How Musicians Think About Food
Dear Food Enthusiasts, Welcome to the new location for The Fugal Gourmet. I started the blog in February 2008 on another hosting platform, and in January 2015 I added a collaborator. Since 2018 I have been doing this alone. It began as a form of correspondence between music colleagues who have an interest in all …
Previously, on The Fugal Gourmet, I paraphrased Mark Bittman's statement that one should be able to make at least 5 recipes without referring to a recipe. Elsewhere, I have discussed being able to improvise something with a set of ingredients. Today, at the Home for Wayward Muses, we harvested the first of what looks to …
Continue reading "Talk is Cheap (or, “I can show you better than I can tell you”)"
17 June 2022 Dear Colleague, In my life as an educator one of the things I do is teach culinary skills to young people. I am one of the faculty sponsors of our farm to table club. It was, this past school year, the most popular club on campus. Everyone is enthusiastic about our weekly …
Continue reading "Cooking Soundtracks: Inspiration, Meditation, or Metaphysical Alignment?"
20 January 2021 Barbecue Think about it, there must be barbecueDown in the pit or hidden in Cambros aboveWithout it, life is wasted timeLook inside your fridge, and I'll look inside mine Things taste so bad everywhereIn this food world, what is fair?We cook the line and try to seeBrining behind in what could be, …
15 July 2019 Born to Eat Tacos You know the song . . . Get your comal runnin'Make the chile puréeCookin' for familiaAnd whoever comes our wayYeah darlin' go roast poblanosTake tortillas in a love embraceEat all of the flan until itExplodes in your face. I like smoke and charcoalBarbacoa thunderGrilling in the windAnd that …
03 June 2019 This started out as a New Year's resolution and its back story. The New Year is now 5 months old so this is just about the back story and its underlying theme, the relationship between motivation and creativity. In the final 4.5 months of finishing and defending my dissertation I lost 45 …
18 December 2018 Dear Colleague, It has been too long since we've had a discussion about food and music. The circumstances behind the hiatus are not important; it will suffice to say that I have been thinking about many posts and the connections between food and my own music practice for the past few years. I …
Continue reading "Tacos are like ogres: they’re complicated (étude or essay: what’s the diff?)"
02 February 2015 Dear Colleague, As usual, I am always looking for ways in which to streamline processes and achieve maximum benefits or results with minimum effort and material (work lazy, not harder, or something like that). About 15 years ago I came up with an efficient way to practice flute and recorder, wherein I …
1 February 2015 Dear Colleague, I began a small-scale reorganization of the kitchen in order to put the tools I use most frequently in one place and closer to where the action is. During this process I realized that I have many more tools than I really need. It reminded me of the hiking – …
Continue reading "The right tool for the job: accordions over knives"
14 August 2013 I was, as usual, thinking about tacos. Tacos de carne asada with tomatillo salsa and the ubiquitous signifier of Mexican food, the lime. But what got me started thinking about tacos? I believe it was this article by Coriún Aharonián about a Latin American musical identity. Here is the full citation:Coriún Aharonián, …
Continue reading "Who are you? (or, Les goûts réunis en Latinoamericana)"
9 October 2012 Dear Colleague, Today I wanted to discuss the humble sweet potato. Or is it the unpretentious yam? Tasty and versatile, regardless of which plant, but the task of discussing this food item became formidable when I realized that, like trills, mordents, and flattements, sweet potatoes and yams are completely different plants. How different? …
Continue reading "“Sweeter than roses” (or, Can we come to an agrément?)"
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