Elegant and trendy – Helsinki wears both well, as this harbourside capital of Finland caters to a smorgasbord of interests. A Helsinki Food Guide for Fine Dining Lovers. The culturally-curious, design and architecture nerds, snow-bunnies who seek cross-country skiing and ice–swimming, and gourmands, are amply provided for. REINDEER, SALMON & BERRIES Liisa Eskelinen, who founded Day [...]
skyr breakfast bowl This cultured dairy just might be Iceland’s most adored export.Written for Culture Cheese Magazine, for the Wheys Less Traveled column, July 2017. (This article is written in American English) With its coal-black volcanic rock beaches, bright blue glaciers, steaming hot springs, and thundering waterfalls, Iceland is stunning. Most of its 325,000 [...]
A selection of popular and lesser-known cultured dairy for Fine Dining Lovers, 21 March 2016. Icelandic Skyr There’s renewed enthusiasm about the cultured dairy products of our forefathers. Food historian Anne Mendelson (Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages) thinks the interest in ancient milkways may stem from the “growing “know [...]
Nostalgia, for a homeland long departed, lies at the core of the Cuban diaspora’s quest for cultural identity. Dishing out memories at the kitchen table is one way that the legacy is passed on. Written for Financial Mail Travel Magazine, May 2017
Following the evocative rhythms of a city in rapid flux, Ishay Govender-Ypma immerses herself in the soundtrack of Havana, looking for clues that reveal its heartbeat. Havana City, Cuba's Vibey Capital. For Marie Claire SA, June 2017. Lunch Time Band THEY SAY YOU HEAR THE LIFE before you see it in Havana. Prior to my travels last [...]
Drive the country from coast-to-coast searching for the best in street food, cheese, convent pastries and cannoli. Ishay Govender-Ypma explores Sicily on a culinary road trip. This article was written for SAA Sawubona inflight magazine, June 2017. A ghostly mist settles over Erice on Sicily’s hilly western face, once a medieval fortress town and the [...]
On the southern shore of Lake Geneva, the pretty French belle époque town of Évian-les-Bains, an hour away from Switzerland’s Geneva, offers slow walks along the promenade and healing treatments with therapeutic Évian water. Written by Ishay Govender-Ypma for SAA Sawubona. From the Source At Source Cachat, in the spa town of Évian-les Bains, I’m [...]
Green Berlin is not the future, it is happening today. Berliners are propagating the message that cramped urban cities can transform to accommodate a safer, more sustainable future. Ishay Govender-Ypma examines three projects in progressive Kreuzberg. In 2011 former French Minister of Culture Jack Lang remarked: “Paris is always Paris, but Berlin is never Berlin.” Berlin is, [...]
Nalekwi, Poland’s beloved herb and fruit liqueur, once the ambit of women brewers only, has been made famous by a man operating from his family’s garden. For Roads & Kingdoms, August 2016.
Yum cha, or dim sum as it’s known in the West, refers to the act of taking tea. Here’s a countrywide dim sum restaurant round-up to satisfy your cravings for these moreish bites. Written by Ishay Govender-Ypma (@IshayGovender) for Financial Mail. dim sum Dim sum has its roots in the Cantonese morning tradition of [...]
