the formation of the Environmental Studies department, the two departments were at odds.  Outside the campus were worldwide protests against the cutting of the endangered redwood forests, known as the Redwood Summer.  Inside the campus were more protests that often turned violent, known by locals as the Timber Wars.  Eventually, the activists came out on top, things settled, and Arcata has been a very progressive-minded town ever since.

Local movements are both progressive and independent, so given its history, it is not surprising that Arcata is a haven for locally-sourced food.  Multiple nearby family farms and CSA (community-supported agriculture) programs also are factors.

Topic: Culinary Regions of California (North Coast Lowlands)

Today, I'm going to talk about the North Coast Lowlands culinary region of California.

Arcata Community Forest

One of the many Victorian-style houses in Old Town Eureka.

Centerville Beach near Ferndale.

The North Coast Lowlands covers southern Humboldt County and all of Mendocino County.

The North Coast Lowlands is highlighted in red.

The region differs from the North Coast Highlands in two very important ways.  First of all, the Lowlands have low elevation.  The high points of the Lowlands are mostly on hills, compared to mountains in the Highlands.  This is important because since different things grow on different types of terrain, cuisines vary by regions with different terrain.

Also, Humboldt State University (where I spent two and a half wonderful years studying geography) is a magnet for diversity (relative to the surrounding area), attracting people who bring along their own cuisines.  This tends to influence the native cuisine of the area.  As a result, the cuisine always is changing in the area.  Local adaptations of cuisines from all over the world are always popping up, which is the signature aspect of this culinary region.

"Humboldt Fog", a variety of Cypress Grove Chevre (Photo credit)

Next, I'll be talking about the growing local food movement as it pertains to the region.  Hopefully it won't take as long next time.



Photo credit:

1. By Jon Sullivan [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.  Source: http://pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=pdef&pg=8580 

Topic: Smoked Salmon in California

Edited 12/31/2013

Ocean-caught salmon in the North Coast Highlands culinary region of California comes from the area around three river mouths.  From north to south, they are the Smith, Klamath, and Mad Rivers.  They are spread out in a spatially uniform distribution along the region's coast, so that makes for an even distribution of salmon, except for the midpoints between any two rivers, where sources of salmon overlap.  Areas with overlapping sources of salmon means more salmon.  These points are also approximately where Trinidad and Crescent City (the two larger towns along the coast) are.

So why are the main two cities in the same areas where there are more salmon?  I would say that the current locations of Trinidad and Crescent City were indirect but definite results of the practice of smoking salmon in the area.  Native Americans (the Yurok, Tolowa, etc.) settled near those places because of the salmon.  When white colonizers came to the area in the 1800s, they started smoking salmon as well.  They had to find some type of food, and there was a lot of salmon in the area, so at least part of the reason they first lived in those places was the salmon.  These early settlements led to the formation of Trinidad and Crescent City.

Sockeye salmon.

In the next post, I'll move on to another culinary region in California.

Topic: Culinary Regions of California (North Coast Highlands)

Edited 12/31/2013

The Smith River.

A lighthouse in Trinidad.

The area covering Del Norte County and Humboldt County north of McKinleyville is what I consider to be the North Coast Highlands culinary region of California.  I have designated and named all of these regions, because I don't know of any official regions for cuisines within California.

The area in red is the North Coast Highlands culinary region.

The region is characterized by an abundance of fish and shellfish from both inland and marine waters, and a strong influence by the Native American community.  Smoked salmon from northern Humboldt County, trout from the Smith River, and dungeness crab result from this.  Also, meats and local produce shipped from the North Coast Lowlands, the Shasta Cascades, and parts of Oregon are considered commonplace.

Crab cakes are popular here.

Smoked salmon.

I'll be talking about the geography of smoked salmon in California on the next post, then move on to another culinary region.

Topic: Culinary Regions of California (Introduction)

Edited 12/30/2013

When most people who don't live here think of California, the image that typically comes to mind is something like one of these:

The Golden Gate Bridge.

The Hollywood Sign.

What many people don't think of are these places:

Arcata.  Probably my favorite place on earth.

Yosemite National Park.

Death Valley.

With such diverse landscapes, it is only fitting that California has a very diverse range of cuisines within its borders.  In fact, I think each merits its own post.  It'll probably take today and tomorrow, but there's a chance I may cover them all today.  We'll see.

Topic: Green Bean Casserole

Edited 12/30/2013

Green bean casserole is unique in that it is a tradition that was made for the purpose of commercialism, by a company to promote business (namely Campbell's Soup Company; original recipe here).  This creates a lack of place, or a placelessness, for this food.

What do I mean by place?  Usually, when people associate something with a place, this is known among cultural geographers as a "sense of place".  I am using the word "place" in a slightly different way to mean the geographic space (location or region) that a food is commonly associated with.  It does not have to be a place of origin.  As mentioned in a previous post, the original form of Hollandaise sauce probably originated in Holland, but is now associated with France as its culinary place.

