Worldcrunch
BUENOS AIRES – Felicitas Pizarro’s huge smile is more than just glowing, it’s contagious. And now her life and her smile are about to enter radically new territory: Pizarro, a passionate amateur chef, is set to step up to the highest ranks of the foodie world, with the help of none other than British-born culinary […]
Kim Pasche set off from Switzerland to follow in the footsteps of indigenous people. That led him to the wild forests of Canada, where he spends eight months a year living as a hunter-gatherer.
Long flight delays have a price, but the airline industry is applying serious downward pressure on European regulators.
In Poland, Catholics have already seen it all on the religious front at home. To expand their spiritual horizons, many now look for new religiously significant destinations farther afield.
VERONA — One honeymoon. 90,000 kilometers. 321 days. Two rules: 1) never take an airplane, and 2) never pay more than 15 euros for a meal for two. Elisa Bocca, a 32-year-old interpreter, and Alessandro Bocca, a 37-year-old photographer, are the Italian stars of this global honeymoon. They travelled through the United States, Mexico, South […]
If fast food is a symbol of the world’s Western domination, then their franchises are like lone scouts inspecting the area before the rest of the army arrives. To satisfy their traveling Western customers or to gain new ones, the biggest fast-food chains have, sometimes unintentionally, set up shop in some of the most remote, […]
BERLIN – Denise from Sossenheim does it. “Mmm…,” it says under the picture of ochre-yellow lentil soup. David from Berlin does it too. On his Facebook page he shows what looks like the pizza he ordered for lunch with the words “Super Pizza” written underneath the image. For many young people, photographing their food and […]
For most vacationers this summer, it was a choice of beach, countryside or cultural capitals. Of course the world is also full of places where most people would never consider spending a holiday. But leave it to the tourism industry to cash in on the strange and creepy too. Take a look. “Sailing stones” in […]
BEIJING — For more than 100 years now, the food additive commonly known at MSG (monosodium glutamate) has been used all over the world to make dishes more savory. But the Chinese in particular are losing their taste for the ingredient, having embraced an irrational fear of what authorities around the world regard as a […]
Here, the cheese is so pure that if the wheel is yellow, you know the cows have been eating dandelions…
DA LAT — It’s 30°C (or 86°F) on the high plateaus of Lam Dong in the southern central part of Vietnam. Hanoi is two-and-a-half hours away by car, and the damp heat envelops the coffee trees, their supple branches fanning out and loaded with green coffee cherries. As the second-largest global coffee producer, Vietnam lags […]
HANNOVER – It’s 2 p.m. on an early summer Wednesday at an Autobahn rest stop near Hannover, in north-central Germany. Robert, starting out on the last big stage of his journey, plans to hitch a ride to Cologne. He’s making an unusual exception to journeymen rules on this one — letting a non-journeyman like me […]
MUNICH – It would certainly be nice if all customers were treated well when they shop in supermarkets. But can supermarket employees also expect to be treated with respect? Recently, in a London branch of the UK’s Sainsbury’s chain, a checkout lady refused to serve a customer because the employee felt ignored — the shopper […]
SETE – French poet Paul Valéry called it “the singular island” – an expression that the inhabitants of Sète have adopted as their own. How else to describe this quasi-archipelago at the foot of Mount Saint-Clair, bordered in the north by the string of lakes that make up the Etang de Thau, and in the […]
MOSCOW – Legal vodka production in Russia was down nearly 40% in June from the same month last year. Could this mean that Russians are suddenly less devoted to this nationally beloved libation? Do they have fewer sorrows to drown? Unlikely. Instead, tax hikes on alcohol have made it more difficult for legal producers to […]
SAGONE – Ecstatic strawberry; erotic nougat; the forgotten flavours of violets, helichrysums, and Persian black limes… Can ice-cream contain a touch of genius? If it’s Pierre Geronimi making it, absolutely! An artisanal ice-cream maker from the little village of Sagone, north of Ajaccio, this Corsican grew up surrounded by the sorbets that his father, a […]
SOUTHERN URBAN DAILY, CNTV (China) Worldcrunch SHENZHEN – Magical elixir for those suffering? Status symbol for China’s super rich? Or just plain…CREEPY!? The Southern Urban Daily was the first to report on the growing popularity among wealthy Chinese for drinking human milk. “Human milk is the best of tonics, it’s even better than bird’s nest […]
Some like to travel for the breathtaking sights, some want to discover exotic new cultures. But the real adventure often comes delivered on your plate. We know our classics, here at Worldcrunch: the French eat frogs and the Cambodians eat bugs. We went a bit further than that. Way further. Now, fasten your eatbelts as […]
Worldcrunch The sun is shining, the sky is blue and it’s time to head to the beach. But, where? According to travel website Tripadvisor earlier this year, the best beach in the world is in Lampedusa, Sicily. Each year their list is released, which also rates hotels, entertainment and destinations, which is compiled thanks to […]
VALETTA – It is an inhospitable rock floating in the Mediterranean Sea. A piece of coralline limestone blown by the winds and burned by the sun with a layer of earth so thin that nothing much can grow on it. Welcome to Malta, a simple and unpretentious place. Yet, this archipelago comprising eight islands – […]
Idjwi is a rare example of a preserved ecosystem in the troubled eastern Congolese region. But poverty and crop disease are now putting this tranquil island at risk too.
