Two articles this past week make for good reading for the DC area, food obsessed:
1. Ethnic Groceries: Washington Post writer Emily Wax visits the ethnic food markets of suburban DC. She explores H-Mart (the Korean grocery store, most notable for its amazing varity of Kimchi). Dama Pastry and Cafe (with serves Ethiopian coffee and baked goods — and which I don’t think actually qualifies as an ethnic market), Yekta Supermarket, (a well-organized Iranian and Middle Eastern food bazaar. It’s in Maryland, so unfortunately I’ve never been.) and Halal Meat and Grocery (an Indian grocery and another Maryland find).
Unfortuately, the article leaves out my favorite market, Great Wall. This Vienna-based Chinese market has an excellent selection of Asian fruits and veggies (including the best lychees in the summer), a stand where the butcher will fillet a whole fish to order and all sorts of Chinese goods that I loved during my three years in Beijing but have never seen elsewhere. More on the whole fish later.
2. Raw Milk: The New Yorker covers the sudden burst of interest in raw, or unpastuerized, milk. I’ve never had raw milk, so I can’t comment on the taste or fabled medicinal powers. I’m always up for an adventure, so I’d be willing to ish ecoli to try it.
