Aaron Kase
Crucified Lamb Is the Only Way to Do Barbecue in Patagonia
In Patagonia, you can find sheep on pizzas, in empanadas, and in perfectly spiced burgers. The classic preparation, however, involves a lamb being roasted over a wood fire, the carcass stretched across an iron cross.
Lake Titicaca Is Lousy with Trout
Trout—better known as trucha in the area around Lake Titicaca—can be found in many of the restaurants near the border of Bolivia and Peru, but it was an American who introduced the invasive fish here.
El Niño Could Destroy Ecuador's Shrimp Farms
In what was the worst-hit area in all of South America nearly 20 years ago, the shrimp industry is once again at risk from and a contributor to potential destruction from an impending El Niño.
Cochabamba Is a Meat-and-Potatoes Kind of Town
In Cochabamba, located in a mountain valley to the southeast of La Paz, people grow a shitload of potatoes and transform them into rib-sticking, meat-stuffed fare.
Underpants-Ripper and Boner-Maker: An Introduction to Peruvian Erection Tonics
Medicine Alley in Iquitos, Peru, is packed with all types of herbs, powders, tonics, and witchcraft supplies—including the infamous sex tonic SVSS, or, Siete Veces Sin Sacar.
Keeping Kosher in Ghana Means Bringing Your Own Killing Knife
One day, as three friends and I were staying in Ghana, we thought some fresh goat meat might hit the spot. Luckily, a member of our party grew up on a back-to-the-land hippie farm that followed kosher practices, and had brought his special slaughtering...
Weed-Infused Scorpion Moonshine Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be
In a small surfing town in Ecuador, I sought Uña de la Gran Bestia, a liquor made by marinating scorpions, giant millipedes, and marijuana stalks in moonshine before selling it for a dollar a pop.
Pennsylvanians Are Putting Weeds in Their Cocktails
Educating people about invasive plants that have taken root in their local ecosystem becomes a whole lot more interesting when you infuse those weeds into booze. Call it botanical outreach via intoxication.
December Is Party Time in Burkina Faso
December is packed with parties in Burkina Faso. All summer, the villagers work hard in the fields, but by the end of the fall the harvest is finally over—and then it's time to cut loose with beer, spaghetti, and wiggling butts.
Vodka, Red Bull, and Incest on the Oregon Cattle Drive
The patriarch of the herd was a proud Red Angus nicknamed Red Bull. He had a son we aptly named Vodka, an ornery Black Angus kept apart from the rest of the herd because all the cows were related to him, and he desperately wanted to have sex with them.
In Philadelphia, A Liberian Refugee Recreates the Taste of Home
Fanta Fofana, the owner of Le Mandingue restaurant in Philadelphia, escaped brutal conditions in war-torn Liberia only to lose her leg in a car accident once she made it to the US. Still, she keeps her spirits high as she recreates the flavors of her...
Roadkill on the Railroad Means Free Dinner
We lived on the outskirts of Philadelphia, on the edge of a nature center. The deer there cause all kinds of problems: car wrecks, Lyme disease, destroying people's shrubbery. So my dad didn't feel at all bad when he could get a fresh one off the...