Mouthful

What in the world are you eating?

Unfashionable loquats

04 November 2009 | 8:54 - By Phil Lees

ripe loquat fruit in a tree

Until I had a loquat tree in my backyard, loquats is something that I'd be more likely to throw down in a game of Scrabble than eat.

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Lazy Mussels

28 October 2009 | 23:38 - By Phil Lees

Mussels

The weather has turned warm which is all the excuse that I need to cook the laziest seafood meal possible: mussels.

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Global warming and fish migration

21 October 2009 | 1:38 - By Phil Lees

An often overlooked element of climate change is the impact that it will have on the fish that we eat. Of all the food production in Western nations, fish tends to be the most distant and ignored. Terrestrial animals get all the attention because they’re much more obvious and Australians eat more of them. You’ve only got to take a glance at the meat refrigerator in a supermarket to discern where the bulk of the protein is coming from.

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Along with every other food-related angle to the global financial crisis, one of the interesting effects is the dropping price of champagne. If you’re into things sparkling and French, it is a great time to buy. If you’re not, it is a good time to start.

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Self Preservation

07 October 2009 | 12:20 - By Phil Lees

Pickling your own beetroot. It turns out that I have about three kilograms of beetroot of which to dispose in the first flush of spring, as a result of the urge to get the next season's plantings underway rather than any attempt at timing such things.

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When was the last time that you had a conversation with someone about sandwich spread?


Over the weekend, Kraft announced the results of its attempt to generate a new name for its new Vegemite with spreadable cheese product: iSnack 2.0. It sent Australians with an internet connection into alternate paroxysms of disbelief and pure schadenfreude.

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Pairing food and wine

23 September 2009 | 10:45 - By Phil Lees

pile of grapes

What is the role of perception in food and wine pairing?

Chef Grant Achatz has been writing a series for The Atlantic magazine over the previous weeks, outlining his approach to food and wine pairing. Achatz's is a unique perspective: he is chef and owner of haute American restaurant Alinea in Chicago and has previously worked as a winemaker. He brings both food and wine production experience to the table, and runs the breed of restaurant where pairing food and wine is treated with seriousness. According to Achatz, what makes a great pairing?

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Spring!

17 September 2009 | 1:18 - By Phil Lees

vegetable garden with cabbages in foreground

The winter of gardening discontent is over. Spring is off the hook. The gardener emerges from their homes, blinking in the sunlight like a freshly unearthed mole.

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About this Blog

A blog about what the world eats, when and where it eats it, and why it matters to us all. Only much less ambitious than that sounds and with more excruciating puns.

Phil Lees grew up in rural Victoria, the first generation in his family to not have lived on the farm and thereby not slaughter their own meat.

In 2005 he moved to Cambodia and started the nation’s first food blog, Phnomenon.com, named after the best pun that he has ever made. It turns out that Cambodian food is delicious and unlike the warnings in most guidebooks, is not likely to kill you with any immediacy. Gridskipper called him a “national treasure”. Lonely Planet’s Greater Mekong guide called him “the unofficial pimp of Cambodian cuisine”. The New York Times laughed at a funny hotdog he saw.

Phil makes a mean sausage, a hoppy pale ale, a modest laksa. He owns three barbecues and is in the market for a fourth.

 
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