Digest: September 2024
Natural and unnatural rhythms, new restaurants in the DR, Awa in Lima & more.
A regular round-up of culinary news from around the Americas, and beyond. If you have any tips about restaurant or hotel openings, new culinary books, food media worth reading, plus events and happenings of every sort, drop me a line thenewworlder@gmail.com.
You probably missed this news unless you follow butterfly migration patterns in the eastern United States, but for the first time in 87 years, zebra swallowtail butterflies have appeared in Pittsburgh. What’s especially fascinating is about this is that it is being attributed to the resurgence of paw paw trees. Pittsburgh is at the northern end of the natural range of paw paw (asimina triloba) trees, which are sometimes called ghosts of evolution because they evolved to be dispersed by megafauna like wooly mammoths. The rise of steel mills and other industry in the 20th century cleared much of the paw paw habitat in the Pittsburgh area, but growing fascination with the fruit and a concentrated effort by ecologists has brought back and its main pollinator, the zebra swallowtail, has followed. It’s a fascinating story of how what we choose to eat and plant can have a profound effect on the natural rhythms around us.
Speaking of the natural rhythms around us, wide swaths of the Amazon are in flames right now. Each year the cycle of the rainy and dry seasons continues to become more out of whack, more extreme. The region has been experiencing severe drought for the past several months, so for many, these fires that are tearing across the landscape are no surprise. This is what climate models have been predicting and they predict that it will continue to get worse. We’re seeing it happening in Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and beyond. Make no mistake about it, this issue is also occurring because of what we choose to eat. Clearing the land for beef and soy is the primary cause of deforestation in the Amazon. I’ll have a lot more to say about this very soon.
Elsewhere in Food Media
Venezuela: Lula, Maduro, and a New Cold War in Latin America by Jon Lee Anderson – The New Yorker
The Michelin Guide Brought Scrutiny, Crowds, and Stress to Mexico City. Does Texas Want That? by José R. Ralat – Texas Monthly
The Ritual of Time: Preservation in the Andes by Andrea Faour – Mater Iniciativa Blog
Del cielo al infierno subido en un adjetivo by Ignacio Medina – Siete Canibales
Odd Birds by Shane Mitchell – Bitter Southerner
Can fungi turn food waste into the next culinary sensation? by Robert Sanders – UC Berkeley News
Restaurant Openings
AWA – Lima, Peru: The chef Aldo Yaranga, who I have written about through his work at La Patarashca in Tarapoto, is opening a seasonal, Amazonian restaurant on Avenida La Mar in Miraflores, partnering with the Reátegui family. Amazonian restaurants have been sorely needed in the capital since the closure of Ámaz during the pandemic and this will be the most original take yet. Opening late September.
Castaña Pastelería - Tarapoto, Peru: Back in the jungle, the La Patarashca group has opened pastry shop and bakery in a space next door. Named after the Peruvian name for Brazil nuts, the signature croissant is filled with them. There are is also coffee roasted from their roaster at Suchiche.
Casaré – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: I have no doubt that this restaurant is going to shake up the fine dining scene in the Dominican Republic, if not the entire Spanish Caribbean. The restaurant is talented Swiss-Dominican chef Olivier Bur’s celebration of Dominican cultural heritage and biodiversity and will work to showcase the work of the island’s farmers, fishermen, foragers, and artisan craftspersons of every sort. Opening October 2.
Tenu – La Moraleja, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic: In the Dominican Republic’s second largest city, former Central chef Gabriel Tejada and DR native is opening a project of his own. The restaurant will explore his own Dominican identity and ancestral flavors and cooking techniques.
Cartagena by Juan Manuel Barrientos – Miami, Florida: Inside the SLS South Beach Hotel, Colombian chef Juan Manuel Barrientos of El Cielo, which has Michelin stars at its locations in Miami and Washington D.C., is opening an a la carte restaurant dedicated to Colombia’s Caribbean cuisine.
Benny’s – Panama City, Panama: Mario Castrellón and Grupo Maito continue their march to open a successful restaurant in every possible style in Panama with this bistro and steakhouse in the Santa Maria Business district north of Costa del Este.
Skal! – Reykjavik, Iceland: While Skal! isn’t exactly new as it has been operating in a large corner space at Hlemmur Mathöll, the food hall in Reykjavík’s old bus station, it has finally moved into a full space of its own. While it was already one of the better eating (seasonal snacks) and drinking (natural wine, craft cocktails, Icelandic beers) destinations in the city, I wouldn’t be surprised if it now gets a Michelin star. Gísli Matthías Auðunsson of Slippurinn, who I wrote a book with, is a partner.
Events
The Chef Conference: October 21 – Los Angeles, California.
Fall for Greenville: October 11-13 – Greenville, South Carolina.
Karakaterre NYC: November 2 – New York, New York.
The Best Chef Awards: November 4-6 – Dubai, UAE.
15th International Terroir Congress: November 18-22, 2024 – Mendoza, Argentina.
Book Recommendations
La Mar Cebichería by Gastón Acurio
Embutidos en Argentina by Guido Tassi
The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen by Steve Sando
Estado de Hongos by Nanae Watabe
Madre de Dios by Andrea Ortiz de Zevallos
Elsewhere On Substack
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