The Common Ingredient--LOVE
COLUMBIA, Missouri-- The website, www.thecommoningredient (psst: it's love!), was formed to help our neighbors with good food, comfort...
Nina Mukerjee Furstenau
Search
- Mar 27, 2020
- 3 min
The Carolina Housewife in times of trouble
The mysterious Lady of Charleston who penned the Carolina Housewife cookbook in 1847, fell in with the idea that a lady's name
71 views0 comments
- Mar 1, 2020
- 3 min
The language of coconut shrimp curry
By Nina Mukerjee Furstenau ORLANDO, Florida—We are eating a favorite lunch of rice with coconut shrimp curry when I ask my father about...
169 views2 comments
- Feb 5, 2020
- 2 min
Midwest foods cure the blues
By Nina Mukerjee Furstenau FAYETTE, Missouri-- In not-so-breaking news from the Midwest: casseroles cure the blues. I see this happen in...
110 views2 comments
- Aug 14, 2019
- 5 min
Yogurt: milk & mayhem
As Robin Sloan says in his delightful book, Sourdough, "I have come to believe that food is history of the deepest kind...
149 views2 comments
- Jul 14, 2019
- 4 min
Routes and roots
By Nina Mukerjee Furstenau FAYETTE, Missouri--My route home twisted through clouds. It was easy to imagine this as something customary on...
147 views2 comments
- Apr 28, 2019
- 3 min
What we bring to the table
By Nina Mukerjee Furstenau KOLKATA, India-- How long does it take for a food from another land to become your comfort food, your...
81 views2 comments
- Feb 15, 2019
- 5 min
In hot water: tea in the mountains
By Nina Mukerjee Furstenau DARJEELING, India--In the land of noble Himalayan vistas, steep slopes, and delectable teas, indoor heat is...
85 views2 comments
- Jan 11, 2019
- 5 min
An embarrassment of patishapta
By Nina Mukerjee Furstenau KOLKATA, India—On Sunday, I was making patishapta, an Indian crepe, not quite as I was taught. Okay, not at...
180 views2 comments
- Dec 8, 2018
- 3 min
Chhana: milk's leap toward immortality
Nina Mukerjee Furstenau KOLKATA, India -- Clifton Fadiman famously said, "A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it...
239 views2 comments
- Nov 19, 2018
- 5 min
Psst, may I speak confidentially?
KOLKATA, India-- I feel, as Lilian Boxfish did in the novel Lilian Boxfish Takes a Walk, that there’s a low-grade lunacy to life in a...
95 views0 comments
- Oct 26, 2018
- 2 min
When a war lord craves melons...
KOLKATA, India--What would a war lord, like Barbur, do for the taste of melon? Apparently, the 16th century central Asian prince, Zahir...
130 views0 comments
- Oct 7, 2018
- 3 min
Tracing clues on a trail of crumbs
KOLKATA, India—I’ve been reading a lot lately about what makes a food your own. At home in Missouri before leaving for Bengal to research...
257 views12 comments
- Sep 27, 2018
- 4 min
Satisfying our hungers
Nina Mukerjee Furstenau FAYETTE, Missouri -- In August, clear-yellow cloudless sulfur butterflies coast past my kitchen window heading...
217 views5 comments
- Sep 18, 2018
- 1 min
Giving a fig
My fig tree is nearly ready to give up its fruit. Every time I look at the green, slowly thickening bulbs, I know I have to be both...
100 views0 comments
- Sep 17, 2018
- 1 min
Welcome to"A Likely Story"
I write food and heritage stories that connect experiencing locales, people, and flavor. Follow this blog for short snippets of wonder...
115 views0 comments
{"items":["5e7e1e0e5b2d15001726c83f","5e45f46fcebe1900172c4e62","5e3b2987ce283f0018aeacc0","5df2d4f765b6b60017d80e1d","5d41ad974bb49a0017410068","5d1d7fb21e04530016c04a72","5cb5b98cb1994d00152ffe55","5c5e40eded801d0325ef0b52","5c3789bc57ceca001c10e7f2","5c03e1fcd6ab13001ac4adc1","5beafcf67ce1d7001aa8d4b4","5bd1d7eca2ea28001ab79bbc","5bb8ec2b86af310014c96380","5ba150e8ea3dcb010378096f","5b908e87cf2f600066519674","5b816ec7b008920227790804"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":940,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"value":"#F6F6F6"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":940,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":940,"galleryWidth":972,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}