Eating In Translation

Kachin Traditional Food Fair

From the most recent food fair, a go-pack of vigorously seasoned pork parts: liver, kidney, intestine, heart.

Previously: At home in the high country of northern Burma, the Kachin people once had little access to cooking oil. Traditionally, Naomi Duguid writes in Burma: Rivers of Flavor, they relied on "grilling, steaming (in leaf-wrapped packages), or boiling to cook their food." These days, she adds, many Kachin live at lower altitudes, where they have "less access to wild-gathered leaves" but find that oil is more available.

Kachin cooking techniques have evolved accordingly, Duguid notes. Even so, an old-school banana-leaf bundle like the one shown below, filled with steamed fish, greens, and chiles, will always find room at the table. For more food-fair highlights, see my photo collection on Flickr.

Kachin Traditional Food Fair
Elmhurst Baptist Church, 87-37 Whitney Ave. (Judge-Ithaca Sts.), Elmhurst, Queens
www.Facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1873772302698412&id=1098160883592895
(The 2018 food fair was held on October 20)

New York-area food events, November 15-22

The Serious Side of Food Reading: The Jungle
Thursday, November 15, 5:30-7:00; continues monthly through March 2019
NYC Department of Records and Information Services, 31 Chambers St. (Elk-Lafayette Sts., in the Rebecca Rankin Reading Room), Manhattan
www.Eventbrite.com/e/the-serious-side-of-food-reading-series-w-jane-ziegelman-and-andrew-coe-tickets-49503054970
Free admission with online registration

Taste of Ridgewood
Thursday, November 15, 6:30-9:30
Ridgewood YMCA, 69-02 64th St. (at Catalpa Ave.), Ridgewood, Queens
www.YMCANYC.org/ridgewood/pages/Taste-of-Ridgewood2
Tickets: general admission, $50; proceeds benefit the Ridgewood YMCA

Kindness & Salt
Thursday, November 15, 7:30-8:30
Books Are Magic, 225 Smith St. (at Butler St.), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
www.Facebook.com/events/276348339530992
Free admission

Brooklyn Bugs
Continues Thursday and Friday, November 15-16, various times
Brooklyn Kitchen, 100 Frost St. (at Meeker Ave.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.BrooklynBugs.com
See website for ticket details

Wat Buddha Thai Royal Kathin Celebration

At the end of Thailand's rainy season — in not-so tropical New York, this falls sometime in mid-autumn — lay Buddhists present the monks at their local temple with the saffron robes called kathin (sometimes, katin). The offering of respects to the monks, and to the temple, is accompanied by food prepared by congregants and by Thai restaurants. All are welcome to partake, bearing in mind the spirit of the occasion — not so much food frenzy as good fellowship. A donation to the temple is welcome, too.

At the most recent celebration, I arrived as the food stations were still setting up and was treated to a golden sticky rice cake, impregnated with sweet beans, while it was still warm from the grill. Perhaps next year I'll have a chance to try one of its purple cousins. For more photos from multiple years of this celebration, see my album.

Wat Buddha Thai Royal Kathin Celebration
Wat Buddha Thai Thavorn Vanaram, 76-16 46th Ave. (76th-78th Sts.), Elmhurst, Queens
www.WatThaiNYC.com
(The 2018 celebration was held on November 11)

New York-area food events, November 8-15

Polish Table: Mine, Yours, Ours
Thursday, November 8, 5:00-7:00
Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza (at Eastern Pkwy., 2nd fl. computer lab), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
www.BklynLibrary.org/calendar/polish-table-mine-yours-central-library-second-20181108
Free admission

The Nordic Baking Book
Thursday, November 8, 7:00-???
Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave. (37th-38th Sts.), Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/events/2037683899585851
Tickets: $50, admits up to four people and includes one signed copy of the book

Solo: Anita Lo in conversation with Matt Rodbard
Thursday, November 8, 7:30-8:30
Books Are Magic, 225 Smith St. (at Butler St.), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
www.Facebook.com/events/735362930147833
Free admission

Smorgasburg at World Trade Center Food Festival
Thursday through Saturday, November 8-10, noon-7:00
The Oculus Plaza, Manhattan
www.Facebook.com/smorgasburg/photos/gm.2395863487096747/1995815760487795
Free admission

St. Spyridon Greek Food Festival and Bazaar
Friday and Saturday, November 9-10, noon-5:00; Sunday (including dancing and live music), noon-4:00
St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church, 124 Wadsworth Ave. (179th-180th Sts.), Manhattan
www.SaintSpyridon.net/assets/images/PhiloptochosFestival2018.jpg
Previously: www.EatingInTranslation.com/2013/11/st-spyridon-greek-food-festival-and-bazaar.html
Free admission

Kahtein celebration

Although I couldn't read the Burmese script above the entryway, a glance inside revealed the trappings of a familiar observance. Like the Kathina celebration of Thailand, the Kahtein celebration of Myanmar is an occasion for lay Buddhists to offer robes, food, and other items to the monks of their local temple, and to share food and fellowship themselves. This particular gathering was a joint celebration of congregations from New York and from the Tidewater region.

