Recent tweets @RamblingEpicure and @SwissFoodies, 27 March 2010

Food and health

Fooducate New blog post: Americans Expect and Want Government Nutrition Advice.

GHChealth Study: Eating slowly can actually help you cut calories and eat less.

Recent tweets @RamblingEpicure and @SwissFoodies

Restaurants

THE RAMBLING EPICURE Dining in France: reviews by professional food writers.

THE RAMBLING EPICURE Theosophical dining in Crissier.

SwissFoodies THE RAMBLING EPICURE Look at this list of all the Michelin- and GaultMillau-listed restaurants in Geneva. Impressive!

THE RAMBLING EPICURE Lake Geneva Region restaurant listings.

SwissFoodies THE RAMBLING EPICURE You can eat food designed by Italy’s top chef right here in Geneva, at the Hotel Richmond!

THE RAMBLING EPICURE Loads of info about restaurants, recipes, food, etc. in last week’s tweet list.

Read more…

News for real foodies: recent tweets @RamblingEpicure and @SwissFoodies:

Food topics and trends 18 March 2010

SeattleTallPopp Waaa?!? Forget goat or cow milk cheese. NYC Chef Angerer makes breast milk cheese. Milk source? His wife! Recipe.

THE RAMBLING EPICURE How To Never Look Fat Again: Dressing Thinner. Time Magazine.

guardianfood Is molecular gastronomy dead? by @TimHayward

THE RAMBLING EPICURE Time Magazine: study says women who drink tend to be thinner. What’s all that about?

Now on Tablet Talk: Food writer & cultural historian Josh Ozersky lays out his burger purist’s manifesto.

Atlantic_Food Egg-less mayo: A travesty or treasure? Introducing milk mayo — the Portuguese take on the mother of all French sauces.

goodandbadfoods Meryl Streep: A veteran green activist.

I’ve been talking a lot about Mindful Eating lately. It’s a term that came to me out of the blue, and only weeks later did I realize that I picked up the word “mindful” in my many years of studying Buddhism and Hinduism. I studied these for so long that the vocabulary has become somewhat incorporated into my way of expressing myself and my subconscious. I am mindful; I live mindfully.

As a result, before publishing my own Mindful Eating Manifesto–a practical approach to my favorite subject of food–I only thought it fair to publish the somewhat more philosophical article by Buddhist thinker and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.

Traditional Buddhist and Hindu teachings urge us to be mindful about every act, at every moment, every day of our lives. The word “mindful” is not a trademark. It is a way of being. Mindfulness gives meaning to every action, and creates a sharper awareness and a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of all living things.

What does mindfulness have to do with the way I eat?

This may not seem to have anything to do with how you eat, but indeed it does. It’s the current food trend in the developed world, and I feel confident that it will spread at a rapid pace. Eating is not just about filling your belly.

Mindful Eating is about love and care from A to Z in the eating process, from the ingredients you buy, and how they were grown and processed, and whether you prepare them with TLC, to filling your belly and providing your body with the nutrients they need. To eat mindfully, you have to be aware of every step in the process, which by definition connects you, either directly or indirectly, with everyone involved: the butcher, the baker, the farmer, the fertilizer manufacturer, the seed seller, the cook, the chocolate maker (I do live in Switzerland, after all), etc.

Read more…

This week’s foodie overview

I spend a lot of time reading, researching and tweeting about food and restaurants these days, so I thought I’d jot down my tweets from the last few days. These are from both The Rambling Epicure and Swiss Foodies and should give you an overview of what’s going on in the foodie world this week, in Switzerland and around the world.

These tweets are often focused on Switzerland, but also include a lot of links to Swiss, French, German, British, American, Canadian and other research on food.

Sometimes I couldn’t resist writing about the snow and skiing conditions, because that determines how a lot of us in Switzerland plan our weekends, and therefore what restaurants we go to or what recipes we cook up. And of course occasionally, watches and wine . . . and this week, the Vancouver Winter Olympics and those cute wooly pigs you see in the photo.

Read more…

The wooly pig, which gives some of world’s most juicy and flavorful meat and fat, raised using special Austrian techniques, is one of the latest food trends. It is in fact correctly called the “Magalitsa pig, also known as the ‘curly haired hog,’ and is a breed of pig that originated from Hungary and the Balkans known for its thick wooly coat,” according to Pub Sub.

Photo courtesy of Pub Sub.

You can taste wooly pig tonight and tomorrow, 23 and 24 February, at the Chalet-des-Enfants in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne.

The complete menu, including dessert, goes for CHF 59. Reserve by calling +41 021 784 44 80 or +41 076 565 31 58.

The Rambling Epicure’s 2010 Manifesto: Mindful Eating and more

The Rambling Epicure has lots of exciting eggs in her basket for the year 2010.

The Rambling Epicure on Facebook and Twitter

I’ve started two Facebook groups: The Rambling Epicure, for our worldwide followers, and Swiss Foodies, for those who are more focused on what goes on in the Swiss food world. These groups include the GenevaLunch posts, as well as reading suggestions for food- and restaurant-related articles from news sites and blogs, with a short introduction by The Rambling Epicure.

Both The Rambling Epicure and Swiss Foodies can also be followed on Twitter.

The addition of the Facebook and Twitter feeds lets you follow “breaking news” in the food world. I will from time to time gather the highlights of these one-line inroductions into a Foodie News letter, like the one last week, so you can get an overview of what’s going on the food and restaurant world in Switzerland and abroad.

Mindful Eating

I am American and I do read Michael Pollan, but I’ve been on this ecological, healthy eating, organic food kick since I was a child. I was raised on homegrown food and Wendell Berry, so all the things we’re reading these days just seem like common sense to me. I’m just a hillbilly in a red silk dress, after all.

