Street Food, try the pig likker

Fast Lane Definition

Street Food-Street food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold in a street or other public place, such as a market or fair, by a hawker or vendor, often from a portable stall.  While some street foods are regional, many are not, having spread beyond their region of origin. Most street food are both finger and fast food. Street food costs less than a restaurant meal. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 2.5 billion people eat street food every day.

Street food is intimately connected with take-out, junk food, snacks, and fast food; it is distinguished by its local flavour and by being purchased on the street, without entering any building. Both take-out and fast food are often sold from counters inside buildings.

Culinary Quote Du Jour

“When people wore hats and gloves, nobody would dream of eating on the street. Then white golves went out of style and, suddenly, eating just about anything in the street became OK."

Jane Addison,quoted in the ‘Great Food Almanac’ 

Street food is some of the most vibrant and alive food in the universe!  I remember getting soft pretzels from a cart in front of the Benjamin Franklin Museum in Philadelphia on a cool day that had been warmed over a coal fire, awesome food simple, no mustard on mine please.  Who doesn't enjoy a Sabretts hot dog with cooked onions?  I tried to duplicate those onions and was way over thinking it, like all street food it was fast and easy.  When you go to the Orient you are in for a street food treat, many cultures can't afford to dine in restaurants, so the cheap eats of food vendors is all they can afford.  While watching the Olympic in China there is nothing the Chinese won't put on a stick and fry; water-bugs, starfish, scorpions, seahorses and snakes oh my!   Food on a stick is probably the most popular; here in American, we have ice cream, corn dogs, fried snickers and pig likkers.  At the North Carolina State Fair, any fair is a concentration of street food;  thick cooked bacon is threaded on a stick and dipped in chocolate.  An abomination,  but you will wait in line for it and the pig likker is good.  


In America we have a new truck movement, this had made street food very portable and accessible to those that may not have been able to take advantage of street food before.  Starting out as trucks that catered to the American laborer, these trucks carried cold drinks, coffee, pre-made hot food and sandwiches. Those times are long gone moving to step vans and trailers, your choices are limitless.  I've seen Korean tacos,classic French cuisine featuring  foie gras, Cajun cooking and classic desserts and cakes.  


The keys to street foods success is that it is good food, prepared fresh, fast and cheap.  The cooks and chefs are able to be more creative with locally available ingredients and vary their menus to offer food with a flair and flavor.  Even restaurant owners are putting street food on their menus, helps keep cost down and is an easily recognizable comfort food.


The next time you are out and about, try street food for lunch, you won't be disappointed.  When the fair comes to town, buy different dishes and split them with you friends and family, try stuff you might not eat.  By purchasing street food you are keeping your money local and supporting an aspect of your community that truly adds a unique touch.

Uni or Sea Urchin

Fast Lane Definition

Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from 3 to 10 centimetres (1.2 to 3.9 in) across. Common colors include black and dull shades of green, olive, brown, purple, and red. They move slowly, feeding mostly on algae. Sea otters, wolf eels, trigger-fish, and other predators feed on them. Their "roe" (actually the gonads) is a delicacy in many cuisines.

The name urchin is an old name for the round spiny hedgehogs that sea urchins resemble.

Culinary Quote Du Jour

"Do not overcook this dish. Most seafoods...should be simply threatened with heat and then celebrated with joy."
Jeff Smith (The Frugal Gourmet)

 Wow can you imagine eating something that resembles your grandmother's pin-cushion? Called "whore's eggs" by Maine fishermen since colonial days this; referring to the whole animal, they would steal bait from lobster traps and inflict nasty foot wounds on anyone unlucky enough step on them.   Considered a delicacy in Japan, Uni usually consumed as sushi or sashimi, Uni  can fetch up to $450.00 a kilogram.  A little wasabi and soy sauce and you won't taste much?  A crime to some who's favorite way to eat  Sea Urchin is to scoop it out of its shell, after dispatching, with a squeeze of lemon juice.   Eating the yellow egg sacs of the female Sea Urchin seem a bit risque to some, I believe this seafood suffers from an approachability issue. Mediterranean chef's have long cooked with Sea Urchin by offering it in omelets, scrambled eggs and paired with shellfish; sauces like hollandaise, mayonnaise and bechemels are other ways to work this fresh product into your dish or menus.  Consuming Sea Urchin  has really risen in the American culinary ranks as of late.  You can attribute this to the global "foodie" movement, where new and interesting foods are featured in a myriad of shows, literature and menus in the race for culinary excellence.  Another reason is the local food movement, they are readily available on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America, very fresh very local.  California seems to have really embraced this "uni-que" movement.  “We only serve locally-sourced and sustainable products, and uni is one of those prized ingredients” notes Executive Chef Chad White of San Diego’s Sea Rocket Bistro. “There is an abundance of sea urchin on the West Coast, especially here in San Diego, and I get mine direct off the boat daily. Rarely is there a shortage, unless the weather is bad and my fishermen can’t get out to the ocean,” adds White. His restaurant offers several uni-focused selections, including sea urchin pasta and a sea urchin shooter during happy hour which he claims, “creates quite the hysteria.”  Not sure if Uni or Sea urchin is for you?  This is definitely something to enjoy at a sushi restaurant to pop your uni cherry, than advance to more adventurous preparations, like raw out of the shell.   What have you got to lose?  Try it you just might find that you are a "uni head" and enjoy, crave and gotta have it for the rest of your life!

