Damaris Coulter of Coco’s Cantina speaks to Stone Soup about her new platform for independent eateries The Realness, about what it takes to be a good diner and about her experiences at the 2018 MAD Symposium in Copenhagen.
My pinalanggang ginikanan
My pinalanggang ginikanan
Back to my roots. Words and images by Charles Buenconsejo
I grew up in paradise, in a small town called Consolacion on the beautiful island of Cebu in the...
Urban abundance
Urban abundance
Growing the future with Ella Rose Shnapp and Levi Brinsdon-Hall
In March 2017, just around the corner from Ripe delicatessen in Grey Lynn, we moved into an old villa that...
Glorious Moments
Glorious Moments
Aaron McLean in conversation with Raj Patel; a writer, activist and academic whose work is centred around the global food system.
Raj Patel is the author of the books...
Summer seafood boil
Summer seafood boil
By Ralph Jenner
Charlie and I had been talking and dreaming about a Louisiana style crab boil for almost a year. One day last summer it all came together. We...
Head, hearts and hands
Head, hearts and hands
Will Bowman chats with James Millton
James and Annie Millton are biodynamic wine growers in Gisborne. Since the early 1980s they've been following their hearts, heads and hands, farming in...
Eat NZ Hui 2018 – Stone Soup booth
Each year Stone Soup sets up a video booth at the Eat NZ Hui. To keep the conversation rolling by giving a voice to the audience, and to take the pulse of NZ food that year.
At the Table with Tom Hishon: A conversation about waste
Douglas McMaster sets the zero waste standard at his Brighton restaurant Silo. Full article “At the Table with Tom Hishon: A conversation about waste”
Chasing tales
For Wellington chef Kelda Hains, storytelling is the key to a truly memorable dining experience Full article “Chasing tales”
Here’s Barney drinks the Cool-Aid at the C&C Chicken Coop.
Word of this guy Bobby Wayne slinging fried chicken and cornbread to those in the know out of his garage (which he called The Chicken Coop) spread like wildfire around the boys I used to play league with for Aranui in Christchurch. They quickly got a taste for the fact it was the most legit fried chicken around. Full article “Here’s Barney drinks the Cool-Aid at the C&C Chicken Coop.”
Monica Galetti – MERE
The first impression of MERE restaurant is one of precision. It is a space that precipitates the idea of a journey; each moment, area, movement through the restaurant is carefully thought through. Full article “Monica Galetti – MERE”
Thirsty work
You can just picture little Samrudh “Sammy” Akuthota running around his parents’ restaurant as a nine-year-old boy – garnishing his mum’s curries at the pass, helping prep entrees after school and delivering dishes to the diners with his signature pearly grin Full article “Thirsty work”
5 minute noodles
Use your noodle.
Fiona Smith & Ginny Grant share a couple of instant noodle alternatives that are almost as quick and way more tasty. Full article “5 minute noodles”
Root to Petal.
A collaborative story about Root-to-Petal week by Will Bowman, Ruby White & Jane Lyons. Full article “Root to Petal.”
Frontiers of flavour
The food movement has a tendency to deify heirloom seeds, and for good reason — they store incalculable genetic value and maintain diversity in a food system which has been engineered towards monoculture farmed with industrial chemicals. Full article “Frontiers of flavour”
High stacks, forks in space and giotto’s fig stack
these images are based on two ideas
artisans create value through years of trial through time and effort
where is the line between a meal and a work of art Full article “High stacks, forks in space and giotto’s fig stack”
PERFECT PAIRING – an homage to the career waiters of New Orleans
Words and images by: Jacqui Gibson
In the fine dining Creole restaurants of New Orleans, great waiters are revered as much as the great food. Jacqui Gibson meets waiter Troy Becker who recently traded restaurant management for waiting tables at Commander’s Palace – and hasn’t looked back. Full article “PERFECT PAIRING – an homage to the career waiters of New Orleans”
The Truth
Barbecue is a serious pastime in Texas. In Austin, folks line up outside the doors to Franklin Barbecue at six in the morning so they are first in when it opens at 11. Full article “The Truth”
Wild Food Love
As a family, we love mushroom hunting, and from open paddocks for ‘fieldies’ to forests for porcini, North Canterbury provides no end of habitat for adventure. Full article “Wild Food Love”
PROF. SAKURAI AND HIS KAIWAKA RICE
a short story by Ruby White
We were welcomed with overwhelming stillness. The house was perfect; thatched roof, mud walls, aged wind turbines turning lethargically in the garden. We knew we were in the right place when we saw the front door, a triple glazed shoji. With the Japanese sensibility radiating from everything, I felt like I’d been spirited away. Full article “PROF. SAKURAI AND HIS KAIWAKA RICE”
Good things grow
What could be better as a chef than to have a direct relationship with the people who grow your produce and an influence over what they grow? Or as a grower committed to producing high-quality produce to have an assured market, which is passionate about what you do and how you do it? A sustainable food culture and agriculture focused on excellence requires these relationships to thrive Full article “Good things grow”
The Good Oil
Matt Lamason didn’t realise when he started Peoples Coffee in Wellington 14 years ago that one day it would provide a platform from which he could do some utopian walking. But lessons from his adventures in pursuit of the perfect bean reinforced the principles he had been inspired by in his studies, and inspired him to aim for the horizon. And now, as they say, he’s ‘making a path by walking’, Full article “The Good Oil”
WASTED HOSPITALITY
Alesha Bilbrough-Collins of Christchurch’s BearLion Foods lays down a challenge to her fellow restaurateurs.
I really have no idea where to start. Someone once told me when you’re trying to train staff, start with the negatives then end on the positives, so they take away something good and hopefully things will improve. Full article “WASTED HOSPITALITY”
Brews before bros
Alice Neville is a female human who likes to drink beer, and she’s just about had it up to here with your sexist shit.
‘Smash the beer patriarchy’ is a phrase I trot out good-naturedly whenever I encounter an example of everyday beer sexism — the likes of being immediately directed to the wine list at a dedicated craft beer bar, or when some bloke attempts to mansplain the IPA I’m drinking to me. Full article “Brews before bros”
Slam, bam, no thank you Ma’am
When your dumpling lands with a thud on your table
William Chen finds out why service doesn’t always come with a smile at Asian eateries. Full article “Slam, bam, no thank you Ma’am”
Immigration
Finding good staff is no mean feat for restaurants in New Zealand. With much of our hospitality talent seeking experience abroad, we have a vacuum of local talent, which is eagerly filled by visitors from abroad. Full article “Immigration”
Blue Nile
By Martyn Pepperell
“When people come here, we want them to feel like they’re transported to Ethiopia,” explains Iman Mahyup. Full article “Blue Nile”
Chef’s treat
Chefs don’t always eat well, especially after a long shift in a sticky kitchen. I know a fine-dining chef – who I’m sure would rather remain nameless – who dreams of putting his stinky feet up and ordering a trashy chicken pizza from Domino’s after service. Full article “Chef’s treat”
Where Restaurants Eat
We like crowdsourcing information as well as funding at Stone Soup. And we like celebrating exceptional food as well as hidden gems. So we asked some questions of possibly the best source of information about where to eat, our country’s most celebrated chefs and restaurateurs. Full article “Where Restaurants Eat”