They don’t eat horses, do they?

The news of beef burgers in several big supermarkets around the UK and in Ireland being contaminated with horse meat is all over the headlines today. It reminded me of this picture that I took in Brenham, Texas, last summer. At the time, I was surprised to see it — I’d never heard of horsemeat being an issue in Texas. I knew from living in France and visiting other countries that people do eat horse but...

Silent Sunday

Eating at the food trucks in Austin, Texas

Austin has been circling the food wagons for some time – food trucks have become such an institution in the capital of Texas that they’ve prompted innumerable blogs and even a next-generation fashion truck called Bootleg, which is a shoe shop in an Airstream trailer featuring hard-to-find labels.     We go to Austin every summer and every summer I love to visit the food-truck enclave on South...

The latest great American import: the doggy bag

The list of things America has given the food world is substantial: Velveeta, the Hard Rock cafe, the list goes on. But now one of our most widespread contributions has finally gained purchase on English soil: the doggy bag. So simple a concept. After your restaurant meal that you’ve paid for, you take home what you haven’t eaten to enjoy later. That might mean having yummy leftovers after a late-night...

Video: How to make perfect guacamole

As a Texan, I grew up eating guacamole. I moved to New York City, and went to expensive restaurants where the waiters made the guacamole at your table with a flourish of movements and dashes of this spice and that. It wasn’t until I went to a pool party and took charge of the guacamole for 50 that I realised not everybody understood the dark art of making a satisfying bowl of the green stuff, with a perfect...

Thanksgiving and 7 weird American foods

Today is Thanksgiving and this week I discovered the special “Thanksgiving” tab on Ocado shopping. I’ve never been so horrified in my entire life. I was expecting turkey and fresh green beans and pumpkin puree for pies, and they did have those things. But otherwise this special section doesn’t reflect very well on us Americans. Instead of potatoes, hams and yams, Ocado has Marshmallow Fluff...