Anna Mindess

AFAR

Mastering the Art of Eating With Your Hands

We are all born with a remarkable set of eating utensils. They are versatile, impossible to misplace, and relatively unbreakable. Millions of diners around the globe swear that neither slender sticks nor pointy metal objects are better designed to ferry food to our faces than our hands. If you’ve eaten pizza, a burger, or...

ww2.kqed.org

Refugees' Life Stories Deepen the Brew at 1951 Coffee Company - KQED Bay Area Bites ** Finalist for AFJ's Best Food Essay 2017 **

When baristas hand over your low-fat latte, you probably don’t consider the paths that brought them to stand across the counter from you. But at 1951 Coffee Company, the Berkeley café that is staffed entirely by refugees, the baristas’ life journeys are actually the point...

AFAR

Tips From a Sign Language Interpreter for Overcoming Language Barriers

On a recent trip to China, I entered a modest Beijing noodle shop, but saw no English translations in evidence. Since my Chinese vocabulary consists only of ni hao (hello) and xie xie (thank you), I realized that spoken words would get me nowhere. Instead, I pointed to a picture of noodle soup on the wall and, noticing two prices, gestured to outline the shape ...

edibleeastbay.com

A Kitchen at the Heart of a School

Mounds of fragrant green parsley, cilantro, dill, and chives sit atop ten colorful placemats in front of ten children. The six-to-12 year olds chop the herbs just like professional chefs do—their fingers holding the herbs are carefully tucked back out of harm’s way. The insistent tap, tap, tap of their chopping supplies background percussion to the musical lilt of their cooking teacher’s voice...

AFAR

What I Learned Hawking Sweet Potatoes with a Street Vendor in Taiwan ** AFAR's 6th most popular feel-good story 2017**

I MUST LOOK LIKE A LUNATIC to the well-dressed people striding down a busy Taipei street at lunchtime. Brandishing a sweet potato in each hand, I approach passersby, look them in the eye, and loudly declare, “hao-chi-de di-gua”—undoubtedly butchering the phrase I just learned an hour ago, which means “delicious sweet potatoes.” ...

edibleeastbay.com

Fun with Food Insults

Place an eggplant on a plate and the shiny purple globe freely rolls from side to side. You may have never considered the vegetable in this light, but for Hindi speakers, the phrase “thali ka baingan” (eggplant on a plate) is a disparaging put-down for someone who likewise flip-flops, shifting loyalties so easily that they cannot be trusted.

edibleeastbay.com

What’s the Sign for Mozzarella Balloon?

Culinary education thrives at
the California School for the Deaf. High school students dressed in chef’s whites scurry around the kitchen preparing an ambitious Modernist Caprese Salad. Whenever they struggle with the exacting techniques required, culinary arts instructor Vernon McNece patiently clarifies, demonstrates, and corrects in American Sign Language.

berkeleyside.com

Brazilian Bread café is now open on Solano Avenue

While growing up in Brazil, Delvira Rodrigues didn’t give much thought to the traditional puffy, cheesy rolls called pão de queijo. “I ate them everyday at breakfast and lunch with my family,” she said. “My mom and grandma are from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, which is famous for its cheese, and that’s the most important ingredient.”

ww2.kqed.org

Kristen Rasmussen Creates Smørrebrød Sandwiches with a West ...

Some people create art by applying oil paint to canvas. Kristen Rasmussen fashions edible artwork by applying pomegranate-cured carrots, shaved icicle radishes and foraged fennel flowers to a canvas of dense rye bread.

ww2.kqed.org

For a Sweet Jewish New Year: 10 Bay Area Bakeries with Honey Cake, Round Challah and more (G/F too)

My grandmother swore the secret to her moist Rosh Hashanah honey cake was the black cherry soda she added to the batter. Although I never discovered the origin of her quirky recipe, I have often recreated it to feel close to her memory.

This year, if I don’t have time to bake, no worries, as there’s a bevy of bakeries preparing classic treats...

ww2.kqed.org

Oakland Bloom Nurtures Refugee Chefs at Night Market Pop-Ups

Farid Rafaty dreams of opening a restaurant where he will cook dishes from his native Afghanistan. One of these would be the luscious mantu dumplings he recently made for a pop-up dinner sponsored by Oakland Bloom, an organization that wants to help him in his quest. It’s been a long journey...

pastemagazine.com

Resistance Is a 1-Inch Chile Relleno :: July 2017

Can tiny pictures of tamales, empanadas, ceviche and flan really make an impact on the heated national debate about immigrants? In our boiling political pot of travel ban battles and deportations, one government agency, the U.S. Postal Service, has taken a bold (and possibly subversive) step...

ww2.kqed.org

Reclaiming Tofu: Asian Art Museum Honors the Traditional and Trendy Curd

Walk into any museum, and one of the first items you are likely to spot is a posted warning, a stern reminder not to consume any foods or beverages within its hallowed halls. Last Thursday night, however, visitors to the marble galleries of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum were met with welcoming signs promising savory tastings ahead..

ww2.kqed.org

Tapestry Suppers Serve Up Immigrants' Stories with Good Food and Company

A lovely garden party with delicate shrimp rolls and crusty banh mi sandwiches. But there is another powerful thread running through this recent South Bay get-together, brought into focus as hostess Thoa van Seventer shares her story of leaving Vietnam and suddenly chokes up with emotion...

ww2.kqed.org

To the Restaurant's Immigrant Workers, Ba-Bite in Oakland Feels Like Home - KQED Bay Area Bites

They’ve won accolades for their silken hummus and rainbow of organic salads, but for the owners of Oakland’s Ba-Bite, the most precious thing the almost two-year old restaurant can display right now may be the Sanctuary Restaurant poster on their front door...