Robyn Eckhardt writes: A Victoriana de Costa student shows off his schoolyard-grown daikon (I've just been going through some old files and photos. You'd be amazed at the number of posts that slip through the cracks. I'm going to try to post one a week. Here's the first.)Long before Alice Waters introduced the concept of students growing their own food in Berkeley kids were putting hoe to soil at schools in the Philippines. School farms in the island nation go back at least to World War II. Many were, and still are, born of necessity. Others are started not only to feed kids but ...
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: Say 'cheese' - otlu peyniri (herbed cheese) is the centerpiece of the Van kahvaltiWhen we headed to Turkey we had vague notions of making it to Van, in the far east. Those thoughts took on a certain urgency after we sampled the breakfast spread at Van Kahvalti in Cihangir (in Istanbul's Beyoglu district).Turkish breakfasts are enormous, and wonderful, to start with. Van kahvalti (Van-style breakfast) is just that much huge-er and more over-the-top (cheese and clotted cream in the same meal). At the center of any Van kahvalti are local cheeses, and first and foremost among these are otlu ...
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: Last Thursday we made a foray to Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown to re-map a food walk**. It felt like our first visit in years. In some respects we've been away from KL. Beginning in late 2009 we started a routine of a month here, a month away, a month here, a month away. And so on. Last year was Dave's first freelancing full-time and right off the bat we pretty much took any job we could get. Wherever, whenever. A week in KL, 4 days somewhere else, home for a week, away for two more. And so on.By the end of 2009 we were exhausted. We ...
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: Assembling dumplings in a Chinatown alley, Kuala Lumpur EatingAsia's photographer David Hagerman has begun offering photography walks in Kuala Lumpur and -- when we're there -- Penang. The above is an image he shot while walking a photographer around Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown last week.If you're interested in improving your skills, trying new techniques, and/or getting feedback drop him a line. Walks are private and tailored to your interests (markets, hawker food, street photography).For a look at more recent photos from Chinatown and to contact Dave, hop over to his photo blog Sky Blue Sky, here. ...
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Robyn Eckhardt writes:  We were one hundred percent on vacation when we drove into Mardin, Turkey in early June. But a chance encounter led us to a story. Our article on this ancient southeastern city's bid to become the region's capital of art and culture was published in last Sunday's New York Times Travel Section; you can read it here. Mardin's lanes are linked by abarra, vaulted passagewaysMardin is a historically and architecturally rich city that sees few foreign visitors, despite the fact that it's ...
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Robyn Eckhardt writes:  We were one hundred percent on vacation when we drove into Mardin, Turkey in early June. But a chance encounter led us to a story. Our article on this ancient southeastern city's bid to become the region's capital of art and culture was published in last Sunday's New York Times Travel Section; you can read it here. Mardin's lanes are linked by abarra, vaulted passagewaysMardin is a historically and architecturally rich city that sees few foreign visitors, despite the fact that it's ...
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Robyn Eckhardt writes:  Caveat: If you're in Asia.This month marks my second year on the masthead of Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia. And appropriately, the next issue is devoted to food.Dave and I collaborated on a few for this one, including a feature story on Chengdu, pieces on great non-pho noodle dishes in Saigon and must-eat northern dishes in Chiang Mai, and little bits on street food in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. If you're eating in Southeast Asia pick up a copy. And I'll probably slap a few pdfs up on EatingAsia when the issue is off the shelves.
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: Anyone who visits Istanbul must eat balık ekmek (fish sandwich; balık=fish, ekmek=bread). Seriously. It's not codified in law or anything, but eating a grilled fish sandwich next to the water is as required of tourists in Istanbul as spending at least half a day dodging carpet sellers in Sultanahmet. Unlike Sultanahmet's carpet sellers however, balık ekmek is something you'll want to revisit on subsequent Istanbul sojourns. We ate our share our first, second, and third times in Istanbul. This last trip was no different.Most of those seeking the ultimate balık ekmek experience head to the sellers on either side of the Eminonu end of the Galata bridge. ...
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: Not food, but fun anyway -- Dave's Indonesia national day multimedia piece from our trip to Sulawesi last year. Think I posted it way back when, but it's worth redirecting you again, if you haven't seen it, here.
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Robyn Eckhardt writes: James Brown certainly wasn't describing the Turkish çay evi (tea house) when he crooned those four words, but he could have been. Even in Istanbul -- but especially in Turkey's more conservative east -- the çay evi is a cultural artifact claimed by males. It's run by men, staffed by men (and often boys, who work as tea runners, delivering orders beyond the tea house), and frequented by men.  In the east çay evi are everywhere, two or three to a city block. Tea houses are community halls, gossip nodes, places where men come together with their friends. They're where backgammon and ...
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