The closest thing green bean casserole has to a culinary place is the United States.  But can this qualify as a nationally unifying food?  I'd say if there's any food I can think of that does, this would be it.  Made by a corporation, all across the U.S. and within it, and enjoyed on a national holiday by millions, this is more of a national food than the apple pie, burger (both German in origin), or turkey (raised long before the nation was founded, I might go into it on a separate article next Thanksgiving) put together.

But as well as a unifying food, green bean casserole has recently celebrated the country's differences.  Because of the differences in cooking styles of the regions, variations have popped up.  In mine, for instance, I add avocado because they are readily available in California.  A Google search will give results for many other regional and personal variations of green bean casserole as well.

Green bean casserole.

That's all for today, hope you enjoyed the post!

Pictures: Thanksgiving (Part 2)

Sorry I didn't post the photos yesterday, I got exhausted from cooking.  Here they are:

Vegan Pumpkin Lasagna

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

Sauteed Pearl Onions

Vegan Stuffing

Who needs Tofurkey anyway?

Topic: Thanksgiving (Part 2)

For vegans, people who do not eat dairy or meat, Thanksgiving can be difficult, especially since one of the key components of a traditional Thanksgiving is the consumption of poultry.  My dad happens to be vegan, and since it is also his birthday, I am cooking for him today.

For the meal, I am putting together a cranberry, nut, and lettuce salad with raspberry balsamic sauce, a vegan green bean casserole, a vegan pumpkin lasagna, cornbread stuffing, and roasted onions.  I'll put up pictures later today.

Pictures: Thanksgiving (Part 1)

Here are the photos of Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's:

The table.

Strawberry Nut Salad

 

Cornish Game Hens with Wild Rice

Green Bean Casserole

Topic: Thanksgiving (Part 1)

Edited 12/30/2013

Thanksgiving (we're talking about the U.S. version, although Canada has one too) is a tradition celebrated differently depending on who you are talking about.  But it all has one common theme: a gratuitously large amount of food.  Often, it looks something like this:

A common symbol of Thanksgiving, the cornucopia.

But it doesn't have to be.  For example, my mom eats less food, so when I spend Thanksgiving at her house, we have about 3-4 dishes maximum.  Usually, there is turkey in a Thanksgiving dinner.  But we have a family recipe for Cornish game hen with wild rice that works just fine in its place.  We also usually have green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and strawberry nut salad for dessert.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and also my dad's birthday, so I'm spending Thankgiving with him.  Today, I will be having Thanksgiving dinner a day early with my mom.  I'll post photos of what we made later tonight.  Tomorrow, I will describe Thanksgiving with my dad and post photos of that dinner.  The next day, I'll be talking about the geography of each dish I prepared.

Check back later for some photos of my Thanksgiving dinner!

Welcome to Foodie Geographer! (Topic: Hollandaise Sauce)

Edited 12/30/2013

Welcome to Foodie Geographer!  This will be a food blog in which I relate everything to cultural or physical geography.  For example, consider Hollandaise sauce, a key part of an Eggs Benedict.

Eggs Benedict.  My fave!

I won't provide a recipe for Hollandaise sauce.  I might post recipes for other things in the future, but I am terrible at making this, so I won't for now.

Hollandaise sauce was invented in its original form by the Dutch, first appearing in a cookbook in 1593 by Carel Baten.  It became very popular in France, and was known as Dutch sauce until the 1800s.  It is difficult to know what was in the original Dutch version without knowing Dutch, which I don't.  The only partially-translated form of the text I found online is here:

http://www.kookhistorie.nl/index.htm

(Hint: After clicking the link, scroll down to see the partially-translated text.)


The classic French version is more well-known.  From there, it was popularized in Great Britain and Germany, and now in the United States.  Today, it remains to be considered a quintessential French sauce.  The cookbook Larousse Gastronomique hints that egg yolks were not originally in the recipe (now a key ingredient).  Instead, it was a butter-based sauce.

Now for the geography!  Where in the Dutch sphere of influence did the original recipe for Hollandaise sauce come from?  Well, usually when people moved to different countries in the late 1500s and early 1600s, they had to travel short distances, unless by boat.  Assuming the Dutch who brought Hollandaise sauce to France did not go by boat, they would have came from a region that was then under Dutch control situated relatively close to France.  The modern term "Hollandaise" seems to suggest Holland, so it would be southern Holland because the south of Holland specializes in the production of butter.  Also, southern Dutch cuisine is famous for sauces and gravies.

Now, we can see what the original Hollandaise sauce may have been like.  There is still a sauce in Dutch cuisine known as "Volendam fish sauce" (butter en eek), a butter sauce where vinegar is added (recipe).  This sounds something like the Hollandaise sauce we know today, except we add egg yolks and substitute vinegar for lemon juice.

And there you have it, an example of applied food geography.  Hope you enjoyed reading it; check back later!