tandoor
Tandoori Cooking: When Clay and Fire Do the Work
A clay oven reaching 480°C, a cook with asbestos hands, and a cooking method that hasn't changed in 5,000 years. The tandoor is primal cooking refined.
Asia Food Chronicles
An in-depth culinary resource on the cuisines of East Asia—not for tourists, but for those who want to understand why food is the way it is. Each article explores the cultural, historical, or regional context behind a dish. The site covers street food, regional cuisines, food markets, restaurant culture, and culinary traditions.
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City Street Food: A Motorbike Rider's Eating Map
Saigon feeds seven million people from plastic stools and sidewalk kitchens. Here's how to join them.
Fermentation
Fermentation in Asian Cooking: The Invisible Technique
Almost everything that makes Asian food taste like Asian food involves fermentation. The technique is so pervasive it's invisible.
sushi
Sushi Beyond Salmon: Ten Pieces Your Omakase Is Missing
If your sushi order is salmon, tuna, and California roll, you're eating the opening credits and leaving before the movie starts.
izakaya
Izakaya Rules: How to Drink and Eat Like a Regular in Japan
The izakaya is Japan's answer to the pub, the tapas bar, and the therapy session. Here are the rules nobody posts on the wall.
plant-based
The Plant-Based Revolution Comes to Asia — With Complications
Asia has been eating plant-based protein for millennia. So why is the Silicon Valley version struggling to find its footing?
pad thai
The Origins of Pad Thai: A Dish That's Younger Than You Think
Thailand's most famous dish was created by a military dictator as part of a nationalist agenda. Pad thai's origin story is stranger than its flavor.
mochi
Mochi: Japan's Chewy Obsession Through the Seasons
Mochi in Japan isn't just a dessert — it's a calendar. Each season brings a different rice cake, a different filling, and a different reason to eat it.
Vietnamese coffee
Vietnamese Coffee: Slow Drips and Strong Opinions
Vietnamese coffee is made from robusta beans that the specialty coffee world dismisses, brewed in a filter that takes five minutes, and sweetened with canned milk. It's extraordinary.
Cantonese food
Cantonese vs. Sichuan: China's Great Culinary Divide
Cantonese cooking whispers. Sichuan cooking shouts. Together they define the two poles of Chinese cuisine, and choosing between them is both impossible and mandatory.
Thai tea
Thai Iced Tea: The Orange Drink That Hooked the World
That aggressively orange drink in the plastic bag with a straw is Thailand's most successful flavor export. Here's what's actually in it.
Gwangjang Market
Seoul's Gwangjang Market: The Oldest and Still the Hungriest
Gwangjang Market has been feeding Seoul since 1905. The textile stalls upstairs are interesting. The food alley downstairs is essential.