11. Food

Vegetable Strudel: A Traditional German Vegetarian DishI firmly believe that you can find out a great deal about a culture by treating the food of the given group as a cultural artifact. Studying the food has a great deal to do with how the people have historically been able to process their natural environment for their own sustenance, and do it in a way that has provided them with all the essential elements being fulfilled. In studying the food the Germany has to offer, I find myself overwhelmed with meat. In researching German restaurants (menupages.com, New York Magazine), I found that it was almost entirely impossible for the food not to be reduced to purely, almost stereotypical, meat dishes. Traditional schnitzels and fish (carp and herring, especially) overwhelm the representation of German food in New York City. Again, I find myself worried. As a vegetarian, I'm concerned about how possible it will be to maintain my eating habits in Germany itself as it seems impossible to maintain based on German restaurants in the city.

To be honest, while I’m more than thrilled at the prospect of studying abroad at a new place that I had never quite been to before, I had been rather terrified of the difference in food tastes between what I’m used to here in the United States and what I could expect in Prague. In that regard, this assignment came out more than a little useful. While I’m not exteremely picky (who am I kidding? I am extremely picky), I needed to know that my finicky eating habits would be alright in Prague. I did learn in the course of the past week or so that NYU does have listings for places that might be a bit more friendly to our Americanized pallet, or rather, mine at least. Prague, and well, most Eastern European countries in fact, put a very large emphasis on pork meat (I don’t eat anything that comes from a pig) and beer, or pivo in Czech (I hate beer because I think it tastes like dirty sewer water). Needless to say, when I saw that those were staples of Czech cuisine, I was freaked out because I thought to myself “What the hell am I going to eat?!”.

Monsieur Alain DucasseI am very interested in gastronomy, the art of French fine dining and the science of gourmet food and drink. I know that the French take their food extremely seriously. For instance, buying a meal never consists of stopping in only one store because just about every food group has its own specialty store.

From reading “Almost French,” by Sarah Turnbull I’ve learned that the French are very concerned with the quality of every ingredient in a dish, that sauces are extremely important, and that health-food is not understood. Also, says Turnbull, the order of dishes served at dinner parties rarely varies from an appetizer with the

aperitif

, the main course, green salad, a cheese selection, and finally dessert.

Below, I’ve made a list of some dishes I should know:

Steak frites - steak and fries
Poulet frites - chicken and fries
Blanquette de veau - blanquette of veal
Coq au vin - chicken in red wine
Pot au feu - beef stew with mixed vegetables
Bouillabaisse - fish soup
Endives - Belgian endive
Boudin blanc - Delicate flavored sausage similar to bockwurst
Foie de veau - calf's liver
Andouillette - chitterling sausage
Foie gras - fatty duck or goose liver

Also, in “Almost French,” Turnbull describes a 6-star, the highest honor from the Michelin Guide, restaurant she has the privilege of reviewing called

Alain Ducasse

Bohemian Potato Dumplings: awfulCzech cuisine is heavy: meat, potatoes and lager. Fish and Vegetables are apparently rare according to the Czech Tourism “Cuisine” guidebook I picked up when I went to the consulate. Thick soups like drstkova polevka is a popular one, thought of as a mid-morning snack and features boiled beef stomach cut into fine thin strips. Mmm…can’t wait for that one.
Though my research on Czech cuisine doesn’t really coincide with my normal diet, there are still dishes that I am excited to try. For example, pecena husa or kachna, goose or duck, are popular menu items in Prague and ones that I often order here in the states. Rabbit is thought of as a delicacy (I do not plan on eating one). Luckily for me, I happen to really enjoy fish. Popular fish in the Czech Republic include carp, trout, and catfish. Though I am a trout fan, I was a little disconcerted by the pictures I came across of these fish just being baked, no de-boning, no de-heading.
Since my view of the fish, meat, and poultry of Prague food is rather bleak, I decided to take the vegetarian route when I went to cook. I came across a recipe for “Bohemian Potato Dumplings”. Sounds good, right? Wrong. First of all, it might of helped had a fully understood the concept of “ricing potatoes”. Think mashed, and then mash again. Secondly, after completely the instructions according to what I thought was correct, was apparently not. The directions said to drop into a large kettle of boiling water, bring water to a slow boil again and then cook for 12 minutes. Since I am still home in Chicago, I thought it would be nice to fly these pseudo-pirogues back for class tomorrow, but after the 12 minutes passed, I took one dumpling out and it literally fell apart. I tasted it and the only word that came to mind was abysmal, so you’re welcome in advance for saving your taste buds.