The Forbidden Fruit

Fast lane definition
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family (Rosaceae). It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans.

The tree originated in Western Asia, where its wild ancestor, the Alma, is still found today. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples, resulting in a range of desired characteristics. Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same root stock.

Culinary Quote Du Jour
"I know the look of an apple that is roasting and sizzling on the hearth on a winter's evening, and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream... I know how the nuts taken in conjunction with winter apples,cider, and doughnuts, make old people's tales and old jokes sound fresh and crisp and enchanting."
Mark Twain


Apples have been cultivated for 3000 years and come in over 1000 varieties.  The apple derives its name from the Latin pomum, meaning fruit in English, and is classified as a pome, a fruit that has many tiny seeds within a core at the center. They belong to the pome group as opposed to the stone group, referring to the type of seeds contained in the fruit.The forbidden fruit started with a bad rap with the temptation of Adam and Eve and their eventual expelling from the garden of Eden.  Cultivated to its current sweet, fleshy state by the Romans it became one of the worlds most beloved fruits.  The apple went on to live in American Lore with the story of Johnny Appleseed, AKA John Chapman a real man not a legend, he was a missionary that actually set up nurseries as he went leaving them in charge of land owners and neighbors and would return every two years to cultivate them.  He actually had a business plan selling shares in each tree.   Supposedly, the only surviving tree planted by Johnny Appleseed is on the farm of Richard and Phyllis Algeo of Nova, Ohio.   Some marketers claim it is a Rambo, although the Rambo was introduced to America in the 1640s by Peter Gunnarsson Rambo, more than a century before John Chapman was born. Some even make the claim that the Rambo was "Johnny Appleseed's favorite variety".  Unlike the mid-summer Rambo, the Johnny Appleseed variety ripens in September and is a baking/applesauce variety.  My Father-in-law J.P.Archambault makes a great applesauce using a mixture of apple type and it is hands above the canned stuff.  Here is my rendition of his highly tasty recipe, Applesauce: Peel and core a variety of apples. Cut into slices, put them into a saucepan, and add a little water or apple juice to cover the bottom of the pot. Start heat on high, and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium, and cook gently, about 15 minutes, stirring often and checking liquid to prevent burning. When soft, the apples can be mashed for a textured applesauce or put through a food mill or food processor for a smoother texture. Add cinnamon, ginger and cloves, and sugar or honey to taste and cook for another minute or two to set the flavors. Cool and store in the refrigerator.  This recipe freezes very well 

Slow Food Movement

Fast Lane Definition: Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.

Culinary Quote Du Jour “Slow Food is an international movement dedicated to saving the regional cuisines and products of the world,” says Patrick Martins, president of Slow Food USA. “It could be style: barbecue, cajun, creole, organic…anything that’s fallen by the wayside due to our industrial food culture.”

Slow food is how people used to treat food, the coming of the fast food giants may have produced fast food cheap but; the biggest problem with that is that the food is inherently unhealthy. Slow food is a concept that takes into account many different aspects of personal cuisine and is definitely healthier. Where the product is raised, method of farming and animal husbandry, seasons, local traditions and cooking styles are taken into account.. Slow food aims to be everything fast food isn't. There is a local slow food movement some where near you to find out about and join go to Slow Food USA. Slow food would mean a meal, at your home or restaurant that was source local, meaning within one day delivery. The food was farmed or raised in an environmentally friendly manner, using little or no chemicals and in the case of animals humane treatment. Cooking method and total usage of product is important; nutritiousness, waste and low impact preparation. I really believe that this is how our ancestors cooked, because they had too. You couldn't get strawberries out of season so you enjoyed and celebrated strawberries when they were in season. If food wasn't available locally you didn't eat it. Now with modern innovation you can get strawberries year round, due to chemicals and transportation, but their taste leaves you wanting. The slow food movement makes sense good, clean and fair food for everyone. think about it long and hard because this is the only choice for our culinary survival.