Sylvie's Epicure Blog

Beijing Street Food: From Soup to Scorpions & Everything In-between

There is a Chinese saying, “for the people, food is their heaven.” On the streets of Beijing, I encountered various food spectacles including some very unusual and quite exotic items. The most exotic delicacies included scorpions on sticks (rest assured, many Chinese people also find this slightly bizarre) and other critters, as well as various [...]

Poached Eggs & Asparagus for Mother’s Day

I am so proud to be part of a company made up of so many inspiring mothers. I started Epicure in 1991 to provide more healthful food options for my young children. It’s amazing the small business I began out of the back of my blue station wagon now offers so many other mothers the [...]

Peking Duck: A Chinese National Dish

Peking Duck (Kaoya), the most famous duck dish from Beijing, has been prepared since the Yuan Dynasty and is considered a Chinese national dish. I couldn’t leave Beijing without feasting on it! Both the foodie magazine “The Beijinger” and the hotel concierge agreed the best place in Beijing for Peking duck is DaDong, which has [...]

Sandwiches: More Than Just P, B & J

One billion sandwiches are eaten in a day worldwide. Arguably the most popular street food, they can be bought at food trucks across the globe. The modern concept of the sandwich as we know it is claimed to have been invented by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich in the late 1700s. It is [...]

For the Luv of a Good Burger

Today, 13 billion burgers are eaten everyday worldwide. The history of the hamburger spans many centuries and continents. In the 13th century, Genghis Khan’s Mongol soldiers tucked crude patties of tough bits of mutton under their saddles. The meat tenderized as they rode (buns wouldn’t have survived the ride)! When Kublai Khan invaded Moscow, the [...]