Kindly offered to a passing stranger: mohinga, the beloved rice-noodle fish soup that's often considered the national dish of Myanmar, soon followed by milk tea and a quivering plateful of sweets.

Kahtein celebration
Unexpectedly encountered while walking by in Elmhurst, Queens

New York-area food events, November 1-8

The Donut: History, Recipes, and Lore from Boston to Berlin
Thursday, November 1, 6:00-8:00
NYC Municipal Archives, 31 Chambers St. (Elk-Lafayette Sts., in the Rebecca Rankin Reading Room), Manhattan
www.Eventbrite.com/e /book-talk-the-donut-history-recipes-and-lore-from-boston-to-berlin-fundraiser-for-ny-archival-tickets-50789487725
Suggested donation: $20
Via The Chef's Connection

Storytelling Cafe: Cannoli, Kanafe, and Kulfi
Thursday, November 1, 7:00-9:00
City Lore, 56 East 1st St. (First-Second Aves.), Manhattan
www.CityLore.org/event /storytelling-cafe-cannoli-kanafe-kulfi-hosted-by-annie-lanzilotto
Tickets: $15 advance/$20 onsite

Bitten: A Food Conversation
Thursday, November 1, 8:30-3:30
SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd St. (Eighth-Ninth Aves.), Manhattan
www.ThisIsBitten.com
Tickets: $225 and up

Opening: Smorgasburg x Vice Night Market
Friday, November 2, 6:00-late; continues weekly through December 21
The Villain, 50 North 3rd St. (Wythe-Kent Aves.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
https://NightMarket.Smorgasburg.com
Free admission with online RSVP; after 8:00, ages 21 and over only

Malaysia Food Fest

Richly stained by the edible blue petals of the butterfly pea, this infusion (compliments of Rasa) was tempered by a solitary stalk of lemon grass. I brushed it aside more than once, like a swizzle stick, and only afterward realized that it might have served as a straw — a biodegradable straw, at that.

Also shown: daging masak hitam, beef in a spicy black sauce (by Perwakilan NY) and a rendition of the peanut-dressed salad called rojak (by Aux Epices) replete with mango, pineapple, jicama, and cucumber.

Malaysia Food Fest
Confucius Plaza, 17 Bowery (near Pell St.), Manhattan
www.MalaysiaFoodFest.com
(The 2018 festival takes place October 20-21)

Penny's Pastries

Sweet-potato crumb cake cross-hatched by sour-cream sauce — the latter added at the moment of purchase. More people than you might believe were willing to do without.

Penny's Pastries
At the Harlem Harvest Festival, St. Nicholas Ave. between 117th and 118th Sts., Manhattan
www.HarlemHarvestFestival.com
(The 2018 festival was held on October 6)

National Humanitarian Fundraising for Myanmar Food Fair

Follow the money: At a recent Burmese fundraiser, shrimp fritters arrived fashionably late and quickly drew a crowd.

GIPSVG Annual Culture Pot

The Garifuna Indigenous People of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (GIPSVG) parted ways, more than two centuries ago, with the Garifuna of coastal Central America; that their festival foods are so different is little surprise. No judutu here. My smoke herring platter was filled out by madungo bakes, made from arrowroot starch, and what might look like a typical humdrum potato salad — except those are chunks of breadfruit. Usually my dining buddies and I take pains to avoid duplicating dishes, but for breadfruit salad we made an exception.

Also shown: tri-tri, well-seasoned fish fritters; a thin, granular, griddled flatbread called cassava bam bam; ducuna, a sweet potato dumpling; and a peanut sugar cookie, no explanation needed.

GIPSVG Annual Culture Pot
Friends-Crown Heights Education Center, 1435 Prospect Pl. (Utica-Rochester Aves.), Crown Heights, Brooklyn
www.Facebook.com/events/591037551267801
(The 2018 festival was held on August 11)