Curiosity, learning about and sampling the local cuisines is always an important part of any visit to a foreign country. But for me food can be near the top of my list as a reason for the trip. On every trip I always visit the local food markets and sample as much of the cuisine as I can. This is because every item sold at the market is a mirror of the culture and society I am visiting. Each has its own history and story related to the culture, the society and the region....
Read MoreHarold McGee and all-in-one breakfast bun
We stopped at a local bread store for a cup of coffee on one morning in Kyoto. Harold was enchanted with unusual looking extensively displayed varieties of “pan” (the name reminds us that bread was introduced by Portuguese in the 16th century) or, as we call them, breads in the display case. In the case we saw so many varieties of breads. These included curry pan (a deep-fried bun stuffed with Japanese curry), piroshki (a Russian deep-fried bun stuffed with...
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