Street Food
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FoodbayTV Beats the Odds with StreetFoodz Naija Second Season

Bertie A. Kinser

Despite the constraints of the pandemic, FoodbayTV, organisers of Street Foodz Naija competition recently announced that the second season of the edition will hold. The event premiered last year and had 13 chefs displaying their skills on street food cuisines. Christopher Omowa was crowned the winner of the maiden edition.

For the second season, the winner will be smiling home with a N5 million grand prize which consists of a cash prize, a scholarship to attend a culinary school, a renovated workplace and an SME toolkit. First and second runners-up will receive N2 million and N1 million worth of prizes respectively. Femi Ogundoro, the Managing Director of Maxima Media Group, owner of FoodbayTV explained that the competition is more than just a TV show.

“StreetFoodz Naija is not just a TV show, but a docu-reality series that would allow the street foodpreneurs to get on a journey of empowerment. A

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Food & Cooking
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Dallas-area Chinese restaurants are surviving the pandemic with takeout, safety and loyal customers

Bertie A. Kinser

In October, New York-based cookbook author and self-described “stir-fry guru” Grace Young teamed up with the James Beard Foundation for an Instagram campaign to #SaveChineseRestaurants.

To explain the initiative, Young cites a Business Insider report that 233,000 Asian American businesses closed between February and April last year as the pandemic gripped the country. A report by NBC News found that before stay-at-home orders were implemented in March, businesses in historic Chinatowns like San Francisco and New York had already lost 70% of sales “due to anti-Asian bigotry, fears of the virus and a sharp drop in international tourism.”

“This is a crisis, and without steady patronage, these businesses will not survive,” Young wrote.

While the numbers on Chinese restaurants in other parts of the country are disheartening, to say the least, interviews with the owners of five popular Chinese restaurants in the Dallas area indicate they are bucking

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Food Traditional
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Bank of Italy is key part of downtown San Jose plan

Bertie A. Kinser

SAN JOSE — The Bank of Italy historic tower in downtown San Jose is slated for more than an eye-catching renovation: The iconic high rise could become an office, cultural, retail, and food hub under a revamp that a development alliance has proposed.

Global development powerhouse Westbank has teamed up with local developer Gary Dillabough to launch a wide-ranging venture that would usher in a dramatic makeover of downtown San Jose, and the Bank of Italy tower is one of the early efforts in the endeavor.

“The Bank of Italy is an amazing building,” said Andrew Jacobson, head of development for Westbank’s San Jose initiative. “The historic characteristics are unlike anything you will see.”

Street-level view of Bank of Italy office and retail tower, looking north along South First Street in downtown San Jose, with exterior staircase and entrance to Fountain Alley visible, concept. Bjarke Ingels Group / Westbank

A

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Street Food
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Popiah: a popular street food you can now make at home

Bertie A. Kinser
Popiah is also known as fresh spring rolls and is a popular street food in Malaysia. (Rasa Malaysia pic)

Popiah is of Chinese origin, and comes from the Fujian province in China. In Malaysia, popiah is also known as fresh spring rolls and is a popular street food.

Besides Malaysia, variations of popiah can be found in Singapore, Medan, and Taiwan – all using simple and healthy ingredients that make it taste so delicious and refreshing.

Here is a family recipe, one which is much-cherished, not only because of its supreme flavour, but because of the flood of memories it brings back.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup cooking oil
  • 20 fresh popiah wrappers
  • fresh lettuce, washed and drained dry

Filling

  • 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 226 g shrimp, shelled, deveined and cut into small pieces
  • 1 kg yam bean or jicama (sengkuang), grated
  • 56 g French beans, sliced
  • 4 pieces bean curd,
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