As temperatures continue to fall this autumn, Baton Rouge is preparing for the changes with popular seasonal foods.
But this year, fall foods have taken a new shape, according to Leah Romero, a landscape architecture senior.
“This year has been the pumpkin-pacolypse,” Romero said. “People that are really interested in cooking are over it. The basic pumpkin isn’t good enough anymore.”
While Romero enjoys cooking with any fresh items that are in season, she said cooking enthusiasts are trying to spin different twists on applying fall ingredients. Romero served up variations such as a pumpkin and pecan pie filled with spicy chocolate, Halloween compost cookies and Blue Moon beef stew.
“Generally this beef stew is cooked with a dark beer,” she said. “But one day all I had was a Blue Moon, and it worked out pretty well.”
Megan Arias, natural resource ecology and management senior, has also cooked up some new twists and traditional styles of pumpkin from pumpkin pie to pumpkin chocolate bars. But she’s also been using other fall ingredients, as well.
“Usually, I’ll roast the seeds — with salt, pepper, and cayenne — of whatever gourd-type thing I cut open,” she said in an email. “Back in high school, I used to make pumpkin bread and pumpkin rolls when cool weather came around.”
Arias learned the ways of the kitchen in middle school from her parents and picked up heavy Mexican food influences in her cooking as a result. But since moving to Baton Rouge, Arias has gathered more ideas, she said.
“I’ve been able to broaden the flavors in the recipe book that hangs out in my head,” she said.
Arias also plans to create various items this month because fall is her favorite time to cook. She likes the in-season ingredients like potatoes, carrots and gourds.
“I’m a huge fan of earthy flavors,” she said. “The great thing about cooking with those flavors is that they don’t need much extra added to them.”
The fall season prompted Romero to present these dishes differently, but she has experimented with recipes since she learned to cook from her parents. Culinary culture is important in Romero’s family, so she learned at a young age, she said.
“You kind of learn through observation,” she said. “I really loved [cooking], so I took it a little past what my parents made — I took it out of the box.”
Students can explore similar types of fall foods without getting hands-on in their kitchens because local businesses offer similar items. West Chimes Street’s Bacio di Roma took on the seasonal change with pastries, gelatos and specialty drinks, said owner Mario Lozanov. While cold weather may steer the hungry away from chilly items like gelato, customers have expressed interest in seasonal items, Lozanov said.
Though coffee isn’t considered seasonal, Lozanov said customers tend to associate coffee as a cold-weather item, and as a result, the flavor has proven popular in October.
“In the last two weeks, we’ve made three or four batches of coffee gelato,” he said. “If it’s seasonal, people want it.”
Shortly after October set in, Bacio di Roma included the gelato flavors pumpkin and spice, pumpkin pie, ginger bread and cinnamon pecan and cream gelato. But the location also serves up other cold-weather items like hot chocolate and pastries.
