Food & Drinks 02 (Jan 11 - Jun 16)

[winston]

The Best Deep-Fried Chicken Recipe Ever!
By Sheere Ng | Makansutra

Temperature is the key to crispy fried chicken

“Best fried chicken recipe ever” goes the headline.

How not to resist picking up a magazine with those words? Bon Appetite Magazine’s February issue had this headline a few months back, so we picked up a copy to try out the recipe.

And we are glad we did, because the recipe is detailed, easy, and makes a helluva deep-fried goodness. While we can’t claim it is the best, we can tell you that some ladies in the office – who usually can’t bear to get their hands dirty – didn’t hesitate to sink their manicured fingernails into it.

Oh, we also set one aside for an hour to test its resilience against our humid, tropical weather and it passed with crisp, golden brown colours!

http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/ ... 44404.html

[winston]

What is the role of food and drink in the path of spirituality?

By moderating and modulating the habits of eating and drinking, one can lay the foundation for a spiritual life.

You must prefer sathwik (pure and vegetarian) foods to rajasik foods.

By drinking intoxicating stuff, one loses control over one’s emotions, passions, impulses, instincts, speech and movements; and one even descends to the level of a beast.

By eating flesh, one develops violent tendencies and animal diseases.

The mind becomes more intractable when one indulges in rajasik food.

It is difficult to remould the mind, if such food is consumed with relish.

To dwell on the Divine, one should be vigilant about the food and drink consumed by both - the body and the mind.

- Divine Discourse, Apr 19, 1965


Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Elephant droppings coffee at US$50 for two

For those who like their coffee with a strong nose, an up market hotel chain in Thailand is offering a blend made from beans excreted by elephants.

The Black Ivory blend is billed as producing a particularly smooth cup, but it is not cheap. Anantara Hotels says the “naturally refined'' coffee costs a US$1,100 per kilogram – making it one of the most expensive blends in the world, AFP reports.

“Research indicates that during digestion, the enzymes of the elephant break down coffee protein,'' the Thai-based hotel group said. It is selling the pungent brew at US$50 for two cups.

“Since protein is one of the main factors responsible for bitterness in coffee, less protein means almost no bitterness.''

Once the elephants have digested the coffee berries, the beans are picked out of their dung by mahouts and then sun-dried.

The process is carried out at the hotel's elephant rescue center in Thailand's north where 30 pachyderms live.


Source: The Standard HK

[winston]

Record price paid for giant tuna at Tokyo auction

A bluefin tuna sold for a record 155.4 million yen (HK$13.7 million) at a Tokyo auction yesterday, nearly three times the previous high set last year.

Source: SCMP

========================

Japanese Buys $1.76 Million Tuna to Beat Hong Kong Rival Again

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-0 ... china-ties

[winston]

Fa Cai is not quite so for Mother Nature By Makansutra

During Chinese New Year, dining is all about eating the most auspicious food. The name of a dish has to be meaningful and symbolic, taste can come second.

A common lucky dish is braised dried oyster with black moss, “Fa Cai Hao Shi” which also is a homophone for “prosperity and good luck.” Eating them is said to represent a promise of good fortune for the coming year.

Black moss is a key ingredient of this dish during the festive season, because of its name “Fa Cai” which means prosperity and has all the relevant and meaningful relation to that favourite greeting, “Gong Xi Fa Cai!”

However, to get this black, hairy and tasteless fungus on your table is not as pretty as its name sounds. “Fa Cai” grows deep in the ground of Gobi desert and Qinhai Plateau.

To harvest, a metal harrow with dense meshes is used to turn over top soil, removing all the surface plants and causing severe damage that takes two to three years to recover.

“Fa Cai” also has an important role in retaining water and preventing soil erosion. Without this photosynthetic bacterium, desertification in China will worsen and this will cause enormous dust storms. China has banned all exports of black moss in 2000, listing it as an endangered species.

Besides that, a research team from the Biochemistry Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong cited an International research to prove that “Fa Cai” has been found to contain toxic amino acid that could affect the normal functions of nerve cells and could lead to degenerate diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia.

In 2007, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said this finding is not established and claimed that “Fa Cai” at Singapore market is safe to consume.

Today, “Fa Cai” in the market is either sold at high price, or “adulterated with non-cellular strands of a starchy material,” finds Professor Pui Hay But and his associates of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in their “Journal of Applied Phycology.”

