“Food is everything we are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.”
— Anthony Bourdain
I love to travel. It allows me to savor spectacular experiences and landscapes and gain fresh perspectives. For that reason and because I’m naturally curious, and I relish meeting new people, particularly those from other countries. I’m able to open myself up to new ideas, and it makes me feel part of a family beyond borders. Along with valuing different ethnicities, I’m a big fan of international cuisines, full of their extraordinary smells and tastes.
Our community is packed with talented folks who make intriguing dishes from their countries of origin. They enrich our area with their captivating cultures. In our cover story, we talk to several locals who share their customs, foods, and special events with us. You’ll find a few of their recipes to try at home, too. In addition, from Italian to Thai, Reno-Tahoe is home to great international restaurants. We profile a few of them and their flavorful global creations in this issue.
Some of my favorite stories deal with one-of-a-kind programs, projects, and people. Those pieces really intrigue me, and we have two in this issue. First, University of Nevada, Reno is one of the first campuses in the world to offer a robotic food delivery service. Next, NV Energy became the pioneering utility in the country to use goats to thin and therefore reduce highly combustible brush in the power company’s right-of-way areas to mitigate wildfire spread. After the summer we had — full of the terror of fire destruction and discomfort of living with smoky air — we know how important that is.
Plus, it’s the holiday season, so we offer a few stories for your entertaining pleasure, including making the perfect party platter, getting cracking on Dungeness crab season, and sharing a couple local coffee liqueurs at your cocktail parties.
The holidays are all about giving, so we delve into some thoughtful and innovative efforts to feed the hungry and help the food insecure in our region. These heroes need your help. Support their endeavors if you can.
We hope your winter is full of love and tasty local food and drink.
Cheers!
Amanda
About the cover Kelly Mattson rolls a mochi ball to demonstrate the December tradition of making mocha in celebration of the new year. Photo by Candice Vivien
