That’s actually a great article. I’ve never known much Tull besides the Aqualung album, but on the strength of Anderson as a food writer, I’m intrigued enough to check out more from his band!
Chicken tikka masala, saag or mutta paneer, naan and rice I think might be my notion of food heaven. I really like poori, too. It’s fried bread. Damn … now I want Indian food,
Aloo gobi? That potato cauliflower thing. Very tasty. Dal is my friend- warm buttery spicy lentils. Yum. Butter chicken is perfect. There are all sorts of different flavours of kulfi. Practically all of them are divine.
Try Vietnamese iced coffee if you like sweet coffee. It has condensed milk in it. Pho is one of the most comforting foods in the world. The fresh spring rolls are pork and shrimp and veggies in a rice wrapper, and they’re good. Grilled chicken on vermicelli is good.
I haven’t had Indian food since I left L.A. Haven’t been able to find anyone who wants to eat it with me. I saw the local Indian buffet today. I guess I’ll just go by myself. The thing about the lunch buffets is that they’re a lot cheaper than dinner, and you can sample all sorts of things.
Vietnamese. (I don’t know how to make all of the diacritical marks, but I’ll try to get as close as I can.) At the local place I usually get the thit nuong (charbroiled pork). It’s served over white noodles and has the requisite veggies and fish sauce. (They put the veggies on for you, already cut up. I prefer the big separate plate that I can tear up myself, but pickings are slim up here.) Whatever you do, don’t use the fish sauce in the bottle. It’s nasty. Really nasty. Only use the fish sauce they make fresh. I’ve never come across any bad ‘house-made’ fish sauce.
When I lived in SoCal I could go to Vietnamese lunch in Little Saigon. Oh, that was good! Bun bo Hue (beef soup, as made in Hue) is like Vietnamese menudo. Really good. Another favourite was Bahn Xaio. This is like an omelette/pancake made of rice flour. It’s folded over and has shrimp, bean sprouts, and IIRC chicken on the inside. Foliage and fish sauce on the side. Really good. Bun cha Hanoi is similar to the thit nuong, except (as indicated by the name) it is beef. It also comes with a couple of tiny ‘hamburgers’. Cam tay cam is a rice bowl served in a clay pot with chicken, brown gravy and quail’s eggs. Nummy.
Ah, heck. You really can’t go wrong no matter what you get! It’s all good!
And the Café sua da is a must. You get an espresso sized ‘pot’ over a cup that contains sweetened condensed milk. It takes about ten minutes for the water to drip through the grounds. Nice and strong. Stir the coffee and the milk together, and then pour it into the glass of ice. Oh, yeah!
Clarification: It’s called mutter paneer. Peas and cottage cheese.
I haven’t seen anyone mention stuffed parathas as yet, so I’m going to strongly recommend them. Stuff 'em with potatoes, peas, cauliflower, methi (fenugreek), cheese, lamb… anything under the sun. Except fish, maybe - I’ve yet to taste a fish paratha. Have it with tomato & onion raitha on the side, and wash it down with lassi.
Biryani - spiced rice, with meat or veggies. Mutton biryani is the most popular.
I’ve only ever seen restaurants serving north India cuisine (outside of India, obviously), but I haven’t really gone looking so there might be some serving other regional foods. I love Parsi food - it’s a fusion of Persian and Indian cuisines, not bland and not too spicy either. Delicious.
I belive Canada has a large Parsi population, and there’s gotta be some areas where they live in sizeable numbers. Try the sali boti and sali malgi. It’s a mutton or chicken curry served with tiny potato fries. Mutton dhansak with brown rice is a traditional dish, and every Parsi home professes to have it’s own recipe passed down through the generations. Patra ni machchi - fish steamed with spices in a large leaf… it comes out melt-in-the-mouth soft!
Coastal cuisines are fabulous, but only for the brave. They’re usually very spicy. Y’all know vindaloo, right? There’s lots of seafood involved, and the coconut is a standard ingredient.
I would certainly encourage you to do so; Ian writes music every bit as well as he writes food reviews.
(Now, there’s a critique!)
Of course, Tull isn’t to everyone’s taste, but they are one of my personal favorite bands. Not to hijack the thread, but if you have the budget for dvds, I would certainly recommend “Living With The Past” as a representation of what they are doing now (I saw them a couple of summers ago, it was very similar), and “A New Day Yesterday”, the 25th Anniversary dvd (much more retrospective, with footage from the beginning of their career to the release of the disc: 1993).
Albumwise, it’s about personal taste, but feel free to email me (in profile) if you want my personal preferences in that direction.
Anderson is not only immensely articulate with the written word (as is evident in the food article), but also one of the most articulate with music (whether it be lyrics, composition, or instrumentalism). Very talented individual, and a very enjoyable band, who have been around for gasp! 37 years.
Damn. Still worth seeing though, if you get the chance.
Well, now I feel like an idiot.
(cue more Tull hijacks)
They’ve also just released the Isle of Wight footage (which I haven’t acquired, yet; but it’s ordered): Isle of Wight dvd. That would be pre-Aqualung.
Favorite albums of mine:
Benefit
Minstrel in the Gallery
Songs from the Wood
Heavy Horses
Bursting Out (live)
Stormwatch
Broadsword and the Beast
Crest of a Knave
Catfish Rising
[/hijack, with apologies]
…and now, No. 1…the FOOD.
The…FOOD.