It’s summer time here in Paris and we are already stacked up on ice cold deliciousness. Over in Berlin, Die Welt is reporting that George Clooney got it right when he paid for a round of ice cream for residents of the German capital inconvienced by his film crew shooting in their neighborhood earlier this […]
DUBAI – Beer? Of course not! Sayed Kamal looks at his guests with astonishment. Alcohol is only served in the big hotels. This is a youth hostel! It is in fact the only youth hostel in Dubai. “But I can offer you something similar,” says blue-shirted, tie-wearing Kamal as he emerges from behind the counter […]
GAMCHEON – It has been called the “Lego village,” the “Korean Machu Picchu,” the “Santorini on the South Sea…” Gamcheon, in South Korea’s southern port city of Busan is indeed all of these – a multicolored village that looks like it was made out of candy, with its little green, yellow and blue hillside cubicle […]
GENEVA – Have you ever thought about the fact that a couple with three children is at a numerical disadvantage and faces the risk of munity every day? Imagine what would happen if the kids started forming alliances – that would be the end of parental authority. Did you know that just two very determined […]
The sweet (and unhealthy) underbelly of the region’s economic growth.
HAVANA – Black-and-white images of Che Guevara and a clumsy Fidel Castro, dressed in military attire, leaning on his golf club a few feet away from the hole, gave way to many years of ostracism towards golf in Cuba. Cubans still don’t know why golf courses were suddenly converted into public institutions. Was it because […]
MOSCOW – The 9,265-kilometer trip across Russia, from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok, via the Transiberian Railroad, the world’s longest railroad, is the most popular product for the British tour operator Russia Experience. The trip is 16 days long, with a full week spent on the train. Tourists can decide how to spend the rest – […]
MOSCOW – Natasha writes “Frank, 11:20 a.m.” on a slip of white paper and hangs it on the pin board behind the counter next to “Nina and Katya, 10.55 a.m.,” “Sergei, 11 a.m.” and other names. Then she opens an antique cabinet filled with dozens of old alarm clocks and watches, all different, but with […]
NEW YORK – Some people are hailing it as a culinary revolution. One thing is certain, the re-introduction of certain banned Italian pork products after 15 years represents some serious business opportunities. Italian businesses will now be able to sell “Made in Italy” pork products such as salami, pancetta, air-cured pork, and culatello Parma ham […]
Reinheitsgebot is the name of the German Beer Purity Law, which states that only barley, water and hops may go into beer. Reinheitsgebot is also the best-known German word in Namibia. April 23, marked the 497th anniversary of the proclamation of that law in Bavaria, and in Namibia the anniversary is always cause for celebration. […]
Worldcrunch MANILA – The Mayon Volcano near the Philippine capital erupted Tuesday, killing four German climbers and their local guide. The BBC reported that they were hit by falling rocks. “Small phreatic event” is how it was characterized by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. This time, the mountain only spat ash and rocks […]
ROME – Springtime at her villa must have been something beautiful indeed. Livia was the wife of the emperor Octavian, also known as Caesar Augustus, and her villa was surrounded by a breathtaking landscape that was unparalleled anywhere in the surrounding areas of Rome: hills, fields, and the Tiber river flowing by. Built along the […]
PUNTA PIRULIL – You probably couldn’t live any further west than Don Orlando does. He lives in Punta Pirulil on the western edge of the green island of Chiloé, off the coast of Chile. In his book In Patagonia, British writer Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) described Chiloé as an island of “black storms and black soil.” […]
Worldcrunch LONDON – The annual list of the world’s 50 best restaurants is out… and the Internet is officially HUNGRY! Spain’s El Celler De Can Roca in Girona beat out Noma in Copenhagen, which had taken home the top spot for the previous three years. The list is organized by Britain’s Restaurant magazine, with the […]
ROME – Italy is a place of culture, beauty, and a well-oiled style of life — crisis or not. Foreigners always return for more. But in order to make sure that the tourists keep coming back — and telling their friends — some guidelines are needed. According to data from the federation of hotels “Fedalberghi”, […]
-Essay- BEIJING – On April 10, Fenghuang, a popular tourist town that is on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list, started charging entry for visitors, triggering public outcry in China. Fenghuang is located in Xiangxi Prefecture, in China’s central Hunan Province, which is home to the Miao and Tujia ethnic minorities. Now, whoever wants to […]
ADNKRONOS, LA STAMPA (Italy), BIOSCIENCE TECHNOLOGY (USA) Worldcrunch MILAN – Great news for coffee junkies worldwide from the place where it’s brewed to perfection: Italian researchers say even three or four cups of espresso a day is actually good for you. A study at Mario Negri Pharmacological Institute in Milan showed the daily cup or […]
PARIS – In the last years of his life, French novelist Marcel Proust mostly fed himself with café au lait. Made by the two best roasters in Paris, Proust’s coffee came from freshly ground beans that were extracted drop by drop according to an unchangeable ritual. Sometimes the verdict would be without mercy: “Celeste, how […]
Gregory Carr has an American entrepreneur’s vision for saving African wildlife.