I was honoured to be invited to contribute a chapter on plants as staple foods to the fourth volume of Bloomsbury Academic's Cultural History of Plants, and especially thrilled that I was able to suggest several illustrations for my chapter. Images and objects provide important source material for my work in food history and it… Continue reading New book chapter: Plants as Staple Food
Category: Vegetables
Crispy lichens and cured egg yolks – the forbidden experiment?
A few weeks ago I was thwarted in my plan to make Magnus Nilsson’s crispy lichen dish by my lack of a cured egg yolk. This weekend, it’s all come together: the egg yolks have had about a month to mature, and a walk on the North Downs produced a small bagful of beautiful grey-green… Continue reading Crispy lichens and cured egg yolks – the forbidden experiment?
Whoever heard of a semi-dried pickle?
I've probably been living a sheltered life, but I'd never come across a semi-dried pickle - until I continued my investigation of Magnus Nilsson’s Fäviken cookbook. Never, it seems, a man to rush things, Nilsson recommends slightly drying out pickled vegetables until "they resemble vegetable raisins" to serve with a hot pork chop. I usually have a good… Continue reading Whoever heard of a semi-dried pickle?
Jane Levi 