Reflections on Food

[rolanni]

I'm taking a little bit of ribbing over on Facebook about my initial reluctance to eat something referred to in the menu as "gyro meat."  So far as I know, there is no gyrobeast from which this meat might be harvested. If the meat in question was simply spiced lamb, why not say "spiced lamb"?

So, a few minutes of soul-searching out of respect for the girl who watched, with fascinated horror, as the Pollack Johnny hot-dog-making machine at Lexington Market made hot dogs.  The same girl who, yes, still happily ate scrapple, even knowing what it was.

In any case, my gyro was perfectly tasty and I'm glad to add a new foodstuff to my repertoire.

Last year, through the kind offices of Mem Morman and Kent Bloom, I added beignets, which were also very  tasty -- and therefore amazed people who could scarcely believe that this was my first experience of the food.
Mem is also, I fear, responsible for my discovery of Greek food in general, back a couple years when we were GoHs at CoSine.

Anyhow, I got to thinking why I'm such a food illiterate.

Part of it -- a good deal of it -- has to do with having been born Rather A Long Time Ago to people who had been raised by people who had survived the (first) Great Depression, who were themselves very frugal, and unlikely to experiment with something so vital as food.  You bought what you knew you'd eat; otherwise, you might not like it, and food would be wasted.

It was Very, Very Bad to waste food.

When I reached adulthood, some of my friends were able to help me expand my food horizons, but when Steve and I moved in together, we were -- not to put too fine a point on it -- bitterly broke, occasionally rising to the point where money was only extremely tight.  We bought basics that we knew we would eat, because it would be Very Bad to waste food.

We (Steve's family was similar to mine -- trad blue collar, where the father worked the Real Job; and mom took care of the kids.  In his case,things were a little tighter still, because there were five kids -- four of them boys.  My parents only had to feed two girls.)  But, yeah -- we might have experienced varied and different foods by  going out with groups at conventions, except, again, we were poor to the point of carrying our own cheese sandwiches with us, and eating out of our room.

Anyhow, it's good that life is easier now, and that there are so many different things to sample.  Even if some of it isn't immediately and intuitively understandable.

What delicious food(s) have you recently discovered?

* * *

Progress on Carousel Seas:  1,733/100,000 or 1.73% complete

This was the tricky part -- well. And not burning down the carousel.

Comments

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

There are a great many things I am no longer allowed to eat because of all the allergies I developed a couple of years back. Therefor, I tend to encourage others to eat and enjoy them for me. It almost makes me wish I had stuck to the picky eating habits of my childhood; otherwise, I wouldn't know what I was missing.

Anywho. If you have not tried any of the following before, I highly recommend that you do:

Kadu

This is an Afghan dish of spiced pumpkin (or butternut squash) and tomatoes, topped with yogurt sauce. As there isn't an Afghan restaurant in the area, I learned how to make it at home, and can post the recipe if you like. It's probably one of my favorite dishes on the planet.

Atakilt Alicha (http://seachanges.livejournal.com/250210.html)

This is one of my favorite Ethiopian dishes. It's cabbage and potato stew, and every Ethiopian restaurant you go to will do it a little bit different. The spicing is usually fairly mild.

Also, you have not lived until you've had Ethiopian spiced collards. Hell, pretty much all Ethiopian food is amazing.

Char Sui Bao

Chinese BBQ pork buns. Love them SO MUCH. Fair warning: they're addictive as hell.

[cgbookcat1.livejournal.com]

I would like to try the Kadu recipe!

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

Done! Posted here (http://seachanges.livejournal.com/490424.html) in my journal. :)

Hope you enjoy it!

[cgbookcat1.livejournal.com]

Thanks!