“Fa Cai” that is tasteless, harmful to the environment and has no nutritional value certainly doesn’t translate to “prosperity” which its homophone suggests. So spare that thought before you order. Go for the starchy cellular factory made ones, they sound the same, is as tasteless and provide the same perceived luck.

http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/ ... 24734.html

[winston]

Be kind to your seafood, study urges

AFP - A lobster thrown live into boiling water may suffer for many seconds, said a scientist who argued Thursday that crustaceans can likely feel pain.

A set of experiments on crabs revealed that the animals are willing to give up a valuable dark hiding place in order to avoid an electric shock, an indicator of pain, said a study in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Crabs in the study learnt to avoid the shelter in a laboratory tank where they had repeatedly received a shock, said study leader Bob Elwood of Queen's University in Belfast.

"They were willing to give up their hideaway in order to avoid the source of their probable pain."

Elwood told AFP it was impossible to prove beyond doubt that the animals feel pain, but the research results were "consistent" with pain and added: "Perhaps we should err on the side of caution".

Elwood said billions of prawns, crabs and lobster are caught or reared for human consumption every year and treated in "very extreme ways".

"Crabs have their claws torn off and the live crab is thrown back in the sea. Lobsters and prawns have the front half of the body torn off from the abdomen which is kept for the meat. The nervous system in the head and thorax is still functional an hour later."

The biologist said many people assumed that because crustaceans do not have a brain resembling that of vertebrate animals, they could not feel pain.

"Crustaceans are invertebrates and people do not care about invertebrates," he said.

"More consideration of the treatment of these animals is needed as a potentially very large problem is being ignored."

http://www.france24.com/en/20130117-be- ... tudy-urges

[winston]

What is the relationship between food and our journey to the Divine?

For anyone to remember the Soul (Atma), food is very essential. From Divine Soul (Brahman) Ether emerged. From Ether came Air. From Air was born Fire. And from Fire came Water. From Water, Earth emerged, and from the Earth, various plants and food. Finally from food, human beings evolved.

To attain union with the Divine, one has to cross all these stages and take the return journey. The life principle present within our gross body, is called Prana. Within the sheath of Prana (Pranamaya Kosha), is present the sheath of mind (Manomaya Kosha) and within it, the subtler sheath of intellect (Vijnanamaya Kosha).

Latent in the Vijnanamaya Kosha is the sheath of bliss (Ananadamaya Kosha). Many people stop journeying after reaching the Mind sheath. To attain bliss you must proceed onward, beyond f ood, mind and the sheath of the intellect.

- Divine Discourse, 'My Dear Students', Vol 2, Ch 2.

Just as wholesome food gives health and strength to the body, prayer purifies your mind and strengthens your spirit.


Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

What kind of food should we take so as to have noble and good thoughts?

Satwik food must be less spicy, less salty and must have less amount of tamarind (sourness). Not merely that, it must not be made up of excess oil, must be fresh and must not be stale (food prepared in the morning should not be taken in the evening). This is Satwik food.

Some people consider milk as Satwik. No doubt, milk, curds and fruits are Satwik in nature, but when consumed in excessive amounts, they become Tamasik and make one dull and sleepy.

When we take curds in excess, we can become Tamasik. Hence reduce having milk or curds in large quantities.

It is good to mix one part of water with one part of milk. The food you eat must have been earned and prepared through the right means and should be offered to the Divine before partaking.

Only then Satwik feelings will emanate in man. If the food is earned th rough unrighteousness means, it will generate wicked feelings.

- Divine Discourse, 'My Dear Students', Vol 2, Ch 2.

For sacred thoughts and sacred deeds, sacred food is essential.


Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Why is food given so much importance in scriptures, even glorified as divine?

Food is considered divine, as it is the source of a person’s life, body, mind, and character.

Eat only what you need. Do not be greedy and take more than you can eat and waste the rest.

Wasting food is a great sin; your surplus can feed another stomach. Even a major part of the food you consume, the gross part, is thrown out as waste matter.

A minute amount of the food, which is the subtle part, is assimilated by the body and flows as blood. And a minuscule amount, which is the subtlest part of the food, makes up your mind. Therefore mind is the reflection of the food consumed.

When demonic tendencies arise in our minds, know that it is from the food we consume. To receive real nourishment, pay attention to the quality of food that you eat and let it be very pure, clean, sanctified, and Satwik.

- Divine Discourse, 'My Dear Students', Vol 2, Ch 2.

The nature of the food determines your state of the mind. Food does not mean merely what is eaten, but includes all that is received through the senses and stored in the mind.


Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

“Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.”
– Hippocrates