This Feeds Me Hungry Musings of a Gastronomic Gypsy – NC-based freelance writer Victoria Bouloubasis

TROSA Grocery file photo by Jeremy M. Lange.

More than 20,000 residents live in the 300 blocks of Northeast Central Durham. It’s also an area that has been labeled a food desert, with many of its residents lacking access to fresh food. This week’s story, Hungry for choices: Fresh food finds its way to Northeast Central Durham, details plans made by the community to bring more choices to the area, especially within walking distance of most residents’ homes.

“I think it’s a really important moment right now,” says Sam Hummel of Everlaughter Farms. “There are still many adults in the Northeast Central Durham neighborhood who have a food tradition that involves fresh local vegetables. We don’t have to import a food culture from foodie West Durham. There’s already a food culture in Northeast Durham that knows what to do with fresh ingredients, but the ingredients haven’t been there for it to be practiced and passed on.”

“Why can’t I have the same options as Southpoint, Brier Creek, Trinity Park? Why can’t I have that same quality of food and freshness as everybody else?” Dawn Hill-Alston asks. “Just because we live here doesn’t mean we’re going to settle. Because we know we’re worth more than that.”

Please also read this related story by Maggie Smith: N.C. ranks 11th in child food insecurity.

BURLAP. Portraits of Piedmont Farmers by Raymond Goodman

I’ve posted a couple of dispatches on Indy’s Big Bite blog from last weekend’s Carolina Farm Stewardship Association‘s 26th Sustainable Agriculture Conference, held in Durham.

BURLAP. Portraits of Piedmont Farmers opens with a reception tomorrow at Bull City Arts Collective and Piedmont restaurant. Read why local photographer Raymond Goodman sought inspiration from the personas of local farmers.

And why did Watts Grocery chef Amy Tornquist tell a crowd “I need people to drink more at breakfast?” Read the post on a panel discussing farmer to chef to consumer relationships, moderated by Lantern chef/owner Andrea Reusing.

Children of farmworkers play in the dusty backyard of a Wilson County labor camp, where their family lives in bunks with other workers. Photo by Victoria Bouloubasis.

One hundred and three farmworkers were interviewed last year for a report released in September by OxFam America and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). The report, “A state of fear: Human rights abuses in North Carolina’s tobacco industry,” brings an adamant argument to the table that human rights abuses exist in NC’s top industry. The result is an eye-opening awareness of exploited labor as the backbone of a direct consumer product—tobacco. Read the Independent Weekly story.

These collard green tamales have me intrigued. Photo by Sandra A. Gutierrez (sandraskitchenstudio.com)

My lunch interview with Sandra A. Gutierrez unleashed an intriguing history lesson peppered with cooking tips.

For the food-obsessed, snuggling up to The New Southern-Latino Tablecookbook is akin to a new love affair. It comes with all the warmth of tender familiarity while simultaneously sparking an impassioned interest in what is more compatible than imagined.

As a chef, culinary instructor, food writer and historian, Guatemalan-American Sandra A. Gutierrez has documented what she describes as “a natural marriage” of the culinary similarities that our South and 21 Latin American countries have shared all along. She noticed the trend in the 1990s while dishing out columns on the topic at The Cary News for eight years. Her book unleashes 150 original recipes, from country ham drizzled with chimichurri sauce to collard green tamales and chocolate chili brownies, plumped up by hefty chunks of information detailing the Mayan legend of corn or the history of the casserole.

Her cookbook explores the “natural marriage” of Southern and Latin American cuisines. Click here for the full Indy interview.

George Chen, baker-owner at Bread and Butter. Photo by Victoria Bouloubasis.

A bread bakery and coffee shop quietly opened last month at 503 W. Rosemary St. in Chapel Hill. Like a sourdough starter that requires time to bubble and flourish, Bread and Butter is rising with the demand for fresh, artisan, locally baked bread in town.

Had a great time chatting with George Chen about his new bakery, Bread and Butter, in the former Oriental Garden space, the Chinese eatery run by Chen’s family for more than 20 years. Read all about it in this week’s Now Serving.

