One of the wonderful things about spices is their ability to transport you, even if for just a few bites, to anywhere in the world. Food is culture. It reflects the geography, flora, fauna, stories, and history (e.g. look at the presence of cardamom in Scandinavia). How it’s eaten, where it’s served, what it is: everything is a culmination of a region’s history at a personal level as well as how it’s intertwined with the greater world around it.
Today I found a collection of unusual vacation eats. These are more than a slide show of strange food. It allows us to reflect for a moment on own food-related boundaries.
Musings aside, I found myself tallying up how many entrees I’ve sampled. There are 11 entrees. I’ve tried the squid-ink pasta, escargot (mmmm), and raw herring (I was served alligater once but it’s not on the list).
First, how many of these entrees have you tried?
And second, if you had to use some of these foods (like crickets) as an ingredient what spices would you use to flavor your dish?
January 28, 2010 at 6:05 am
I agree. Food is culture. KF Seetoh, the founder of Makansutra said “Eat the food, digest the culture”. Herbs and spices takes you into a whole new world in every bite. We have a couple of weekend markets here in the Philippines, showcasing different kinds of cuisine from around the world. East meets west, exotic delicacies, like what u mentioned, the crickets, and frogs, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Aussie, you name. They’ve got it all in these two markets. I have visited these places, and yeah, it like ive been around the world in two days. I’ll keep you posted with this blog.
In the meantime, (talking about food and culture) i would love to share you another foodie adventure of mine about the Asian Foodcourt – the “MAKANSUTRA” or (Food Guide in English). Its a food complex exhibiting a wide variety of Asian Food – Chinese, Malay, Indian, Singaporean, Thai, Philippines, with an Asian Food Museum. Founded by, whoelse, the Guru of Grub, KF Seetoh…..
http://ems-premature-eblogulation.blogspot.com/2009/12/guru-of-grub-brings-makansutra-in.html
January 28, 2010 at 7:20 am
Thank you for such a thougthful comment. Whenever I travel I insist on visiting the open air markets. It’s an opportunity to experience a sense of place with all your senses, all at once.
The Guru of Grub—I love that! Thanks for sharing the link, I’ll take a visit and I’m sure others will be interested as well. And for the record, frog really does taste like chicken (in Dominica they call their giant frogs, mountain chickens)!
February 10, 2010 at 8:15 pm
hahaha.. they should call it Water-chickens instead… :))