Critiques, Cravings and Conundrums From the Madison Food and Dining Scene
Small DishesAugust 2011
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08/27/11Seeing More SeafoodNo doubt you’ve heard the joke, “I’m on the seafood diet … I see food and I eat it. Actually, I could very well subsist on a seafood diet—fresh fish and shellfish. I’m known to go on the lobster roll diet when I go to Cape Cod and the oyster diet when I go to New Orleans. I just can’t get enough, but I should start at the beginning.Growing up, in the center of the country far away from the bounty of the ocean was limiting to say the least. When I lived in Kentucky, I enjoyed fried catfish and fried oysters and still do to this day. Moving to Wisconsin, local lake fish—perch and walleye most likely—at the Friday night fish fry were a weekly rendezvous. I also remember occasionally seeing... |
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08/14/11Loving the Love AppleLa Pomme D'Amour—the love apple)—is the name the French adoringly gave the tomato back in the 16th Century. As things go, tomatoes, a native to South America, came to the European table relatively recently. It’s unclear as to who brought back the first tomato from the New World: maybe the Spanish explorer Cortez after he conquered the Aztecs in Mexico, but possibly even Columbus as early as 1493. Surprisingly, considering their national fondness for tomatoes, they were only used as ornamental table decorations in Italy until the late 17th or early 18th centuries. This was because at worse they wore thought to be poisonous (the plant belongs to the deadly nightshade family) and at best unsuitable for eating. Even though the tomato... |
I found my interest in writing by accident. My training and first job was as a graphic designer. Unemployed, the only employment I could find in advertising at that time was as a copywriter. Somehow, I convinced Richard Newman & Associates to hire me. Later I learned they were desperate. Madison has been my home off and on since 1957 (nonstop for the past 31 years). I write about food, which I love. – Dan Curd