Caipirinha: This drink is a mixture of cachaça (native Brazilian liquor; very sweet and potent) and lime and sugar.

As my interest has risen in the passionate culture of Brazil, I have explored their music, their language, and their…appearance. I had not as of yet made much of an effort to taste their cuisine. I had a vague inclination that the food in Brazil is tied closely with that of Argentina – specifically, I had decided that these two countries had little in common with the strict diet of comida tipica found in many Central American countries. (In my experience, comida tipica changes a little bit in each place, but revolves around rice, beans, and some sort of meat fritado.) I also had been exposed to cachaça, the elemental native Brazilian liquor. I enjoyed my shot of cachaça. I could not describe it any more that “enjoyable,” because I don’t remember. A quick Wikipedia search and I was inundated with different styles of cooking from different sections of Brazil. That only makes sense, of course, seeing as the landscape and cultures from these different sections are very varied. From the northeast, which sees seafood on its plate often, comes Moqueca, a seafood stew. Strangely this stew is cooked without adding any water – the stock liquid is palm oil and coconut milk.

My fish and chips meal from A Salt & Battery
When I looked over the syllabus at the beginning of this class, I was particularly excited for the food assignment. I think food and the manner in which it is eaten says so much about a culture, and I’ve always been amazed by how easy it to experience a culture or region through eating (regardless of whether the food is homemade or is eaten at a restaurant). I love going out to eat, and one of my favorite things about New York is how there is such a diverse selection of international or “ethnic” restaurants that serve authentic food from some other region of the world (of course, not to say that there isn’t a fair share of Westernized or “inauthentic” options as well). I knew I wouldn’t have much difficulty finding a great British restaurant.
The English aren’t particularly renowned for their cuisine, but rumor has it that things have been vastly improving over the past few years. I found out in doing the map assignment that London is filled with Middle Eastern restaurants, and they seem to have almost—if not just as much—variety with international cuisine as New York. In terms of traditional British fare, it seems as if much of it has remained the same and has stuck to its traditional roots. These simple, carbohydrate-filled dishes are actually the kind of things that I love: savory pies, Welsh Rarebit (toasted bread covered with a cheese sauce), and all sorts of puddings and tarts. I even found something called a Chip Butty (which they had at the restaurant I went to) that is essentially a fry sandwich (or “chip” sandwich I should say), with fries sandwiched between two pieces of bread.

"Morcilla" (Blood Sausage)Growing up in Miami, what I've eaten has been heavily influenced by Latin America and the Caribbean. Whether it was having mangoes smuggled in from the Dominican Republic, or bistec de pollo at my friends' quinces, the food I've eaten, and enjoyed to eat has always been influenced in some way shape or form from Latin America. Argentine food, however, is a little different. I've had Argentine food before, and the only things that I can honestly say that I had enjoyed were the empanadas. I've never been to keen on their maté, though I'm not a fan of any Latin American country's maté, and I honestly think it wouldn't hurt the country to incorporate some spices in their food. My stepbrother's girlfriend who is born and raised in Argentina made my family a very famous Argentine dish called morcilla, which is literally cow's blood that's been fried. I mean, I'm not the pickiest eater in the world, but I’m no Anthony Bourdain either. Her 96-year-old grandmother however, swears that her strict diet of morcilla and goat milk is what keeps her looking young. I'll take my chances though. The heavy influence of European immigrants has deeply been incorporated into the Argentine cuisine as Italian, Spanish and French food can be traced in the Argentine cuisine. Each region of Argentina is noted for having it's own distinct cuisine as well. The Central region of Argentina tends to be extremely meat based because it's where most of the cattle meat is. Here you'd find all types of meats: red, breaded, etc. In the Northwest region, corn and potato is heavily consumed, fish in the Northeast, and in the south, Asados.

