The Tulsa Food Blog

Nestled up to the largest lake in the world, Lake Tanganyika, is the tiny country of Burundi. There, amidst the rolling hills and the lush tropics, live a people surviving on a simple bounty of beans, bananas, plantains, maize (corn), cassava, sweet potato, and peas. Peek under the lid of any Burundian pot, and you’ll [...]

America’s leading female grilling expert, Elizabeth Karmel has selected her favorite recipes – simple, yet tasty dishes that leave you with plenty of time to mingle and relax on your long holiday weekend. Since summer is THE season for outdoor cooking, you’ll be savoring the flavor of your favorite grilled foods from now until well [...]

Bulgaria will always make me smile. Exactly one week before I was to cook our Bulgarian Global Table, a young man from – you guessed it – Bulgaria came knocking on our door. I still haven’t pick my jaw up off the floor. I live on a tiny street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for goodness sakes! [...]

Something is fishy in Brunei, and I like it! With miles of coastline, fish and seafood (such as shrimp and squid) make regular appearances at the dinner table. Even if you’re not eating fish, your meal may include belachan, or shrimp paste. The tiny country of Brunei (about the size of Delaware) boasts rain forests, [...]

From the towering rain forest, to the coastal plains, we could spend a lifetime sampling food in Brazil. Almost as big as the U.S.A, to say that Brazil brings a lot to our Global Table is quite the understatement. I’m willing to bet you’ve had some of the local specialties. Take Brazil nuts, for example. These giants [...]

Did you know that, at Tulsa’s Pie Hole Pizzeria on Cherry Street, any pizza lover can purchase dough enough for a large pizza for just $3? And that just up the street at 6th Street and Peoria Avenue at Centennial Park on Thursday afternoons there’s a wealth of pizza toppings available at The Pearl Farmers’ Market?

Today is a great day. While learning about the food of Botswana, I raised my eyebrows at least five times. I love days like that. Plus, I almost convinced my husband we were going to be eating worms. That’s right. Worms. You should have seen his face. The people of Botswana prize Mopane worms as [...]

Oh, Bosnia and Herzegovina. No one told me! I feel as though a secret was kept from me all these years. Mountains. Valleys. Rushing waterfalls. Seaside resorts. As I looked through photos and videos of this country I am struck by how incredibly beautiful and timeless the land remains. Like the Sound of Music meets [...]

The holiday weekend has arrived, and at my house that will mean 3 things. 1.The pool will be put to good use. 2.The grill will be put to VERY good use. 3.At some point over the weekend I will want something quick, easy and cooling to eat. Salad is an obvious choice, but why stick [...]

Bolivia, you had me at “potato.” But then you went on to seduce me with corn, cheese, quinoa, cassava, and fried bananas. With these simple ingredients, Bolivians make an art out of comfort food. Imagine, for a moment, being served a dish of Plato Paceño – you look down at your plate to see a [...]

The rugged mountain-country of Bhutan is nestled in the Himalayas, between India and China. This largely vegetarian country is known for eating chili peppers (called ema) and rice in abundance. Just reading about their food made me break into a sweat. They actually treat the chili pepper as a vegetable, instead of a minor spice [...]

Tall, thin, and irregular, Benin juts deep into the African continent, resembling a smoked turkey leg (which just happens to be my favorite fair food here in Oklahoma). Thanks to this unusual geography there is a notable difference between the food in the semi-arid north and the tropical south. Traditional Cuisine: Corn is the starch [...]

This week’s Global Table is all about Belize. For those of you who have been following along, you’ll see that their food is somewhat similar to the Caribbean food we’ve explored in past weeks, with the common overlapping of flavors from Europe, Spain, South America, India, and Africa. However, Belize is unique in the number [...]

In my experience, the jokes about Belgians loving fries (with mayonnaise), waffles (with fruit and/or ice cream), and chocolate (of the highest quality) are true. They’ve got the right idea, don’t you think? The unfortunate part of their diet is the mayonnaise. My longest trip to Belgium lasted 3 weeks. That heartbreaking summer I volunteered [...]

BBQ Lovers of the world Unite…No Really. There’s a new BBQ hot spot where not just BBQ lovers, but also Hasty-Bake lovers can come together to show, tell and ask everything and anything BBQ and Hasty-Bake. This place is the new Hasty-Bake Forum called MyHastyBake.com. Its simple to join and even easier to interact and [...]

Even if you don’t know where Belarus is, you just might like their food. They thrive on hearty country fare and LOVE potatoes. One of their favorite ways to eat potato is grated and pan-fried in a dish called draniki. When they turn crispy and golden they are remarkably like hash browns. Belorussians also like [...]

Jimmy Buffett’s Caribbean melodies were the inspiration for this week’s Barbados meal. We even made one of his favorite drinks which I’ve called Spiked Coconut Water. The recipe is easy enough – 3 ingredients – and the smooth concoction goes down like iced summer. First, there is coconut water – full of electrolytes, healthy and [...]

If you like food that makes you sweat, you’ll enjoy eating Bangladeshi. The spiciest dish on our menu is the Red Potato Curry and it about blew my head off. In a good way. The reason beads of sweat trickled down my back? The addition of a teaspoon of chili powder from Laxmi Spices of [...]

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add warmed liquids and vanilla all at once to the dry mixture. Stir until well mixed, incorporating all the dry ingredients. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and set aside for about 20-25 minutes, allowing the dough to rise. Empty dough out onto a clean, floured surface. Knead by hand 6-8 times, it may be necessary to add additional flour to the surface to keep dough from sticking.

It’s getting warmer outside. At my house we are checking the pool temperature daily, waiting for it to be ready to jump in. Unfortunately, that also means pulling that swimsuit out of hibernation. Yikes. Having just returned from a week of wine and cheese in California, that’s a scary thought. This year, I’ve decided to [...]

Most of my readers had never heard of Bahrain before last week. All over the Facebook fan page people were asking “Is it wrong that I didn’t even know this country existed?” Like I always say, that’s the point of my Global Table adventure – we’re all learning together. Anyway, Bahrain is a teeny, tiny [...]

As consumers we often miss the big, or in this case, small picture. As you drive up into the hills of Sonoma Country (Valley Ford specifically), it’s easy to look around at the vast amounts of green with small herds of cows and flocks of sheep dotting the countryside and wonder to yourself how such [...]