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John Hellum

John Hellum is a retired long time resident of Qualicum Beach. He was born in Vancouver and grew up in the middle of the multi-cultured food world of that city and acquired a taste for all foods, even the most ambiguous, at an early age.

He moved to the Island in 1975 and got his first job as a bus boy at the Qualicum College Inn. He never looked back. Having graduated from the Malaspina Culinary Arts program in 1977 he continued to work both in the front of the house and kitchens of Vancouver’s finest restaurants "The William Tell" and "Il Palazzo di Umberto." Finally owning his own restaurant "The Judge’s Manor" in 1982. Ten years later after selling his restaurant, he traveled and began writing food articles and restaurant reviews for magazines and newspapers both on the Island and abroad. He continues to do this as well as some consulting.

His published book “Tales from the Man in the Black Hat”, stories about food experiences can be found at windshift.bc.ca. He has also published a book of poetry.

June 2010

Noshing

“Nosh", a Yiddish word meaning a small bite.

As is usual today, the noun has become interchangeable as a verb, thus ‘noshing’ is an eating style, a pleasurable snack time, that, ideally you share with a friend or intimate.

Noshing is perfect for two (although it’s acceptable for one or any number0, with wine or cappuccino.

With more people it becomes a more structured social meal, a brunch or late night repast. Informal, yes; intimate, perhaps; social most definitely.

Now that you have chosen your company, the place and style are next most important. Most cultures have a style corresponding to noshing…. The Spanish have tapas, the French have hors d’oeuvres, the Japanese have sushi, and the Greeks call it oretika, or meze, the Chinese have Dim Sum……. the list goes on.

Whatever the styles, the common denominator is the wide variety of small, tasty finger food that will appear before you, ready to be savoured at a leisurely pace.

Always order a wide selection that include bites of salty, savoury, sweet, spicy, hot, cold, soft, crunchy. All this sums up the enjoyment of noshing.... it is not a meal on the run, rather an approach to eating that has become a way of life. Cosmopolitan would describe a "Nosher".

Most live in an urban environment that would have a cross-section of ethnic restaurants, bistros, delicatessens and coffee house that engender schmoozing café society.

“The Greeks have been noshing for three thousand years” Vicki of Souvlaki Place says, “they have it down to a cultural art form”. Who would disagree with the veteran of noshing dishes….her grilled lamb souvlaki, grilled octopus, calamari, baked spanikopita, homous and pita, , olives, cheeses, Greek salad and finger-lickin’ baklava, form a feast of small bites to share over the strumming of the bouzouki.

Asian fusion has given rise to the menu that includes dim sum along with sushi. Larry Lim of the Blue Ginger says, “The Japanese have always had a noshing style; small, delicate, beautifully presented, to be eaten by the eyes first. This is intrinsic in the Japanese approach to food preparation”.

One of the most enduring images for a place to nosh is the French Bistro. It historically has the menu tailored for the café crowd.

Where else could you get escargot, pate’, onion soup, cheese boards, baked artichokes in butter, quiches, frogs legs, steak aux frites, baguettes, and lest we forget, French pastries.

The French culture has always been geared to the pleasures of food and wine…. In fact the Mediterranean cultures enjoy this joie de vivre. Perhaps it’s the clement weather, vineyards, or eating outdoors, but they have always encouraged eating in a casual intimate style, and this concept is becoming part of the North American tapestry.

 

Archive

January 2010	The Fine Art of Pushcart Cuisine	View
December 2009	After Holiday Feast	View
October 2009	Play Your Cards Right for this Game	View
September 2009	The Hills are Alive (With the Culinary Music of Chanterelles)	View
July 2009	Dressing for the Salad Set	View
June 2009	Curry Flavour	View
May 2009	Country Life Shakespeare has an arrangement with the Devil Dorothy Parker's dream suitor You might not lunch in this town again (or Eaten alive)	View
April 2009	Feng Shui in Cuisine	View
March 2009	Flying with the Flock	View
February 2009	The Wine and Roses of Valentine's Day	View
January 2009	Should Auld Aquaintance Be Forgot?	View
December 2008	Christmas Testimonial	View
November 2008	For My Dough-la Boulange	View
October 2008	Deer Liver and Sybil Leeks	View
August 2008	Divine Intervention	View
July 2008	Multicultural Cuisine: West Coast Fish	View
June 2008	In Pursuit of a Lamb	View
May 2008	‘The Taming of the Shrew’, overtaken by cats, usurped by ‘To kill a mocking bird’.	View
April 2008	The sudden demise, to the world’s surprise, of Jakob 'Le Fromage' Frimmel	View
February 2008	Life is the Pits	View
January 2008	Did You See That Escargot?	View
November 2007	Oktoberfest	View
September 2007	The Village Epicure	View

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