By Julia Cosgrove  February 17th, 2010 3:43 pm  |  Comments (0)

Janera Soerel, who appears in an upcoming issue of Afar, is the founder and publisher of Janera, an organization that takes “global affairs out of academic and activist circles.” Through salons, workshops, film screenings, and meetups, Janera encourages conversation between global citizens. Next week at the Andaz Hotel in Manhattan, the group is hosting an event on Haiti. The topic, “Haiti’s Reconstruction & the Geopolitical Implications of a Permanent U.S. Presence,” is sure to spur lively debate.

Featured speakers include Bob Maguire, director of the Haiti program at Trinity Washington University in D.C.; Nikolas Kozloff, author of Hugo Chavez, Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S.; and François Pierre-Louis, an associate professor at CUNY who specializes in Caribbean and Haitian politics. Lenelle Moise, a Haitian-American poet and performance artist, will recite a few of her poems to open the program.

Tickets are $40 in advance and $60 at the door.

By Julia Cosgrove  February 7th, 2010 2:34 pm  |  Comments (10)

For each issue of Afar, our staff chooses a destination at random—by literally spinning a globe—and sends a writer on a spontaneous journey. The department, called Spin the Globe, is one of our favorites, because we never know what might happen. In the March/April issue, on newsstands February 9th, we sent writer and actor Andrew McCarthy to Ethiopia. Here’s a short dispatch we received from Andrew while he was on assignment.

By Julia Cosgrove  January 28th, 2010 4:51 pm  |  Comments (2)

Irish cheese at the Temple Bar farmer's market in Dublin's Meeting House Square.

An oversize new cookbook landed on my desk right before the holidays: The Country Cooking of Ireland, by Colman Andrews. For many years, Irish cooking has been the subject of ridicule, and this book aims to change that. Andrews—the co-founder of Saveur magazine, winner of numerous James Beard Awards, and an upcoming Afar contributor—is the author to do it.

Flipping through the book’s recipes of brown bread and smoked salmon, shepherd’s pie, and Irish stew, I was momentarily transported to the year I lived in Dublin. During the week, I was there to study Irish literature. During the weekends, I felt it was my duty to eat and drink my way through the city. First stop: Bewley’s, for an overflowing Irish breakfast and some strong tea. Then on to the Temple Bar farmer’s market, where I stocked up on freshly baked soda bread, flaky smoked salmon, and artisanal farmhouse cheeses like Gubbeen and Durrus. By the afternoon, I hit a cafe or pub for some reading, accompanied by a pint of Bulmer’s cider. Dinners often entailed “takeaway” from the local chip shop.

When I think back to that year, it’s not the names of books that I remember (apologies to all my outstanding professors). Rather, memories of food and drink come flooding back.

I know that some of you are as obsessed with food as I am. What are your best food-related travel stories?

Photo by William Murphy.

By Julia Cosgrove  January 13th, 2010 12:25 pm  |  Comments (5)

Like all of you, we at Afar have been reading, listening to, and watching the reports of the earthquake devastation in Haiti. We are deeply saddened by this cataclysmic event, and are eager to help the victims in any way that we can. Below is a great post from Chris Sacca’s blog What is Left? that links to organizations doing good work.

Please add to this list by suggesting other ways we can all help in our comments section.

1) Text “HAITI” to “90999″ to donate $10 to the Red Cross — Our friends at the US State Department, including Katie Stanton (@kateatstate), very quickly put together this number to channel relief contributions directly to first responders who will be on the ground there.

2) Text “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti – My good friend Wyclef Jean (@wyclef) created this foundation to permanently improve the lives of the most impoverished in his home country of Haiti. Over the years, the stories I have heard from Wyclef remind me of how hard the living is there. I am humbled by Wyclef’s commitment to the region and the impact Yele Haiti has there every day. Check out more on Yele Haiti.

3) Donate to Partners in Health (click here) — PIH (@pih_org) is already on the ground in Haiti and mobilizing their relief efforts. If you have heard of Paul Farmer, this is the organization he co-founded. Working to provide health care and education to the poorest of Haiti, PIH is the real deal.

4) Donate to Architecture for Humanity (click here) — Cameron Sinclair (@casinclair) and his non-profit Architecture for Humanity (@archforhumanity) can be found at virtually every developing world disaster site on the planet. These guys are a collection of design and housing geniuses who work tirelessly to provide shelter for the most deserving.

5) Donate to charity:water (click here) — If you know me, you know how passionate I am about charity:water (@charitywater) and its work to bring clean water to the 1 billion people on the planet who don’t have it. Recently, the organization’s founder, my friend and inspiration Scott Harrison (@scottharrison), traveled to Haiti to commence operations in that country and already thousands of Haitians have clean water to drink. As if the situation wasn’t already bad enough, the need for clean water only intensifies in the aftermath of earthquakes. Every dollar of your support to these guys goes fully and immediately to work in the field. (Update: charity:water wrote a post encouraging you to also help their partners in Haiti.)