I didn't even get any Madeleines;(Today, I thought I would do some hands-on research. So, I looked up French restaurants in NYC. The majority of them that popped up were both expensive and formal. I needed somewhere cheap and where I could wear sweats. It was the first day back so all I wanted to do was relax. So I found La bonne soupe. The minimum to spend was 10.00 not bad compared to the others where full-course meals were over 27.00. It couldn’t be that, right? What harm could it do to try something new? Little did I know that I should have looked at the menu.

Now I am a really picky eater, but I decided to try some new things. For the main course, I chose poulet au citron. It was basically lemon chicken and it was very good I might add. However, it came along with the most vile thing! It was called polenta and I had idea what it was. It smelled and tasted absolutely revolting…I do not advise trying it. Now I believed it to be some kind of cheese, but I later found out it was boiled cornmeal cleverly shaped like a dessert, but covered with a tomato. Never again! For dessert, I had a choice between mousse au chocolat or créme caramel. Chocolate is my temptation of choice, but I decided on the caramel cream, or so I thought. What came out was not crème, but flan! Unfortunately, I had never tried flan before and I don’t believe that I will ever do so again.

Moros y Cristianos (aka rice and beans). A dish I could potentially be eating for every meal in Cuba...

I found a really great list of Cuban restaurants in NYC, and I definitely plan on hitting up Havana NY and Little Havana Restaurant before I leave the city. One of my favorite restaurants in New York is Cafe Habana, a Cuban-Mexican restaurant on Prince and Elizabeth Streets. I love the avocado and cheese sandwich and the Tlacoyo de Tres Marias, which is a corn cake stuffed with goat cheese, tomato, black beans and salsa. Although I love Cafe Habana, I'm not that the dishes I like are authentically Cuban. Cuban food is very meat-heavy, and as a vegetarian I won't be eating their famous pork sandwiches. I've been told as a vegetarian that I will be consisting on a lot of rice and beans, but I'm hoping that I will be able to find some good fish dishes in Havana. My program has arranged for students to eat breakfast and dinner at the hotel we're staying at, but I can imagine being sick of hotel cuisine after the first couple of weeks, so I plan to explore street food. The currency situation in Cuba is complicated, since foreigners are usually relegated to using a different type of peso than the locals, which can make it hard to pay for food at non-tourist eateries. Hopefully I will be able to work out some shady money exchange with the locals since the tourist restaurants are allegedly expensive and not as delicious as some more low-key local spots. 

Ruben's Just like everything else in Argentina, the food is diverse and influenced by cultures outside of Latin America. There are inspirations drawn from Spanish, Italian and French cuisine. Not only has it taken in other cultures, it has given back more than most other countries by being one of the worlds largest food producers. It exports meat (especially beef), wheat, corn, beans, and soybeans. The exports have had an affect on the countries diet. There is an overwhelming amount of red meat consumed and the others used as frequent and dominant ingredients in many dishes. For example, the Argentine pizza’s take on Italian pizza uses more dough because of the access to wheat.
Everyone knows that Argentine cuisine is famous for its meat. One common preparation is asado, which is barbequed meat. This meat, usually beef, is cooked on a parrilla, an open fire. Many Argentine’s begin their day with a cup of mate. This is a tea made by steeping dry leaves of the yerba mate plant in hot water. It is popular as a stimulant that is stronger than coffee but also gentler on the stomach.