A few weeks back, I had some other great conversations with new  local food artisans Monuts Donuts (doughnuts off a tricycle!) and This & That Jam (with canning workshops accessible to all). Read that column here.

Feta is betta. Photo by Victoria Bouloubasis.

A trio of ceviche. Photo by Jeremy M. Lange.

You don’t have to go to Queens any more to find amazing ceviche. We’ve got some in Raleigh, por fin. Here’s my First Bite on new restaurant MachuPicchu Peruvian Cuisine. For North Carolina, a Peruvian restaurant with such an intricate menu–executed with quality–is huge: “In September, The Wall Street Journal declared Peruvian cuisine “food’s next big thing.” Peru’s intriguing gastronomic hot pot caught the attention of international-food aficionados long ago. Next conquest: the States, to pepper American palates with aji chilies and sharp notes of lime.”

Donia Khalaf and her husband, Ghazwan, lift a home-made leg of lamb out of the oven. Photo by D. L. Anderson.

This week’s Indy DISH issue encourages a well-traveled palate, featuring ethnic eats around the Triangle with guides to diverse flavors via restaurants and spice markets.

My contribution to the issue profiles home chef Donia Khalaf and her family–Iraqi refugees–as they assimilate to American culture, even at the table.

On my first visit to the Khalaf family home in Durham, Donia opens the door and apologizes. “The smell is so strong,” she says.

A stovetop gurgle emanates from the kitchen, the sound effect to the scent of garlic and tomato trailing toward the front door. Donia looks at me with a concerned smile, her kind, espresso-brown eyes seeming to ask for forgiveness. I tell her that it actually smells delicious in here, like a real home. Her smile broadens into a shy, pleased grin, swooping into two deep-set dimples, framed by freckles.

The same timid smile surfaced in July, when Donia taught an Iraqi cooking class at Durham Spirits Co. to more than 20 novice home cooks and expert chefs. All Americans, they were thirsty for a culinary trip into the exotic, and were equally intrigued by Donia’s story as an Iraqi refugee.

Read the story to find out more about Donia’s aromatic cuisine, her rebellious streak as a teen and which Food Network star she admires. To learn why “the dolma likes many, many people,” check out the next Recipes With Refugees class in Durham on Oct. 25.

The glory shot. Photo by D. L. Anderson.

A pile of puffballs. Photo by Victoria Bouloubasis.

(Please note the update at the end of this post.)

Last night, a smidgen of my dinner included something I stumbled upon in a parking lot–a mushroom rivaling my face in size, growing wild in a small patch of grass near Franklin St.

It sat there alone, with no other fungi friends hanging out nearby. I, however, was in good company. New friend and seasoned chef Damon Lapas pointed out the edible treasure. He’s been cooking up these giant shrooms, called puffballs, for a few years at home and now in local restaurant kitchens. Funny thing is, we were on our way to forage for a whole bunch of them and this parking lot variety ended up being my very first find.

Photo by Victoria Bouloubasis.

Many people, including my mushroom-phobic father, would find the thought of eating a wild fungus growing near a dumpster absolutely terrifying. Luckily, I roll in fearless circles. I took the puffball to a dinner potluck with colleagues and sauteed it with some garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. All eight of us got a nice sample of it atop our host’s homemade carrot ginger cashew soup.

The puffball varies in patterns and sizes. But our foraging in an undisclosed location (Sorry; sworn to secrecy. Forager scout’s honor.) led us to beautiful round mushrooms in a myriad of patterns. Some resembled a woodsy view into a kaleidoscope. Others, to my delight, looked like giraffe spots. (I love those guys.) They don’t have gills like most mushrooms and are really fun to toss around. (Food fight, anyone?)

Puffball pakoras at Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe. Photo by Damon Lapas.

Damon says he learned of them from a French culinary teacher ages ago. He finally “worked up the nerve to try them” about three years ago. He’s alive to tell the tale. Some light internet research taught me the following:

• These things grow rampant starting in August (Damon says September is when he begins to see them in North Carolina).
• According to this very helpful, albeit hysterical site, they are not poisonous. But there are look-alike mushrooms that are toxic and can be deadly. Please be careful. The linked site has more information, with photos, to help you watch out.
• Puffballs flourish in heavily manured pastures or littered areas.

