The best of Feast magazine, we’ll miss you

Now’s the time to pick up your copy of the last-ever Feast magazine. We have loved every story and savoured every recipe and here we commemorate Feast’s willingness to plunder the repertoires of nonnas and yiayias everywhere, tackle Spam in the name of cultural authenticity, and slurp through Asia to dig up the perfect bowl of noodles.

Source: Brett Stevens

1. Ohn no, don’t go…

The Feast team never met a noodle they didn’t like, but when ohn no khaut swe (coconut milk noodles) came onto the scene with its enveloping creaminess, great passions were ignited. The fire for this Burmese dish will burn on long after the light of Feast has gone out.

2. Canned but still beautiful 

Not every recipe is wrapped up in a romantic history, some are straight out of a can. Although thoroughly obscure, Feast found beauty in these dishes; gave them a spit and a polish and served them up. So is the case with Korean army base stew, which stars the most-maligned of luncheon meats and some latex-looking cheese slices. At once strangely beguiling and grotesque, it grew out of necessity and a surplus of Spam following the Korean War.

Source: Chris Chen

3. Sour cherries, not sour grapes

The thinking behind Feast’s story on hand pies went like this: any pie that can be eaten in one hand makes for an excellent pie – and if Pop-Tarts are anything to go by, surely the cultures of the world have cottoned onto this fact. And, they had. Including the Germans with their weichselstrudel or cherry strudel.

Source: Brett Stevens

4. B-Uyghur king

In the city of Xi’an in north-west China the Uyghur people took a pita-style bun, stuffed it with lamb, cumin, and green chilli and called it rou jia mo. In an office on the east coast of Australia, the Feast team took that rou jia mo, stuffed it into their mouths and called it a Xi’an burger. And they did it twice, here and here.

Source: Brett Stevens

5. FOMO on pho bo

If ever there was a palpable fear so acute it could reduce noodle soup lovers to a quivering mess, it’s the fear of missing out (FOMO) on a deep, brothy bowl of pho bo (beef noodle soup). Diluting the power of Vietnamese canteens Australia-wide and restoring power to the soup-adoring masses, Feast offered up this recipe, so we can all make it at home. Never miss out again.

Beef noodle soup (pho bo) Source: Feast magazine

6. Tahchin you, tahchin me

If you believe in a thing called rice, as Feast did, you’ll believe in a thing called tahchin. Layered and lovely, this golden-hued Persian dish is everything you love about rice – soft, crunchy, and imbued with flavour from saffron-poached chicken.

Tahchin

7. Stacks on

Not a magazine to shy away from a bold statement, this stack pie was the sweet covergirl of November 2013. The southern belle from North Carolina made quite an impact with her towering stature, velvety texture and dash of sass thanks to some apple cider vinegar.

Blueberry, coconut and lemon stack pie

8. All good things…

Although Feast comes to an end, the feasting does not. You can still find a bountiful archive of Feast recipes and stories online. At Feast, a love for discovering food was only ever paralleled by a love of reading about discovering food. And to that end, we leave you with Robyn Eckhardt’s journey to Tamil Nadu, during which she comes to the conclusion that as much as one may never manage to eat it all, they can still give it a red-hot go. Farewell and happy Feasting, everyone.

Tamil Nadu, photography David Hagerman Source: David Hagerman

If you're yearning for a different taste sensation: 

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