we are what we eat

I was struck by the humanity in the photographs of this Time photo essay, "What the World Eats". Taken from Peter Menzel's book "Hungry Earth", the essay shows what's on family dinner tables around the world. It evoked all sorts of thoughts about globalization, inequality, and culture. Judge for yourself.
Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Kuwait: The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City
United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
See the entire photo essay here.
(via infosthetics - I'm an avid reader of this blog, in case you haven't noticed)

japanese pizza anyone?

Fusion cuisine, which gave us Rice Burgers and California Sushi Rolls, has a new representative in Singapore. It's a place called "Oishi Japanese Pizza" (oishi means "tasty, delicious"). Well, it's not exactly new, they've existed for some time, but I only came across one of the outlets this weekend.
They have a novel proposition, Japanese Pizza. There's the 'Teriyaki Chicken Pizza" as well as the "Wasabi Seafood Pizza" and some other combinations. I've never been to the place, so I can't really comment about their pizza. They have several outlets across the island, so I assume business is doing well and the pizza tastes really good. But I'd like to abstract for a moment from the food to comment about the concept...
Planners usually love an oxymoron because they have the potential to create an unexpected and differentiated proposition for a brand. You pick a set of meanings that people are not used to see hand-in-hand and voilà, there's a novelty (well, actually, it's a bit more complex than that, but for all purposes, think Levi's jeans and their contradictory "traditional yet young" concept).
The creation of a new concept is not perfect science however, and apparently there's a degree of contradiction that people are willing to accept. Sometimes, the proposition so defies our logic that there's a danger people will simply reject it.
My first reaction to the term "Japanese Pizza" was of incredulity (they can't be serious). Maybe this is because of my cultural background. Having lived most of my life in São Paulo, which boasts the largest Italian community outside Italy, I'm used to the traditional notion of pizza. One thing is to mix "French" and "Vietnamese" cuisines, the classic "fusion cuisine", quite another is to put together the terms "Japanese" and "pizza" in the same phrase. It's a bit of a stretch, at least for me.
Over time however, there's nothing that proves that these new concepts won't be able to overcome the initial strangeness with which they are received. Maybe this is one those cases where if you keep repeating the concept, eventually it becomes a reality. We might even come to take it for granted some day. And as I said, the pizza might be good. So, like the now ubiquitous California Sushi Roll, the Japanese Pizza might win over the world. Let's wait and see.
Next up: "Squisito Italian Sushi".
Let's brace ourselves.

innocent breaks into uk's top 100 brands

A survey by Check Out magazine (reg. req.) in the UK, shows that while traditional brands such as Coca-Cola and Walkers still dominate the top of the grocery list, healthy brands are enjoying the strongest sales growth.
Remarkably, Innocent Drinks, the smoothie brand (love the 'strawberry & banana' one), is the fastest-growing UK brand, and for the first time breaks into the top 100, at No. 63, with sales of £96m.

Reference:
Smithers, Rebecca (2007). Organic Food Breaks Into Top 100 brands. The Guardian. February 21st, 2007. (here, free, but reg. req.)
Top 100 Grocery Brands Report (download it here, free but reg. req.)

ninja restaurants

Following up on my 'ninjas are cool' post, found out that there are ninja-themed restaurants in Tokyo and New York. The restaurants are designed like a ninja castle, complete with trap doors, hidden passages, shuriken-printed napkins, and of course, ninja-waiters. They even have a 'torture chamber'. When the cook or the waiter messes up with your order, the other ninja-waiters tie him up and give him a good beating, 'ninja style' (lucky him, in the old ninja days, a ninja who made a mistake was not supposed to come home alive!). Too funny!
Check out this video on YouTube.(via tokyomango, thanks Lisa)
PS: oh, and the food looks great too!

wedding

Went to a Chinese lunch-wedding last Sunday, the first one we went to in Singapore. Few rituals are more revealing about a particular culture than weddings. It tells a lot about the history and the values of the people, and for a foreigner this is fascinating. So I approached the lunch with curiosity, but I have to confess that I was a bit apprehensive as well, as I had never been to a Chinese wedding before.
As we arrived, the groom warmly greeted us at the entrance, then led us to our table. After a nice, simple ceremony, we were treated to a nine-course Chinese lunch. And if I had any hint of apprehension before, it was totally unjustified, as I'll show you. Let me guide you through the banquet:
1. Lobster salad: small bits of lobster and fruits. Very nice.
2. Braised shark's fin soup with crab meat and golden mushroom (I know, not environmentally friendly, and I wouldn't order it myself at a restaurant, but I was told this is a must-have dish at Chinese weddings. It's very expensive, and it's delicious).
3. Stir-fried scallops and twin mushrooms with asparagus. Very good as well, the scallops were tender and the asparagus were nicely done (crispy and with a subtle earthy flavor).
4. Steamed "live" prawns. They are not actually alive when they reach the table (but they were when they were thrown into the steaming pot)
5. Braised baby abalone with fish maw in oyster sauce. My least favorite dish, a little too chewy for my taste.
6. Steamed "live" garoupa in Hong Kong style. Same thing as the prawns. That's what you call a fresh fish. Tastes very good.
7. Braised duck with lotus seed and sea cucumber (are you still with me?). The duck was juicy and tender, but the sea cucumber is not really my thing (it's not bad, but it has the taste and consistency of "water jelly").
8. Braised Ee-Fu noodle. Noodles with mushroom and bean sprouts. This is really good. I used to have this at Crystal Jade, a local Chinese restaurant chain.
9. Double-boiled snow fungus with papaya. The dessert. It's more like a hot, sweet soup, with some pieces of papaya.
I didn't eat all these dishes by myself, in case you're wondering. The waiter would bring the dishes in a big bowl or plate and then would serve us in individual bowls like these below.
The best was yet to come however (or so we thought). Ever since we'd entered the saloon, we had had our eyes on this beautiful layered cake.
I was a little puzzled however, when I noticed people leaving the party after the dessert. To our surprise, our Singaporean friends who were with us at the table, told us that the cake was just a mock-up, it wasn't a real cake, it was just for the photo, something common at Chinese weddings here.
This is the wonderful thing about culture. When you think you have learned the codes, assimilated all the subtleties of the unwritten rules, something like this catches you totally by surprise. There's always something new to learn. "Just for the photo"..., very interesting.
We were a little bit disappointed, but at the same time I felt relieved there was nothing else to eat. Needless to say, we could barely walk after this gastronomic experience. The bride and groom were very kind in inviting us for their wedding. I left with my stomach full and with a sense of gratitude for their generosity in sharing their culture with us.