food should sound like something delicious

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@disasterpenguin

Nope! Not Irish. The potato just produces a lot of calories per square foot of soil for growing it. So it was a big hit. (Note that it’s not more nutritious than bread, it just takes less land and labour than bread.)

Other things from the Americas:

Cocoa and chocolate

Beans (except soybeans, fava beans, chickpeas, mung beans, lentils, and peas)

Squash (except inedible Eurasian gourds)

Avocados

Sweet potatoes

Vanilla

Tobacco

Pineapple

Cassava/manioc

And some American critters:

Chipmunks

Raccoons 🦝

Hummingbirds

Skunks

Turkeys

Guinea pigs

Llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, etc.

Turkeys

On the flip side, things that are not native to the Americas include:

Rice

Horses, donkeys, mules

Cattle (so also dairy), pigs, sheep, and domesticated goats

Chickens

Large dogs

Cats

Rats

Earthworms

Pigeons, house sparrows, starlings

Wheat

Onions and garlic

Citrus

Bananas

Honey

Sugar

The heat’s been brutal this summer but we still gotta eat! If you’re like me, heat might suppress your appetite, and the last thing any of us want is to sweat over a hot stove and oven when it’s already boiling outside. Here are some of my favorite hot-weather recipes to keep hydrated and fed with when the weather is unbearable! (All recipes should be un-paywalled).

NYT’s best gazpacho (lives up to its name!!)

Persian cold cucumber soup (if you like tzatziki you will like this!)

Eric Kim’s cold noodles with tomato (infinitely riffable Korean flavor profile — for a creamier and less brothy take, try these cold sesame noodles too)

Vietnamese chicken and herb salad (this is an excellent time to get a rotisserie chicken so you don’t have to turn the oven on)

Radish sandwiches with butter and salt (and in a similar vein, if you dig this flavor combo you should try this Polish cottage cheese dip on some good rye bread or even crackers)

It’s still a little early in the season, but you can never go wrong with a BLT (or, if you don’t eat bacon, try this tomato furikake sandwich in its place)

Infinite iterations of pasta salad! You can use anything you got but here is a template I like.

Assorted dense bean salads. This back pocket canned salad is a weird combo of jarred ingredients but it slaps, this hoagie-inspired one is super satisfying, and cowboy caviar is a classic for a reason.

Poke bowls! Canned tuna mixed with some kewpie mayo and sriracha is a budget-friendly riff on the usual ahi and makes everything taste like a spicy tuna roll, but use whatever proteins you like, this is more of a loose template.

OP: How to Make Qingshui Zongzi. (cr佳佳妹)

Qingshui zongzi清水粽, literally Plain Water Zongzi, is the simplest traditional zongzi. It only uses glutinous rice and bamboo leaves as raw materials, without any sweet or savory fillings like red beans pastes, smoke pork or red jujube. After boiling, people usually dip the soft sticky rice zongzi in white sugar or honey before eating. It highlights the natural fresh fragrance of bamboo leaves and the mild sweet taste of glutinous rice. This plain version is especially popular in southern China like Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Chongqing. Guangdong doesn’t have plain water zongzi; they only make jianshui/lye water zongzi碱水粽. Neither has extra fillings, but they are two distinct varieties with totally different flavors.

Authentic plain water zongzi are made narrower and smaller at the tip than regular zongzi. They have a perfectly mild, easy-to-enjoy taste and are steamed until extra tender, making them gentler on the stomach.

-ancient roman posca: water, red or white wine vinegar, honey, salt, herbs (coriander, mint, thyme)

-switchel: water, ginger, vinegar, sweetener, lemon, salt

-ayran: yogurt, water, salt, mint

-sees the reports of the heatwave in Europe-