9 ms·

Searching for the "grey market" foods of New York City

53 points by fezz 11y ago

mattzito 11y ago
Kind of a fun article, but I felt the premise of, "I track down illicit foods" was diluted somewhat when most of the foods turn out not to be illicit.
- PhantomGremlin 11y ago
  For some strange reason I felt compelled to read all the way to the end. But it didn't start off well; I think I would have been content to live out the rest of my life without hitting up Wikipedia to see what "cheese mites" were.
  - nickpsecurity 11y ago
    On contrare, I'm glad I did. Because I would've guessed something was up with cheese that looked like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mimolette1.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mimolette1.jpg My cheese doesn't so I'm... probably OK. Haha.
waldrews 11y ago
No haggis?
tricolon 11y ago
It's a little strange the subtitle used is "Salmiakki". That's the Finnish term for salty liquorice but that section discusses it in general terms, not from a Finnish perspective. It just so happened that the version he tried was salmiakki from Finland.
- thebournepopret 11y ago
  Yes that threw me off at first as well. When I lived in Denmark I was used to the candy and recognized the picture immediately but I haven't heard it called that before. Ah now I miss the proliferation of licorice in everything.
mabbo 11y ago
What, no Kinder Eggs?
adrusi 11y ago
Sassafrass isn't restricted because of cancer risk, it's restricted because it can be used as a precursor to MDMA (ecstasy).
- jessaustin 11y ago
  Well it is a giant cancer risk. It contains large amounts of safrole and other carcinogenic compounds. When it was banned, in 1960 [0], MDMA wasn't yet as much of a "club drug" as it later became. [0] https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/profiles/safrole.pdf https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/profiles/safrole.p...
  - Zigurd 11y ago
    The article appears to contradict that sassfras contains large amounts of safrole: >Safrole may be ingested in edible spices, including sassafras, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, star anise, ginger, black and white pepper, and from chewing betel quid; all of these substances contain naturally occurring safrole at low levels (IARC 1976, Archer and Jones 2002, HSDB 2009). Safrole is also present in herbal products derived from the sassafras tree, including the creole herb gumbo filé (Carlson and Thompson 1997). The concentration of safrole can be reduced during the cooking process (Farag and Abo-Zeid 1997). Based on common ingestion patterns, the estimated daily intake of safrole is 0.3 mg (Rietjens et al. 2005).
- Alex3917 11y ago
  Also, does the author seriously not realize that sassafrass grows in pretty much every single park in the city? Not sure if he's just trolling for page views or what.
- aqwwe 11y ago
  it's only restricted for being used in commercial foods/drinks... you can buy some on Ebay ... or grow some wherever the climate is good for it
weeksie 11y ago
Though I recently found out you can get it at a bourgie EV restaurant, I regularly frequent a joint in Brooklyn that will make kibbe naya (Lebanese lamb tartare, essentially.) You have to call ahead and you have to know the guy. It was the same way when I lived in Sydney. A few joints had it but it was technically against health code. When I get it at my BK joint the owner will sit down at the table and eat it with us. And he generally makes so much that it's essentially all you can eat.
- jballanc 11y ago
  I've not been to Lebanon, but what you're describing sounds an awful lot like çiğ köfte: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Çiğ_köfte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Çiğ_köfte . You should give it a try if you can find it!
- mortenlarsen 11y ago
  A friend of mine from Lebanon invited me and a some friends for a huge feast. Among the many dishes was Kibbeh. Both Kibbeh nayyeh (raw), and Kibbeh b'Sinniyeh (baked), I really enjoyed it as well as the many other dishes. I highly recommend it.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
threecheese 11y ago
Interesting note at the end: "I was also able to dispell the long-held rumor that opium poppy was legal to grow and purchase if only intended for “ornamental purposes.”". One can easily buy dried pods of papaver somniferum, found on the first few result pages of a google search. I wonder if this is an enforcement oversight, a loophole, or a scam?

53 points by fezz 11y ago

Kind of a fun article, but I felt the premise of, "I track down illicit foods" was diluted somewhat when most of the foods turn out not to be illicit.

PhantomGremlin 11y ago
For some strange reason I felt compelled to read all the way to the end. But it didn't start off well; I think I would have been content to live out the rest of my life without hitting up Wikipedia to see what "cheese mites" were.
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  On contrare, I'm glad I did. Because I would've guessed something was up with cheese that looked like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mimolette1.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mimolette1.jpg My cheese doesn't so I'm... probably OK. Haha.

waldrews 11y ago

No haggis?

tricolon 11y ago

It's a little strange the subtitle used is "Salmiakki". That's the Finnish term for salty liquorice but that section discusses it in general terms, not from a Finnish perspective. It just so happened that the version he tried was salmiakki from Finland.

thebournepopret 11y ago
Yes that threw me off at first as well. When I lived in Denmark I was used to the candy and recognized the picture immediately but I haven't heard it called that before. Ah now I miss the proliferation of licorice in everything.

mabbo 11y ago

What, no Kinder Eggs?

adrusi 11y ago

Sassafrass isn't restricted because of cancer risk, it's restricted because it can be used as a precursor to MDMA (ecstasy).

jessaustin 11y ago
Well it is a giant cancer risk. It contains large amounts of safrole and other carcinogenic compounds. When it was banned, in 1960 [0], MDMA wasn't yet as much of a "club drug" as it later became. [0] https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/profiles/safrole.pdf https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/profiles/safrole.p...
- Zigurd 11y ago
  The article appears to contradict that sassfras contains large amounts of safrole: >Safrole may be ingested in edible spices, including sassafras, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, star anise, ginger, black and white pepper, and from chewing betel quid; all of these substances contain naturally occurring safrole at low levels (IARC 1976, Archer and Jones 2002, HSDB 2009). Safrole is also present in herbal products derived from the sassafras tree, including the creole herb gumbo filé (Carlson and Thompson 1997). The concentration of safrole can be reduced during the cooking process (Farag and Abo-Zeid 1997). Based on common ingestion patterns, the estimated daily intake of safrole is 0.3 mg (Rietjens et al. 2005).
Alex3917 11y ago
Also, does the author seriously not realize that sassafrass grows in pretty much every single park in the city? Not sure if he's just trolling for page views or what.
aqwwe 11y ago
it's only restricted for being used in commercial foods/drinks... you can buy some on Ebay ... or grow some wherever the climate is good for it

weeksie 11y ago

Though I recently found out you can get it at a bourgie EV restaurant, I regularly frequent a joint in Brooklyn that will make kibbe naya (Lebanese lamb tartare, essentially.) You have to call ahead and you have to know the guy. It was the same way when I lived in Sydney. A few joints had it but it was technically against health code. When I get it at my BK joint the owner will sit down at the table and eat it with us. And he generally makes so much that it's essentially all you can eat.

jballanc 11y ago
I've not been to Lebanon, but what you're describing sounds an awful lot like çiğ köfte: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Çiğ_köfte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Çiğ_köfte . You should give it a try if you can find it!
mortenlarsen 11y ago
A friend of mine from Lebanon invited me and a some friends for a huge feast. Among the many dishes was Kibbeh. Both Kibbeh nayyeh (raw), and Kibbeh b'Sinniyeh (baked), I really enjoyed it as well as the many other dishes. I highly recommend it.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

threecheese 11y ago

Interesting note at the end: "I was also able to dispell the long-held rumor that opium poppy was legal to grow and purchase if only intended for “ornamental purposes.”". One can easily buy dried pods of papaver somniferum, found on the first few result pages of a google search. I wonder if this is an enforcement oversight, a loophole, or a scam?