SAVEUR March 2013

THE PASSION FOR FOOD FESTIVAL Gothenburg, Sweden Gothenburg's scenic seaport bustles with vendors serving local specialties such as venison from Sweden's inland forests and butter-poached brill and oysters from the North Sea. Fest goers can attend cooking classes, and watch “duels” between Michelin-starred chef Leif Mannerstrom and other top Scandinavian chefs. Info: passionformat.se F.O.O.D. (FOOD, OBJECTS, OBJECTIVES, AND DESIGN) Charlotte, North Carolina At Charlotte's Mint Museum, more than 300 food-related objects from around the world will be arranged in captivating displays by Barcelona artist Antoni Miralda. The exhibit, which runs through July 7, includes iconic kitchen products from the past and present, kitchen-inspired sculpture (like tableware made with South Carolina's Geechie Boy Grits), digital food photography, and high-design kitchenware by Michael Graves and Philippe Starck, among others. Info: mintmuseum.org HOLY…

Donuts' evolution began in America. The Dutch brought olykoeks to New Netherlands; the Puritans brought “fry cakes” to New England. The first literary mention of “dough nuts,” in Washington Irving's A History of New York, defined them as “balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat.” Trading ship captain Hanson Gregory claimed to have invented the ring-shaped donut by punching a hole through the pastry's undercooked center. The first automated donut machine was invented in New York by Adolph Levitt, a refugee from Russia, leading to a donut manufacturing boom. In It Happened One Night, newspaperman Clark Gable taught runaway heiress Claudette Colbert how to “dunk.” Both she and the film won Academy Awards that year. Mechanically produced donuts, fried in an automated donut apparatus and served on the spot,…

America's great donuts are fragile and heavyweight, old-fashioned and artisanal. Aside from the fact that a warm one is taste-buds heaven, we're always on the lookout for donuts because the search leads to the kind of joints we love best, where eaters of every stripe enjoy a pastry so unfussy that it flouts utensils and rarely even comes on a plate. A good donut in hand with a steaming cup of coffee is democracy for breakfast. Here are 50 of our favorites. See the pantry on page 92 for locations. Le Cave's Tucson This specialty donut shop has been making fritters since 1935. Though they're vegan and gluten free, the lemon-filled Bismarcks are still pure indulgence. Vantastic Donuts & Bagels Glendale Iced buttermilk bars from this hole-in-the-wall diner have a…

For more information on visiting Chengdu, visit the City of Chengdu's website, www.chengdu.gov.cn/echengdu, or ChengduLiving.com. Dinner for two with drinks and tip Inexpensive: Under $25 Loft Design Hostel 4 Xiaotong Alley, Qingyang District (86/28/8626-5770; lofthostel.com). Rates: $10 for a shared room, $34 for a private room. A converted printing house, the Loft is filled with a lively mix of guests, from Chinese students to wandering foreigners. Bike rentals for hostel guests make it easy to explore the city center. Hakka Homes (86/139/8190-9901; hakkahomes.com). Rates: $28 for a two-bedroom apartment. A collection of short-term rental apartments—from studios to two-bedrooms, each with a kitchen—in a lively part of the city near Sichuan University. Shangri-La Chengdu Hotel 9 Binjiang East Road, Jinjiang District (86/28/8888-9999; shangri-la.com/chengdu/shangrila). Rates: $200 for a double. This luxurious tower…

Sample Russian banya food at South-Western Bathhouse and Tea Room, 2200 Dundas Street East, Mississauga, Ontario (289/232-6088; banya.ca). To find Brewery Ommegang's Art of Darkness ale, go to ommegang.com. To visit Kyoto, Japan's Nishiki Market; go to kyoto.travel. Visit the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive at the University of Michigan's William L. Clements Library, 909 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor (734/764-2347). Order Eat Drink Delta (University of Georgia Press, 2013) from Amazon ($13.50; amazon.com). To view more of Ellen Silverman's photographs of Havana kitchens, go to ellensilverman.com. To prepare the bacheofe recipe (see page 34), purchase an Emile Henry Flame Oval Dutch Oven ($240 for a 6.3-qt. pot; 302/326 4800; emilehenryusa.com). To make the recipes (see pages 76-78), buy Shaohsing rice wine, Lee Kum Kee chile bean sauce (touban djan),…