Hong Kong is thronging, noisy, tasty - and troubled, as protests continue to up-end life in this most engrossing of cities. In the meantime, and in amongst it, street life and market life persist. Join me as I eat my way along the streets of Mong Kok.
Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year) is one of the world's great annual celebrations. How big? Well, in China people are expected to take around three billion journeys as they travel to join family for festivities. The shebang begins on Saturday January 25 with the Year of the Rat starting the following day, and celebrations continuing for 23 days. Special 'lucky' foods are eaten during this period, sometimes because of their colour (red is lucky) and often because their name is a homonym for words such as 'luck', 'prosperity', 'wealth'.
Malaysian cookbook author Annie Xavier shares tips and insights as she discusses her approach to Chinese-Malaysian cooking
Dainty bites, fresh flavours and dishes that don't mind being moved from kitchen to hamper to blanket, or being passed around on a tray at a stand-up gathering...That's what's on my mind with these picnic and party favourites. Rustle up some of these beauties at your Melbourne Cup Day party, spring luncheon or pool-deck gathering.
I’ll go anywhere for a food adventure – great flavours and fantastic stories have lured me to the further corners of the world. But there are brilliant food stories close to home too – Melbourne is full of passionate chefs and cooks working doggedly, carefully, emotionally to perfect dishes and honour traditions. As soon as I heard that Leonardo Gelsomino from Lello pasta bar in Melbourne had succeeded in a two-year quest to learn how to make su filindeu, the world’s rarest pasta, I knew I had to find out more.
Have you got an hour? Ask a Middle Eastern person about their favourite hummus and be ready to listen long and hard! Hummus is an everyday traditional food all the way from Yemen to Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey but there are as many variations as there are eaters! At its simplest, hummus combines chickpeas and tahini, then there's the potential addition of salt, pepper, spices, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and water. Plus, there's the question of texture. Should it be smooth or sturdy? We dig in...
While the quality of Australia’s coffee has skyrocketed in the past 20 years, what we pay for it hasn’t. Our $4 lattes are leaving producers struggling – and prices may have to soar. I wrote a feature article on the coffee industry for Good Weekend magazine's Food Issue, and spoke about the story on Nine's Today show.
Just another day milking fish!
Mother’s Day doesn’t have to mean burnt toast in bed and bad soap from school stalls. If you are a mum, you can steer the family towards these menu suggestions, and if you have a mum, please enjoy these suggestions for Mum-friendly Thermomix dishes and tasty gifts that keep on giving. Of course, a Dani Valent membership is a gift that will bring joy and inspiration for a whole year.
