Immersethrough.com
engaging with the world
immerse through food
One of the most interesting ways we know to engage with the world is through food. We're not so much talking about sharing a meal, although that too is engagement, but more about getting insights into culture and into people's daily lives by learning about what they eat, where their food comes from, how they farm and fish, and also of course how households get everyday meals on the table.
We love hanging around in villages and small towns, especially in markets, but also in tea shops and out on the street, watching how the day unfolds for people. In many places, growing, gathering, and preparing food is the main task of everyone in the family but the infants. As outsiders we know little or nothing of the skills involved, we are extreme beginners. And with a beginner's eyes we watch as fields are ploughed or harvested, rice and wheat are threshed and vegetables gathered, cattle or goats are milked, and food is prepared.
We'll be posting images and links on this page that are food and culture related. We encourage you to go to the photography page to see more images, and also to the Chiang Mai page, for there you'll find our first try at helping other people get immersed in the regional cuisines of Thailand.
IMMERSE IN
CHIANG MAI!
We have two eight-day sessions scheduled for February 2009, in Chiang Mai, during which, with the help of Thai friends, we'll take a group of ten to shop at the main market every day, and then cook a meal, hands-on. Every evening we'll eat out at a different traditional restaurant. We'll also be making an overnight trip into the mountains north of Chiang Mai. For more details, please go to the chiang mai page.
grilling tomatoes for nam prik in Chaing Mai, at the market
photo: NAOMI DUGUID
FOOD LINKS - for other links go to the comments & links page
www.hotsoursaltysweet.com - Our original website, now a little dormant, which has information about all our books, chat about the farm and its progress, and details of our public appearances. We expect that Immersethrough.com will eventually entirely displace it, but for now it's there for the browsing.
www.foodarazzi.com - Our friend Cassandra's site, in which she engages with the world of food through her especial interests: recipes that are diabetic-friendly, and issues around nutrition generally. She's an inventive and fearless cook, and an imaginative and diligent researcher, so as it grows this site will be a great resource.
www.dawnsdinnerparty.com - For people who are in and around Toronto, this website will lead you to Dawn Woodward and Edmund Rek, two of the best people we know... We say that not because we are good friends (we are), but because they bring remarkable energy and commitment to all that they do, from raising their daughter, to catering dinners and parties, to teaching hands-on cooking classes, to making unique hand-crafted organic crackers (Evelyn's Crackers).
flooded rice terraces near Yuanyang, southeast Yunnan, at dusk
photo: JEFFREY ALFORD
jeff-koehler.com - The interesting always-changing website of Jeff Koehler, one of the few people we know besides us who writes, photographs, and cooks, and turns his travels and ideas into books (another is James Oseland, editor of Saveur and author of the wonderful book CRADLE OF FLAVOR). Jeff is based in Barcelona, has one book out, called LA PAELLA, and another due out next spring from Chronicle. It should be both beautiful and a cook's treasure, since it engages with rice, pasta, and couscous in the Mediterranean, with explorations in places like Croatia and Algeria that have been very under-represented in books and magazines in North America. And his photographs are lovely.
asiaculinaryforum.org - Based in San Francisco, a fresh attempt to get people immersing in Asian food traditions; their first conference is in October 2008.
tantemarie.com - Also in the Bay area, Mary Risley's cooking school, with lively instructors, one of the longest running and best...
atlasculinaryadventures.com - Mick Vann is one of the most culinarily curious people we have ever met. He lives in Austin Texas, has an encyclopedic knowledge of plants of all kinds, including those of Southeast Asia, has good Thai friends in Texas and also in Thailand, and does tours to Southeast Asia every so often.
threelayercake.com - A lively attractive site about food, design, and travel, with interviews (there's one with us) and lots of photos too.