This being said, I want to encourage the movement toward buying local products, cooking homemade food and general awareness of what and how we eat. The rising rate of obesity in children in the Western world makes me think it’s time we all take a look at exactly what we eat and how we teach our children to eat.

A lot of this information comes from studies and literature in the U.S., so it may seem overly American at times, but just be aware that this is because Switzerland is a small country with numerous languages so we just don’t have the means of having the wealth of literature they have in the U.S.

Buying local, buying Swiss

Since I live in Switzerland, local means Swiss, so you might feel I’m pushing Swiss products down your throat. I’m not.

Geneva red radishes and baby beets.

Buying local is not only healthier; it also creates a local economy. I encourage everyone, wherever they live, to do the same. We’ll not only eat healthier, but we’ll also support our local businesses and provide jobs.

It is also more ecological to buy products that were produced just down the road from your house: less pollution, less fuel consumption.

It means being mindful of what you buy and what you put in the your body. It means being mindful of the effect it has on the environment and on your health.

Restaurant recommendations

2009 was my first year of doing this blog, and I had a lot of ground to cover. This year I will devote more time to searching for restaurants for all budgets, restaurants that are in line with my Mindful Eating Manifesto (to be published soon here on GenevaLunch), and just interesting places to eat.

Every meal doesn’t have to be a gourmet meal. If your products are good quality, you don’t even have to do a lot to whip up a tasty meal. So restaurants that use good ingredients will have a place right alongside gourmet restaurants.

This week’s foodie overview

I spend a lot of time reading, researching and tweeting about food and restaurants these days, so I thought I’d jot down my tweets from the last few days. These are from both The Rambling Epicure and Swiss Foodies and should give you an overview of what’s going on in the foodie world this week.

These tweets are often focused on Switzerland, but also include a lot of links to Swiss, French, German, British, American, Canadian and other research on food.

This week was the countdown to Valentine’s Day, so I listed oodles of Valentine’s dinners, weekend packages at hotels and chocolate shops. You can find the Valentine’s venues I tweeted last week in the 20 Valentine venues, posted earlier this week.

Sometimes I couldn’t resist writing about the snow and skiing conditions, because that determines how a lot of us in Switzerland plan our weekends, and therefore what restaurants we go to or what recipes we cook up. And of course occasionally, watches and Alinghi . . .

Remember, these are just tweets

Remember these are just tweets, so they are short and sweet. They are not particularly orderly; I just tweeted the information as I found it.

I suggest you skim over the headings, and if you’re interested, just click on any of the links that interest you in order to read the detailed article.

Who knows, this might even tempt you to start tweeting yourself!

This week’s tweet list

Valentine’s

20 Valentine venues: restaurants, chocolate and hotel packages for the “big day”!

Valentine’s events in La Gruyère.

Valentine’s package at Bernard Ravet, CHF500, hotel, champagne, 9-course dinner, breakfast for two, Relais & Châteaux.

Restaurants in French-speaking Switzerland w/ Valentine’s specials; just click on your canton! NOT TESTED BY THE RAMBLING EPICURE.

GenevaLunch: Lake Geneva Valentine’s cruise.

Ramada Geneva offering Valentine’s Day brunch as well as candelit dinner.

Hôtel des Armures in Geneva: special Valentine’s package, rooms, champagne, breakfast and chocolate.

Valentine’s package at Hotel Royal Geneva. Le Duo, chic delish restaurant & brasserie, chef trained by Bernard Loiseau.

Jamie Oliver’s Valentine’s Day menu, along with recipes and tips for a romantic feast.

GenevaLunch: Valentine’s for the “older” crowd.

Read more…

Vineet Bhatia, the Bombay-born chef who first got a Michelin star at his Chelsea restaurant Rasoi, and another one a few months ago at his Geneva restaurant Rasoi By Vineet in the Mandarin Oriental, is now off to Abu Dhabi, reports Perpetual Traveller Overseas.

Bhatia changed the face of the Indian culinary scene in London, where practically every restaurant served the same old same old, by breaking out of these boring boundaries and changing it into something modern, innovative and competitive. The number of modern Indian and Indian fusion restaurants in London, from budget price to upscale, has increased significantly as a result.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is sponsoring its annual 15-day culinary get-together of starred chefs from around the world, starting on February 5. The meals will take place in Abu Dhabi’s most prestigious restaurants, with the guest chefs, who have twenty-two Michelin stars in all, working with the resident chefs. It is a real meeting of East and West.

Bhatia will be working with the chefs at Yas Island Rotana, a restaurant serving both North and South Indian cuisine, from 16 to 19 February 2010.

For more information, contact Gourmet Abu Dhabi.

The Rambling Epicure’s chocolate notes: countdown to Valentine’s Day

Comprehensive list of chocolate shops and visits to chocolate makers in Geneva area. Each chocolate maker makes its own special chocolate creations for Valentine’s Day, so check out the chocolate works of art at your favorite local chocolate maker.

A chocolate heart from Chocolatier Durig in Lausanne.

Organic, fair-trade chocolate at Chocolatier Durig in Lausanne. Online ordering.

From chocolate lollipop to cup of organic dark hot chocolate. Just dip lollipop into hot milk and stir for few moments et voilà, a delicious cup of hot Swiss chocolate! List of sales outlets at La Cuillère Suisse.

How did chocolate get to Switzerland anyway? They don’t grow chocolate in the Alps! Read about it here.

How to make a chocolate heart for your sweetie, but please substitute Swiss chocolate! Buy the chocolate at your favorite local chocolate maker.