The puffballs we found were firm on the outside and a spongy marshmellow texture in the inside, though not sticky–almost like wet cotton. If you press your finger into it, you’ll leave an indentation and can feel all the moisture harbored inside.

When I sauteed puffball slices, rather than secrete a slimy, delicious sauce like other mushrooms, they actually absorbed all the oil. Their flavor profile is mild and can be treated like tofu in cooking–sauces and such add to the taste. I first tried them when Damon doused roasted pieces with vindaloo sauce, bathed them in coconut flakes and a mystery batter, then fried them up to puffball perfection.

Yesterday we picked for both Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe in Chapel Hill and The Eddy Pub in Saxapahaw. Damon, the intriguing culinary personality that he is, cooks at both of those places. You can find them served as fried puffball pakoras at Vimala’s or featured in The Eddy’s dinner specials. (Sidenote: Damon ran the kitchen in the now defunct Barbecue Joint in Chapel Hill for eight years. He makes a mean, mean, pork ‘cue at Vimala’s.)

And then once you try them, go on your own scavenger hunt! Just watch out for the posers.

Puffball punching gloves? Photo by Victoria Bouloubasis

(*UPDATE* I mistakenly wrote that Damon makes the barbecue at Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe. The recipe is, in fact, that of executive chef and owner Vimala Rajendran. Damon does help with the prep, but the Southern-inspired ‘cue is a product of Vimala’s culinary talent and imagination. “I bloomed where I was planted,” she says.  The slow-roasted pork is a highlight of the dinner menu, served with a twist: fried plantains. On another note, I do work part-time at the Cafe. Though I’ll never write about it as a journalist, this mention is part of my personal vignette and first-hand experience with food as it relates to my everyday life.)

Popsicles with sass at La Monarcha Michoacana in Durham. Photo by Jeremy M. Lange.

Artisan ice cream in the Triangle wears many hats, and none are the pointy parlor caps you’re used to. A tattooed couple drives through town on a school bus with fresh ice cream in inventive flavors. A Mexican family brings the exotic tastes of Michoacan to Durham with fresh fruit popsicles and curdled milk ice cream. A Grammy-winning musician graces the gourmet stage with homemade frozen custard. A Kenyan immigrant scoops fresh sorbets at a Cuban sandwich shop and young farmers in Carrboro pedal through town on a bicycle with fresh ice cream sandwiches in tow. Read all about it here.

Chocolate Chip Lavender Pecan by Kukia's Cookies. Photo by Katina Parker.

This week’s Now Serving highlights Kukia’s Cookies, the home bakery of Kifu Faruq. She whips up organic lavender cookie varieties in the name of food justice: the former biochemist is the product of two Black Panther parents, an urban farmer and co-founder of Green Space Initiative LLC. Read more about her and try those cookies!

The lamb shank tagine at Babylon. Photo by DL Anderson.

Pomp, swank, glitz and gourmet. Here’s my First Bite take on Babylon, Raleigh’s new Moroccan restaurant, for the Independent Weekly. Be sure to flip through the gorgeous slideshow by D.L. Anderson.

Pucker up. Olives at a Berber village outside of Marrakech, Morocco. Photo by Victoria Bouloubasis.

I had this to say about the olives:

“The cured, green-and-black Mediterranean super fruits crinkle into a salty pucker on my lips, leaving me happily teary-eyed and converting two dinner companions, who had an aversion to olives, into olive lovers.”

I took the photo to the left during a delicious experience while spending a few short days in Morocco last year. That salty memory defines the standard for every olive I pop into my mouth from here on out. Babylon’s olives measured up, and made my friends believers, too. Can I get an amen?

Chirba Chirba Dumpling truck in full effect. Courtesy of Chirba Chirba.

Rock with a homemade pimento cheese sandwich in Raleigh on Saturday. Or scour the streets for the #dumplingraid in Durham this week. Either way, eat eat! Click here for this week’s Now Serving.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Sacks and Co. publicity shot via The Capital Times.

