By Bharti Kirchner
It was with an eager, vegetarian appetite that I arrived in Seoul. Korean restaurants in the U.S. had spoiled me with their soups, noodles, and dumplings, but I instinctively understood that a great deal more could be expected from this earthy, fiery cuisine.
My layover here would amount to only a few days before […]

By Tom Weller
The solider sat down, uninvited, next to me. He wore dusty, faded green fatigues and shower sandals. He swung his battered automatic riffle off of his shoulder and leaned it against the table nonchalantly, like a man shrugging off a golf bag after playing a quick nine holes. He turned toward me with […]

By Matthew Frank
The front room is filled with fresh pastas and truffle emulsions, meter-long grissini breadsticks and lady-kiss baci di dama cookies. I am in Barolo, Italy’s Panetteria, the sole local bakery, and am enjoying its silence, its farmland smells, the sight of three shadowed heads work-bobbing behind the kitchen’s glass door. They don’t see […]

by Dave Mondy
I don’t idolize pig parts and I don’t own a Kiss the Cook apron. I don’t search for secret spices. Which is to say, I’m no barbeque fanatic; I came to Memphis for the music, not messy meals.
But after giving a dollar to a homeless man, I asked, “Where’s a good […]

by Celeste Brash
Mama Rose impaled the coconut onto the wooden spike making a tear in the husk. Self-rolled cigarette hanging out the corner of her mouth, she continued with ease, lifting, turning and thrusting the coconut on the spike till the husk fell away. Inside was a newborn, white nut with brown hairs. Picking up […]

by Paul B. Hertneky
“The secret of Crete is deep. He who sets foot on the island feels a strange strength penetrating through his veins and his soul widens.” —Nikos Kazantzakis
Go ahead and think of Greek islands as sun-baked bliss in blue and white. I had fallen into the habit of hopping to Athens and hightailing […]