So like I was saying, after Marrakesh we took a road trip out to the coast to Essaouira, which is a bit of a funny place. Known as Morocco’s windy city, it was a bit of a hippy hot spot in the 60s and reputedly visited by Hendrix. When you visit, you can see that it would have once been a really charming place, but it’s reputation as a chilled holiday spot has led to it being over developed, which is a bit of a shame.
To be honest, after Marrakesh it felt a bit like arriving in a faded seaside town like Hastings or Grimsby (no offense to the residents of either), but after spending a few days there, we both developed a soft spot for Essaouira, and this was in no small part due to what we ate.
Having been so spoiled for good food in Marrakesh, and falling in love with the stalls on Jamaa Al Fnaa, we thought that it would probably be downhill from there, but that really wasn’t the case. We ate really well in Essaouira, and discovered some great places to get stuffed.
The first meal we had was at one of the fish stalls near the sea wall. Probably the closest thing Essaouira has to the food stalls in Marrakesh, there are 30 or so of them that sell the catch of the day, each and every day, simply grilled over coals. The owners stand out of the front, showing off their wares and giving passers by the hard sell.
I’ve got to say that I absolutely loved Marrakesh, and probably my favourite experience of our whole honeymoon was eating in Jemaa El Fna at night. During the day, Marrakesh’s main square is home to performing monkeys, snake charmers, magicians, medicine men, dentists and all kinds of other fantastic oddities. But come dusk, it transforms into what can only really be described as the World’s biggest restaurant.
The dozens of food stalls that fill the square at night start setting up at around 5 o’clock. From a distance you can see the smoke rising from the braziers, and before long you are hit by a combination of all sorts of delicious smells. There are a myriad of ways to fill your belly, with most stalls specialising in one or just a few dishes from grilled meats to eggs, snails to harira, and a few things that might offend the squeamish.
So, it’s only about a week and a half until I get hitched. Gulp.
The future in-laws have arrived from Australia, the celebrations are ramping up, and there’s a shed load going on, so whilst there’s still time to eat, there’s not much time to write about it.
That being the case, Hand To Mouth is going to have a little sabbatical for around a month, as we’re off to Morocco for our honeymoon for a couple of weeks after the ‘big day’.
Just got back from a not long enough weekend in Paris.
My good lady was out there all last week working for ‘the man’ on the auto show, so I Eurostar-ed it over on Friday night to pay her a visit.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m Francophile, and love Paris in particular. Obviously the food is a big part of this for me, but it’s not always the big meals you have that make you realise how much you love a place’s culture. Sometimes it’s the simple things, like the breakfast we had on Saturday morning. We went to a cafe across the road from our hotel and just had coffee and a croissant. But, saying ‘just’ would be doing it a disservice. The croissant was amazing. Fresh as a daisy, light fluffy, and tasted amazing. It really didn’t need any jam or butter. Miles apart from the hard and heavy buggers we get over here.
Hip Hop and food have a special relationship. After guns, gang banging, drugs and ‘hos’, what rappers get down their necks is a pretty hot topic. MF DOOM has done a series of instrumental albums based around herbs, as well as the excellent MM FOOD. His output on the subject deserves a post all of its own.
But anyway, I was listening to the excellent ‘In Search Of Stoney Jackson’ by Strong Arm Steady on my way into work this morning, and aside from the top notch Madlib production I remembered there’s this quality food related number on the album, so I thought I’d share it. Enjoy.
The rest of the album is quality too, so go buy a copy from your local independent record store.
Just got back from a whistlestop trip to Oz to meet the future in-laws. Sydney is definitely a town that loves to eat, and we munched our way through the city from North to South, East to West.
Highlights included discovering toasted banana bread (where have you been all my life), fish and chips on the beach in Balmoral, some fine Roka style Japanese nosh at Toko, a dirty pie at Harry’s Cafe De Wheels, amazing Lebanese at Emma’s On Liberty in New Town, a cracking roast chicken sandwich from Chargrill Charlies, great coffee from Campos, and a couple of delicious breakfasts at Pure Bronte Pistachio on Bronte Beach. A very fine way to start the day.
But probably the best meals we had were at a cute little Italian place called A Tavola in Darlinghurst. A seriously good veal ragu pasta and a nice bottle of Sicilian red. I could eat it again now. And feasting on the famous chilli crab at Harry’s Singapore Chilli Crab. Insanely good.
Oh, and I also picked up some great recipes from my future mother in law, Connie.
I’ll be reporting back on my findings in more detail once I’ve recovered from the jetlag.
Around the World a crazy amount of food is wasted every day. In the UK alone it is estimated that households throw away a staggering 25% of the food they buy. This is not only shocking from the point of view that there are over a billion people around the world suffering from malnutrition, but this waste means that we are producing and transporting much more food than we need to, which in turn puts a strain on the planet and the environment.
An event being held in Trafalgar Square in London on the 16th December aims to draw attention to this issue . Called Feeding The 5000 the aim is to make a delicious lunch for 5000 people for free from food and ingredients that would otherwise have been wasted.
Visit the website to find out more about the event, food wastage and how you can get involved.
Hand To Mouth is a blog about food. Eating it. Cooking it. Reviewing it. Reading about it. And everything in between.
I’ll be regularly posting recipes, reviews of some of my favourite places and opinion about anything food related that grabs my eye. Hopefully there’ll be a few laughs along the way, and I promise not to cut the cheese.
If you like what you see please let me know, and equally don’t be afraid of throwing a few rotten tomatoes my way if you don’t.
BIG thanks to Tom Hardcore at Nation for the blog design.
