humanity
Humanity topics include pieces on the real lives of chefs, professionals, amateurs, inspiring youth, influencers, and general feel good human stories in the Feast food sphere.
My Favorite Summer Food
Summer. One of the most anticipated seasons within our year. Depending on where you are, you’ll most likely find it common to witness a wave of warmer weather, enriching activity, and let’s not forget: new season, new taste. Generally, it’s quite normal to switch the menu up a bit due to the temperatures, with most opting for foods that will keep them feeling rather cool and refreshed, opposed to keeping warm during the winter. Hi, my name is Jeremy, and today I’ll be sharing with you, my favorite summer food. Note that I’ve been a diligent vegetarian for the past five years, and within the last two I successfully bridged over into veganism. [Entering story mode] I awaken during the wee hours of the morning to the local weather report and heads up, it's just before day’s peak and the temps have both skyrocketed and surpassed the previous year’s index. Moreover, it is officially a hot day in the bay. So, I begin my most humanly obligations, afterwards, I relinquish my laze of being inside and I head out to my then neighborhood’s Safeway deli for a quick bite to eat. I settle for a longtime favorite that I’ve loved since childhood, Marinated Cucumber, Onion, and Tomato Salad. First, if you’ve never chanced to try it, allow me to explain why it’s one of the most perfect summer delicacies. It is technically a salad. Its’ contents go through a simple marinating process. Usually in vinegar, and vinaigrette. After a couple of hours being in the fridge, a salad loaded with summer veggies is served. That is, without lettuce or romaine. Now, on a balmy day with heightened activity, you’re aiming for something light on the stomach, healthy, and tasty. Starting with the cool and crisp bite of the cucumber, will leave your taste-buds satisfyingly hydrated. Which is why it’s got to make the list for ideal summer meals. Before the cucumber is added: it’s usually sliced, or diced, skinned, or left with some skin. Personally, it’s not much of a difference because it always seems to result in the same great taste. If this is ever self-prepared, I’ll know to find fresh cucumber from my local neighborhood market. [Adding cucumber to the queue]. Next, you’ll find detached from the vine and showing a bright red display, the juicy tomato. Before it’s added, it is either sliced, wedged, or served in any way you can possibly create. A bite into the tomato and it gives a both sweet, and tangy sense of flavor, with the added twang originating from its’ main component, the marinade. So, after the final ingredient is added, the onion, you’d just allow all of these ingredients to marinate in the vinegar mixture. Now, on the onion, if preparing myself, I would go with a sweeter type due to the acidity levels in the vinegar. By opting for a sweeter onion, would only help by giving the salad’s overall taste more balance. Some sweetness, some twang. I can also find the perfect onions at my local neighborhood market. This salad goes great by itself, but if ever I were to spruce things up, there are a few delicious ideas that create fantastic combos. I will not force you to be showered, or rained on with every single delicious idea, although, one favorite it pairs well with are black-eyed peas, or also called, cowpeas. It makes a tasty summer special that hits the spot, without overheating the spot. A tip to top it off is adding ground sea salt & pepper. This salad is always served cool. If you haven’t already gone to find it near you, I highly recommend you add it to your foods’ list, I can only hope it works as a great treat for you as it does for me. It’s not quite summer yet but sharing this with you has somehow enlightened today’s meal plan. Hopefully, you find this a great read, and thanks for inviting me to share with you, the Vocal team and family, my favorite summer food.
By Jeremy Conway4 years ago in Feast
Go Play Outside
Summertime is more than the scorching heat of the day and the flying critters that bother you. The summer to me is a flavor all on it's own that brings a different meaning to "I'm home". Being raised outdoors and becoming befriends with my water-hose I created the taste of summer. The sweat on my face from running around all day chasing my siblings and running away from them. The heated breeze that carried the smell of the neighbor burring trash with it as it cooled my cheeks. The water from the water toys that sprinkled my sister, brother, and me.
By Daveen Éveline 4 years ago in Feast
My Fair Lady
We pull up to a crowded parking lot stretched half a mile wide. Cars litter the streets, while near by houses make $5 per car they allow to park in their driveway. An unappetizing smell hits us first as we pass the livestock. Let's pretend it isn't there, shall we? We sprint past the cows and the building of oddities and souvenirs to the next layer of the hot, crowded county fair lasagna. Sketchy vendors pedal tacky jewelry, knives, and custom leather belts. A glimmer catches my eye of a shiny something I want to touch, but the grumble in my stomach keeps me on track.
