FOOD

THE YULETIDE TASTE OF THE SUMMERS OF YORE Nestled somewhere not-so-deep in the mythic Laurentian mountains just north of Montreal was a roadside fry shack I knew long ago. A short drive from the family cottage when I was a kid, it was a place of sweet summer magic. The kind where you happily eat at sun-scorched, slightly sticky picnic tables, where the burger buns are oven-baked country clouds, and where every small, hot paper bag glistens with grease as an unspoken, yet golden rule. This was where the weekend really began, where we’d stretch out those road legs with …

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers; A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?” Yeah, that’s what we’d like to know. Where’s that peck, Peter? What the pickled hell is a peck anyway? And is pickle cotton candy really a thing? (Yes.)  These are the kinds of questions that have us at The Hungry Herald all dilled-up and briny right now, because today, dear readers, is November 14th, National Pickle Day. So run to the fridge and grab that jar …

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK  Ever wondered who Jack is and what’s the deal with the lantern? So have we. Let’s do a little digging together in the old patch and find out. Although people had been making creepy lamps out of root vegetables to scare away evil spirits since the time of the ancient Celts, there’s a particular Irish legend we’d like to share with you that really got everyone carving. Before we get to it though, where does this term “Jack-O’-Lantern” come from in the first place?  Appearing in 17th-century Britain, it was originally a reference to a night …

SPAM, HAND SANITIZER AND THE 21st CENTURY Pumpkin Spice Spam anybody? We too are given pause at the thought, although rumour has it that it’s better than you might think. We have it on good authority that it carries significant breakfast potential, so ready those waffles.  Fine, but what’s the deal with this ever-swelling spread of pumpkin spice-centric products hitting our shelves every year that even the good people at Spam ended up feeling the urge to spice up? Running the gamut from cream cheese to air fresheners to dog shampoo to hummus, pumpkin spice everything seems to be here …

It’s that time of year again. You guessed it, we’re talking rakfisk time! If you’re not already somewhere in the vicinity of Fagernes, Norway, get off your ass and do something about it. The Rakfisk Festival is just around the corner, a few mirthful and pungent days commemorating the Norwegian delicacy that is trout fermented in salt and water for up to one year. By many accounts boasting a challenging signature odour and flavour, it is a dish perhaps best endured by the uninitiated after an anaesthetising amount of aquavit. Book your flight now.  Oh yeah, it’s also Halloween. Halloween …

Pumpkin bread and pumpkin beer, if t’want for pumpkin we couldn’t live here; Pumpkin pudding and pumpkin pie, if t’want for pumpkin we should die.” Old saying, reprinted in The Vermont Phoenix, September, 1879 FALL IS HERE, TIME FOR BEER! Pumpkin. Beer. Something about those two words put together that gets us at The Hungry Herald all frothy under the collar. We can think of no better way to officially welcome back autumn and all of its bounty than to raise up a glass of the stuff and think on the season.  The leaves have been set ablaze and a-swirl …

MEET THE PUMPKIN: CINDERELLA, SOME LATIN & BABY BOO There’s something that we at The Hungry Herald seriously dig about the pumpkin and it is our honour to celebrate it in our very first post. Each year, whether we find ourselves waiting with Linus in the patch, or watching people fire pumpkins clear across the farm with pneumatic cannons on YouTube, or maybe wondering how Dwight Schrute just couldn’t get that sucker off his head, the pumpkin simply knows how to warm the cockles of our collective heart. And so, we humbly invite you to put on your pumpkin pants …