Taking A Bite Out Of The Food Blogging World

It’s a dream job, but someone has to do it.

Matt Armendariz is the creator of MattBites.com, a food blog started in 2005. Since then, Matt has been named as one of the top ten food blogs by The Times Online, and has been featured in Bon Appetit, appeared on Martha Stewart, and the accolades keep coming.

All images by Matt Armendariz

Reading Matt’s blog is like reading emails from a really good friend, albeit a friend you are highly envious of. Matt has dined at hawker stands in Singapore and clipped grapes at Veuve Cliquot’s vineyards. But he doesn’t seem to let it go to his head. For him, it’s about experiencing all that food has to offer, from the immediate satisfaction that comes from cooking and eating, to the friendships forged by the breaking of bread.

But what makes Matt’s blog stand out is his photography. These beautiful images, styled by his partner (and former Passable cover boy), Adam Pearson, are fantastical food porn. We here at Passable have even once featured one of Matt’s images on our website, envious as we were of the subject matter. Matt has done photography for such clients as Pom Wonderful, Whole Foods, and Fiji Water.

Matt was kind enough to answer some questions for us for one of our Passable Interviews, as well as show us some of his amazing photography.

Passable People: MFK Fisher

It was a friend who told me about her.

“If you’re serious about food, you need to read MFK Fisher”.

I had never heard of her. It was 2004, and I had just started reading about food, but had yet to read anything other than cookbooks. I took the recommendation and went to my library and picked up “The Gastronomical Me” (You can read an excerpt of it here). The opening paragraph is of a memory she had, of eating and making jam with her grandmother, specifically the foam that rose and was skimmed from the top of a pot of strawberry jam.

This was a world I knew. Every late summer, my mother and father would make preserve upon preserve. There would be bottled peaches in light syrup, apple sauce to be canned, wild blueberries to be sorted and piles of salt used for making pickles. By taking herself into her childhood, she brought me to mine.

Born in Michigan in 1908, Fisher spent a large part of her formative years in California. It was there that she met her first husband, Alfred Fisher, in 1929. They soon moved Dijon, France, and travelled though much of Europe. It was during this time that Fisher learned about French food, in all its intricacies and nuances. In 1937, Fisher published the first of her many books, called “Serve It Forth”, a collection of essays and culinary explorations. A few years later, she published what is one of her most famous books, “Consider The Oyster”, an entire treatise, love song and homage to the humble bivalve. In 1943, she published “How To Cook A Wolf”, a book on eating, dining and cooking during wartime. She went on to publish several books, wrote for Gourmet during their early years, and kept putting out books until her death in 1992, at the age of 83.

With the recent onslaught of celebrity chefs, restaurants and cookbooks being flung at us, it seems like Fisher is a welcome respite. Simple, direct and enthusiastic, without succumbing to hyperbole – a common thing these days – Fisher’s stories are not just of food, but of the people making them, serving them and eating them. She was quoted as saying, “People ask me: “Why do you write about food, and eating, and drinking? Why don’t you write about the struggle for power and security, and about love, the way the others do?” . . . The easiest answer is to say that, like most other humans, I am hungry.”

In writing about that hunger, she speaks of all those things and more. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Passable Interview: The Feisty Chef

Renée Lavallée is, in her own words, “a chef, a mom and a crazy cheese lover”. Originally from Shawville, Quebec, Renée grew up in a gastronomically adventurous household. She has worked at Canoe, The Inn At Bay Fortune and more recently is the executive chef at Five Fishermen. She also writes a weekly column for the Arts & Life section of The Chronicle Herald. She even has her own website. But who is The Feisty Chef? Currently on maternity leave, Passable had the opportunity to sit down with her to talk for one of our Passable Interviews about her culinary upbringing, education and more.

What are your first memories about food?

My parents in the kitchen cookin’ up a storm; they were from the Julia Child era where they watched her show & tried to re-create. Memories of Crepes Suzette and chicken liver pate are still fresh in my mind. Also, they took us out every Friday night to try a new “cuisine”: Korean, Thai, Japanese, Turkish, etc….that was huge for me!

Did you think that was normal?

I did…I just assumed everyone else did the same thing.

The curd is the word

Images courtesy of Acadiana Soy

Whether you call it doufu, bean curd or tofu, it’s what Anna Anderson is making.

Anderson runs Acadiana Soy Products, making tofu and tofu-based foods. Her foodstuffs can be found throughout the HRM and in various stores throughout the province. But most people will recognise her products from seeing them at local farmer’s markets in the area. Passable sat down with Anna for one of our Passable Interviews to talk about her love of all things soy.

It’s the secret everyone in Dartmouth knows.

It’s about making it right.

For Tara MacDonald and Zane Kelsall, Two If By Sea is not just café, it’s an expression of what they do, and how they do it. Started in November of 2009, Two If By Sea has become one of the most respected and revered cafés in the HRM, with a highly loyal and devotional following. Drop in at any time, on any day, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a place to sit, but soon enough, someone will be gracious enough to move on, because they want you to experience what they just did.

And what they experienced is perfectly pulled espresso-based drinks and superb coffee, alongside wonderful croissants. Beside those two things, there is really little else on the menu at this little corner joint. And that’s the point – to do the simplest things, and to do them well. Zane Kelsall is an award winning barista (both by popular demand and critical acclaim) and Tara MacDonald’s croissants are legendary among Halifoodie cognoscenti. One year later, the popular spot is still busy, often with Zane manning the espresso machine and Tara pounding butter into batter for croissants.

The cafe is also proud of its Dartmouth pedigree. You’ll find little (and free!) ” I (heart) Dartmouth” buttons by the cash, and the staff (and even the patrons) are often seen wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the same logo on their chests. It’s been one of their big selling points, and is often discussed in interviews.

Tara sat down with Passable for one of our Passable Interviews.

Twitteringly Passable Posts

We here at Passable spend a lot of our time not only writing stories, but reading them as well, and we like to share that with our readers. It may be a story about food policy, an interview with a local chef, or a follow-up about one of the people we’ve profiled here on our site.

Subscribe to our Twitter feed for all kinds of stories, links, videos as well as notifications as to what we’re working on here on Passable.

Not All Artichokes Have Heart…

There they were, sitting in an apple basket, ignored. People looked at the funny, knobby tubers, wondering what they were. “Jerusalem artichokes”, said the farmer.

My ears perked up.

I had read about Jerusalem artichokes in various magazines and cookbooks, but didn’t know you could find them here. But there they were, neglected, waiting for someone like me to pick them up, buy them, and take them home. *

What we’re cooking up at Passable.ca

Coming soon to Passable:

Two If By Sea celebrates it’s first anniversary. Passable sits down to talk with one of the owners about what it’s been like for the cozy Dartmouth café.

Feisty Chef Renée Lavallée talks about her career, Nova Scotian food, and what it’s like to cook when you have two kids.

We also are working on interview with various producers/farmers from local farmer’s markets, including Peter Boudreau from The Fish Shop, Getaway Farms, Acadiana Soy and more. Stay tuned for more, coming soon to this site.