Wanda Hennig » Food Culture

Culinary Kenya: Tough old bird doesn’t cut it; Molo lamb does

editor — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 19:38:30 +0000

Story and pics: Wanda Hennig I didn’t go to Kenya for a culinary experience. I went with a commission to write about a nonprofit doing some amazing work there. Fortunately on any assignment one has to eat. (Except on our first working day, when nobody wanted to take the time to stop for food. Which was fine, because as I say, we weren’t there to eat. Although, isn’t it fun to fit in a little culinary exploration?) I flew Johannesburg to Nairobi last week on Kenya Airways, my first experience with what ...

On the road from Durban: Nambiti and Qambathi escapes

editor — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:29:29 +0000

We would set off from Durban and drive about three hours to Nambiti Plains Private Game Lodge. We would go on game drives, hopefully see the Big Five, and food-wise, there was a vegetarian focus. Next day we would drive to Qambathi Mountain Lodge, which also has game and where the food was reputedly excellent.

Story and photos by Wanda Hennig

“Dave says I’m Thelma and you’re Louise,” my food writer friend Anne tells me when she pulls up in her car to fetch me. Dave is her boyfriend. Thelma and Louise is the road trip movie. We are leaving on a road trip. We’ve done road trips before. For example, a memorable one where we visited cooking schools and foodie joints through Napa and Sonoma and wrote about them...

Berlin celebrates currywurst. So what about poutine and bunny chow?

editor — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:28:28 +0000

I thought I knew all about Germany food, sausages included. Bratwurst, bockwurst and leberwurst were on my family’s snack menu from when I was a child. And I discovered the joys of weisswurst while on a extended stay in Munich some years ago. But please excuse my gross culinary ignorance. I had never heard of currywurst until last week when I learned that a Deutsches Currywurst Museum opened in Berlin last year, near Checkpoint Charlie. I also learned that the fast-food urban snack has a cult following and countless fans. In ...

Zen and The Art of Vegetarian Cooking

editor — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:54:45 +0000

Greens Restaurant in San Francisco has an outstanding reputation for fine produce and creative food.

Story by Wanda Hennig This story was first published in Food Illustrated magazine, London, with photography by Richard Jung

A visit to Greens in San Francisco is a celebration of the senses. Dip your spoon into a bowl of butternut squash soup and delight in the delicate harmony of lightly caramelized onions and apple confit blended with a hint of calvados. Feast your eyes on a salad that marries fresh ripe figs with Kodata, Mission and Calmyra olives, melon, watercress and creamy goat’s cheese. Inhale and delight ...

Too many cooks? Not at this table

editor — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:05:28 +0000

When eight East Bay culinary divas stir the pot and spill the beans, what you get is a sizzling stir fry of raucous musings, candidness, collaboration, ebullience and deliciousness.

By Wanda Hennig — See full story in Oakland Magazine, November 2009 and Alameda Magazine, November 2009

They met around three tables pulled into a rough circle at Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland. During the roundtable discussion, the women talked together, talked over each other and talked totally off-topic — more like being at a good dinner party where wine and conversation flow freely. But there was no wine, just coffee beforehand and slices of carrot cake with walnut at the end.

Sex, Social Media and New Zealand (3): Blogs & Vlogs

editor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:02:07 +0000

San Francisco Culinary Travel Examiner: Blog and Vlog post links 1 – 8 8. Rotorua menu blends Maori hangi, haka, Swoop and Zorb. Eat, play, love, New Zealand (With video and slideshow) 7. Xtremely hot Maori lunch cooked in lizard cauldron (2). Video. Eat, play, love, New Zealand (With video) 6. Xtremely hot Maori lunch cooked in lizard cauldron (1). Slideshow. Eat, play, love, New Zealand (With slideshow) 5. Tiger Moth flights to freedom and romance woo lovers. Eat, play, love, New Zealand (With slideshow) 4. Matchmaking Flight: Who went? Why? Having a ball. Eat, play, love, New Zealand (With ...

The Zen of Food

editor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:22:04 +0000

It’s sometimes fast, always Slow, deafeningly quiet and a metaphor for life.

Story and Pictures: Wanda Hennig First appeared: East Bay Edible

“In Zen practice we want our intuition — our universal self — to come forth,” says Berkeley Zen Center abbot, Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi. “When you’re doing simple tasks [like peeling broccoli or breaking lettuce into bite-size bits], your body, mind, the broccoli, the knife, your hand, the breath, are all involved. When you keep bringing your attention back to what you’re doing — when you are simply one with your activity — it’s the same as sitting zazen.”

Cuisine Noir Magazine goes live — epicurean adventures for African Americans

editor — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:12:35 +0000

Oakland publisher discovers the joys of culinary diversity, educates her palate — and now, shares the flavors online Story by Wanda Hennig When V. Sheree Williams moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from the American Midwest, she had no idea there was such a thing as culinary travel. “In fact, the first time I ordered a salad out here (at the Oakland Marriott) and they brought me all this greenery that wasn’t iceberg lettuce, I thought — ‘What is this?’” she laughs. That was then. Now, less than a dozen years later, the ...

Are you a culinary traveler? — 22 clues

editor — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 02:40:13 +0000

You know you’re a culinary traveler when: Whether it’s a day trip, a weekend escape or a round-the-world vacation, what you eat and drink will be interesting, memorable and a highlight. Returning from a vacation, it’s not tschotkes that weigh down your suitcase. It’s the edible delights. Maple syrup from Quebec, a bottle of Clément V.S.O.P. (rum) from Martinique, Tabasco if you’ve been to Louisiana, your plunder from Harrods Food Hall if London was your destination. Returning from a vacation, food memories make you want to pack you bags, kick up your heels ...

‘Only in San Francisco’ Sunday brunch options

editor — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:22:48 +0000

San Francisco offers many different ways to spice up a Sunday brunch and pair entertainment with good food. From live to broadcast music, to a cruise on the bay, food lovers will end the weekend on a high note. The San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau (SFCVB) features many brunch options on the Taste SF section of its Web site. Here are a five brunch spots that offer “eater”tainment: “Gospel Brunch” 1300 on Fillmore 1300 Fillmore St., Japantown/Fillmore A classic “Gospel Brunch” the first and third Sunday of each month, where a powerful performance accompanies your ...