6) Learn more about Haiti — So often we send token amounts of charity to far-flung developing world destinations. Yet, rarely do we have a sense of what life is like there. Thus, one of the ways I believe you can also respond to a tragedy like this is to commit to learning about Haiti, its culture and wonder, as well as its daunting hardships. To that end, I recommend reading Paul Farmer’s book Mountains Beyond Mountains to get a taste of the hard work underway. Also, be sure to watch Ghosts of Cité Soleil. Produced by Wyclef, and starring him as well, this documentary terrifyingly depicts the heavily armed gang leaders in Haiti’s poorest neighborhoods. Meantime, try following the Twitter accounts of the folks mentioned above. Each of us can learn something from them.

For Twitter lists of  information on the quake, try CBS News and NPR News.

By Julia Cosgrove  September 17th, 2009 10:12 am  |  Comments (1)

I have a soft spot for people who think outside the box. Emily Pilloton is one such person. She wants designers to make practical tools that help the world. As the founder and executive director of Project H Design, a humanitarian non-profit with nine chapters around the world, Emily was recently awarded a $15,000 Adobe Foundation grant to support work on her new book Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People. Project H tackles such social and environmental issues as access to water, global health, and education—all on a manageable, local scale. One of Emily’s first projects involved redesigning the hippo roller, an innovative water transport system, which she then delivered to a community in Kgautswane, South Africa. For another initiative, she and her colleagues installed a “math playground” at the Kutamba School for AIDS Orphans in Uganda (shown here). Check out Emily and her many projects in this inspiring, short video from Adobe.

Photo courtesy of Project H Design.

By Julia Cosgrove  August 27th, 2009 8:31 am  |  Comments (11)

Don’t worry—no rabbits are harmed (or used) in the making of bunny chow. For the full story on South Africa’s favorite street food, check out page 44 of the premier issue of Afar. If your interest is piqued, follow this recipe for homemade bunny chow, then upload your pictures of the finished dish to Afar’s Facebook page!*

BUNNY CHOW
(Serves 4)
Adapted from Cook Sister!, Jeanne Horak-Druiff’s food blog. A native South African, Horak-Druiff favors lamb bunny chow.

INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 medium onion, sliced thinly into rings
2–3 curry leaves
4 tsp Durban masala (if unavailable, use red curry powder)
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
2 large tomatoes, chopped, or a 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
2 1/4 pounds lamb, cubed
3–4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tsp garam masala
Salt, to taste
1 or 2 crusty, square loaves of bread (small farmhouse loaves are best)
Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

MAKE IT
1. Heat the oil and add the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, onion, and curry leaves. Fry until the onion is golden brown in color.

2. Add the Durban masala (or curry powder), turmeric, ginger, garlic, and tomato. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mix resembles a puree.

3. Add the meat and cook for about 10 minutes. Then add the potatoes and about 1/4 cup of water. Lower the heat and simmer on low. Keep an eye on it to make sure the bottom of the pot does not burn.

4. When the meat is cooked through and the potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes), add the garam masala. Test for seasoning and add salt if necessary. Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.

5. Halve the loaves and scoop out the centers (known in South Africa as the “virgins”), leaving the crusts to form bowls.

6. Spoon the curry into the half loaves and serve, garnished with coriander leaves. The virgin can be dipped into the curry and eaten as well.

*To upload your photos to our Facebook page, you must first become a fan of Afar. Also, please note that by posting your photos on our Facebook page, we reserve the right to repost the photos on our blog.

Photo by Maren Caruso.

By Julia Cosgrove  August 20th, 2009 8:30 am  |  Comments (0)

I Know How to Cook, translated from the French by Ginette Mathiot

Every country has one go-to cookbook that puts all others to shame. In France, that bible is Je Sais Cuisiner, or I Know How to Cook, first published in 1932, and passed down from generation to generation. There are 1,400 homey recipes included in this first American edition of the book, everything from such classics as coq au vin and cassoulet to such regional specialties as Provençale spaghetti and Breton navy beans.

Phaidon is the publishing house responsible for bringing I Know How to Cook to the States, and though the book doesn’t officially out until October, it’s worth pre-ordering for any Francophiles and foodies.

By Julia Cosgrove  July 29th, 2009 6:09 pm  |  Comments (0)

The crowd at OppiKoppi.

For the premier issue of Afar, I wrote about bunny chow, a South African take-out dish. During the course of my research, Afar’s cofounder Joe Diaz tipped me off to a film titled Bunny Chow, about a road trip to OppiKoppi music festival.

Held in the bush of the northern Limpopo province, the left-of-center music festival marks its 15th anniversary this month, with performances by such South African rock acts as Kidofdoom, Steadyrock, and Fokofpolisiekar. If you’re in South Africa, grab some bunny chow in Durban and hightail it to the bushveld.

OppiKoppi photo by ftbester. CC 2.0

By Julia Cosgrove  July 16th, 2009 12:40 pm  |  Comments (1)

Last summer, I spent a few days in Copenhagen visiting friends and exploring the city on foot and on bike—the two main ways locals get around. Modern design is present at every turn, and the city’s meatpacking district in Vesterbro is no exception.

We had brunch at a very cool new restaurant called Karriere (Flæsketorvet 57 – 67), which also functions as a bar and gallery. The souped-up space is the main draw—the Danish artist Olafur Elliason (famous for the waterfall installations in New York’s harbor last summer) did the glittery lights, and a trip to that bathroom is a bit like entering a mirrored labyrinth. All playful, all fun. Today, Karriere hosts concerts, conversations with artists, performances, and film screenings. If you’re in the city, it’s worth a stop.

Photo courtesy of Karriere.