I dabbled in music writing this month for SavorNC Magazine, helping out with the piece 45 N.C. Music and Art Experiences Not To Be Missed. Here’s what I said about the Carolina Chocolate Drops, listed as #1:

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are like those sweet nothings you whisper to someone just before you sweep them onto the dance floor. Their sound comes off as a polished innocence through radio speakers, but strips down bare into a cacophonous, electric melody when the band plays live, unleashing a passionate, down-home, toe-tapping ruckus on and off stage.

The three original members—Dom Flemons, Rhionnon Giddons and Justin Robinson—began playing together in 2005 with legendary fiddler Joe Thompson in Mebane every Thursday night. From there they joined the Black Banjo network and soon formed a band.

Fiddles, banjos, kazoos and glass jugs tapped furiously with wooden spoons fuel their homage to the African-American struggle, bluegrass music and lyrical storytelling. Their constant evolution, including human beat-boxing with the help of a fourth member, Adam Matta, leads them into a category all their own, especially with the latest album, Genuine Negro Jig.

Catch them August 27 at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Expect a groove ranging from the sweet “Cornbread and Butterbeans” to the super female-charged cover of Blue Cantrell’s pop hit “Hit ‘Em Up Style.”

I highlighted a bit more of our state’s musical prowess by featuring The Avett Brothers, Hopscotch Music Festival and a slew of local music venues from our mountains to the coast. Flip to pg. 26 of the virtual version for the full story.

Right Up His Alley from Center for Documentary Studies on Vimeo.

For one week in June, I spent 12-hour days immersing myself in the Documentary Video Institute at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. I had never toyed with a video camera before, let alone Final Cut Pro. Neither had my project partner. But in seven days we digested enough to come up with a short documentary about Ali Mejeed, an incredible personality living in Durham after fleeing his native Iraq. We discovered a bit of his fun-loving, grounded character and tried our best to capture that in our very first video documentary.

“Hi. My name is Rosie Herrera, and I love you.”

This is how the Miami dancer/director/choreographer introduced herself after last night’s dynamic show at the American Dance Festival. The feeling is mutual, mami.

I wanted to catch the world premiere of Dining Alone because of the obvious parallels to my food interests and also because dance has consistently been an innate part of who I am as one of the primary ways I celebrate life. In fact, food and dance, for me, resonate a more familiar, nostalgic combination in my upbringing than peanut butter and jelly. My mama began dancing with me in the kitchen when I was curled up in her womb, and we continue to waltz to nisiotika by the sink on a regular basis.

If I had a million dollars, I’d be at every single ADF performance. But this one – this one – is not to miss, especially if you are a passionate eater. Without giving too much away, Dining Alone represents the emotion often masked, but always felt, during the ritual of dining – alone, at home, out, with a lover, with friends.

I was blown away, honestly. My friends and I commented afterward how insane it felt to resonate with all the representation of feelings that every disjointed, bizarre scene alluded to, though they were all woven together so seamlessly.  The music choice in Dining Alone belts out a range of contemplative and explosive emotion through prolific Disney princess sound bytes, an eclectic playlist of multi-lingual hymns and dirty booty bass. The dancing is, in one word, primal, with sharp acting and an acute use of props. It is absolutely amazing what she does with props. There is one scene with plates – yes, actual dishes and only dishes – that somehow, some way are personified to express all this: insecurity, solitude, exasperation, passion, relief, escape, lust, indulgence, confusion, false hope based on societal assumptions and expectations, losing one’s self at the expense of another and self-discovery. Incredible. Really. And hilarious, too. The second act is Miss Herrera’s tweaked rendition of her 2010 debut Pity Party. More emotional hysteria, with a sexual spin.

I wish I could go into more detail, but I want you go see it for yourself. Go see it! The show runs tonight and tomorrow at Reynolds Theater on Duke’s campus. Check out a preview of  Miss Herrera’s show by Byron Woods here.

Go see these guys. And then tell me you don't want to be their best friend.