By Jamie Brown4 years ago in Feast
Gnarly Potato Salad. Top Story - June 2022.
Is there anything more universally binding and delicious than potato salad? For my family, traveling around from coast to coast, up and down from North to South, recipes from home are the one thing that doesn’t get broken in moving.
By Kristen Christensen4 years ago in Feast
La Dolce Vita Estiva
We lived in a typical wartime house on the south end of town. A single maple tree dotted most front yards, though ours had a swing my Dad built. I was always proud of that. It felt like a little notch above the other neighborhood kids. I imagined it felt similar to when someone in the neighborhood had a pool, though nobody in ours did. Each backyard was nothing more than a bland rectangular patch of grass, and on sunny days my sister and I dragged our deck chairs to the middle of it, plugged our ghetto blaster into the extension cord and fed it through the kitchen window to blast the Cranberries or Counting Crows. Sometimes we listened to the radio to hear of any concert ticket contests we could try for. We lathered our bodies in tanning oil, and spritzed our hair with lemon juice, setting a timer to remind us to turn over every twenty minutes or so. Two whole months stretched before us with nothing to do. Those summers tasted like sun-drenched peach juice dripping down my chin, and salty, soggy chips from wet hands diving into the bag after a swim at the local beach. The hours ticked by while our parents were at work; too young for jobs ourselves, we basked in the freedom to choose what the day would bring. I can still taste the penny candy from the variety store on the main street. We'd swing our little paper bags around for all the neighborhood kids to see as we walked back home from our splurge. Some days I'd buy the giant jawbreaker and lick it while we walked until my tonge was raw and stained red and blue. We tried all the new flavours of pop from the dispenser, and mixed them together melting a popsicle into it and called it swamp water. In the evenings, Dad would put the sprinkler on and ask us to pick snap peas and cherry tomatoes from the little garden that lined the edge of the yard. We'd split the skin of the peas open pulling from the vein and count how many were in each, popping them in our mouths like m&m's as we worked. Back then we still ate meat, and so those summers tasted like grilled hamburgers with too much ketchup and mustard, homegrown garden salads and buttered and salted corn on the cob. Mom proudly used the corn holders I had made at school which were bright orange melted plastic and hard to hold with greasy fingers. On Sunday evenings after dinner, Mom, my brother, sister and I would get on our bikes and head over to the park to listen to the music playing on the barge. Dad didn't like the crowds and said the style of music wasn't great, so he stayed back. Some evenings it was an Elvis impersonator, or an old-folks band that played songs I'd never heard of. But it brought a crowd, and families sat on picnic blankets or camp chairs until the mosquitos came out. That or the donation basket started getting passed around which split the crowd up pretty quickly. On humid evenings we were allowed to get an ice cream from the concession stand, but mostly we swam near the shore while Mom listened to the music. She knew all the songs, and sang along to each one.
By Christina Hunter4 years ago in Feast
I Want To Store Food . Top Story - April 2022.
During the first lockdowns we all saw what fear can do. Before the introduction of a kind of rationing by the shops, I saw SO many people who had piled their carts up with what was clearly panicked swipes at the shelves. Bags of potatoes, perishable items, enough toilet paper to re-wrap all the pharaohs and all the rice and pasta they could get their hands on. Less than two weeks later I saw bins on my street full of food. Veg which had expired, impulse buys the buyer didn't even like to eat, and so, so many spoiled fruits and veggies.
By A Very English Prepper 4 years ago in Feast
Which vegetables we can eat in Navratri
One of the first things to do is to decide what kind of food you like and don’t like. Then figure out whether you can eat a particular type of food every day. When you do this, you’ll become able to recognize foods that are difficult to digest, and also which ones have the best health benefits. If you don’t know what vegetables you do and don’t like, try each one and see what you think, or ask your doctor.
By TrendingFastIndia4 years ago in Feast
The Modern Day Vegetarian . Top Story - April 2022.
My Story Since early 2019 pre covid I have been on a journey of varying diets. Finding out what does and doesn't work for me, and I am going to share with you my story. Everyone's reason for cutting out meat and dairy or putting meat and dairy back in their diets are different. Personally I have more than a single reason, and I don't think I could ever go back! In fact I would personally recommend vegetarianism and veganism to anyone, but of course people love their dairy and meat, and I don't blame them.
By Ruby Estelle 4 years ago in Feast
