Category: soup

Cuba’s Most Famous Cook, Nitza Villapol

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/16/481397800/nitza-villapol-the-woman-who-taught-cubans-to-cook-with-just-about-anything
For decades, Nitza Villapol hosted Cocina al Minuto, a popular cooking show in Cuba. In the decades after Fidel Castro took power, she adapted her cooking, teaching Cubans how to cook without certain ingredients while instructing them with new ways.

The most famous chef in Cuban history is named Nitza Villapol. She was born on November 20, 1923. Nitza was born to Cuban exiles in New York but moved back to Cuba by the time she was 11. She learned to cook by watching her mother, who focused on quick and easy meals. Her mother believed that women should spend as little time in the kitchen as possible. Nitza went on to study nutrition in London but wasn’t a chef.

After reading about Cuba’s very first television station launching in 1948, Nitza wrote a letter to the owner pitching her idea for a cooking show. The owner liked the idea and created a space for Nitza.
Her show Cocina Al Minuto ran on television for almost 50 years, airing its last broadcast in ’97. Nitza featured many dishes from around the globe over the years.

Nitza’s cooking show was very popular in Cuba after the fall of the USSR and her cookbooks are now worth a small fortune. There are many versions of her first cookbook and they are priced anywhere from $650 – 750. I saw one book with 315 recipes where the asking price was $2607! It’s not like these books are everywhere either. Currently they are mostly unavailable. Be warned, there are also many fakes. My curiosity about Nitza definitely has been stirred.

Nitza passed to the big kitchen in the sky on October 20, 1998

Evil Dictator’s Eat Too

‘How To Feed A Dictator’ by Witold Szablowski is an interesting book that the curious and food loving Dude came across while wondering about what leaders eat. I bought it on Amazon on 1.20.25 and 9 days later it arrived. An easy and interesting read that still took me a month to finish while reading now and then in some spare time.

It must have been an odd existence to cook for some of these folks Witold wrote about as sometimes these rebels were on the run or hiding in the jungle. In Saddam’s case he ran from palace to waiting palace, all of which ran at full operation as if he were in house, even if he was not. Many chefs who cooked for a dictator didn’t live to tell about the experience. The chefs in this book lived.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/541891/how-to-feed-a-dictator-by-witold-szablowski-translated-by-antonia-lloyd-jones/How to Feed a Dictator, by Witold Szablowski

The cover of the book tells all the dictators that these chefs cooked for in the past. This is a light read. The stories are short and this book can be picked up and put down easily without losing track of what’s happening.

Thank you Witold. Keep up the unique and interesting reporting and writing.

Sincerely, the Dude of Food

The Dude of Food has a favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

Sadly, Hue House has closed.

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The Hue House, was located in Munchen, Germany, and was the best Vietnamese food the Dude of Food has ever tasted. It came recommended from 3 of my 5 friends in Munich and the Hue House menu was found in 2 of their kitchens! My first trip there was with a party of 4 and everyone asked for something different.

Arriving at the table before the main courses were served were the best spring rolls the Dude of Food has ever had the pleasure of eating. These things were hot but not oily. Slightly crispy and full of vegetables and light. These springs rolls were a delicious food conundrum dancing delicately between the tastes of awesome and unreal.

Then the Hue House laid out 4 main courses in front of us. All of the dishes were incredible and we couldn’t decide which dish was the best. They were fresh and incredibly delicious.

Thank you for all the great tastes Hue House. You are missed.

The Dude of Food is curious to experience your food product.

After years of independent merchandising for surf companies and the Hawaiian Tropic brand, the Dude of Food is switching gears and working on a list of quality food and beverage products to offer in his upcoming market.

If your company is looking to get in other markets, whether domestic or international, then please by all means let’s talk.

The Dude of Food can be emailed at- weallgottaeat (at) g mail (dot) com

Eat well and be happy.

The Dude of Food

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Bon appetit!

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The Original Soup Man of New York

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The original Soup Man

If you have not tried this Jambalaya then you need to!

Great on its own or as a base for your own recipe.

“Yum , thanks Soup Man!” the Dude of Food