Foods from other cultures
 

What foods/meals of other cultures have you learned about, in college or just in life, that you never knew about? Did you try it? Do you like it? Do you still eat it? What WON'T you try?

Well, one of my closest friends from college is of Polish descent. She hipped me to perogies. Man, yall, these are the bomb!!! They are kinda like filled dumplings. I like the potato ones. You boil them, then you saute them in butter. Scrumpdidliumptious! :D

At good ol' Witt, we used to have a festival called Crossroads, where the International students (and in early years, we Black students made soul food) would have booths and food from their respective countries. Oh, it was so fun and interesting to taste the different foods!!

As far as what I won't try, I'm not foolin' with animals that we consider domesticated over here. I'm not eating anyone's dog or cat. At least not to my knowledge, lol.

One of our HS student workers is Eritrean (Eritrea is a little country above Ethiopia that I knew nothing about) and he was telling me about his culture and what not. I asked him about a popular dish (since he told me about an Eritrean restaurant), and he said Tibse (TIB-see). So I'm excited to go to the restaurant and try that.

Share, share, share with us your experiences with different kinds of cuisine!!! :D

(Guess who has nothing to do at work today? LOL!) ;)

I normally don't try new foods but on two occaisions I tried black beans and rice. The first was with some Hispanic co-workers at a Cuban restaurant in NY and the second was at a Mexican restaurant in DC. I must say it is a VERY good dish!

I have tried and like Greek food, Indian food, and Thai food.

I have tried and don't like Vietnamese food (too bland).

And of course I like Chinese, Mexican and Italian food (those are pretty common).

:cool:
 

A friend of ours is from Zimbabwe and he cooked a dish where it consisted of greens (very spicy), a kind of tomato salsa and believe it or not, cream of wheat!! You eat it with your fingers and you scoop a little bit of each ingredient off your plate and throw it in your mouth! It's a little messy but it tastes really good! I was shocked because I'm a fan of cream of wheat for breakfast in the morning but I usually eat it with sugar, milk, you know....but it was definitely a different thing with this dish. The consistency of the cream of wheat was very thick. It was very interesting. I know there is a name for the dish but right now I can't remember it.

Thai food is delicious!!

Try the Spicy Basil Spaghetti (I like mine with shrimp, but you can do pork, chicken, beef).

I LOVE to eat, and I eat a lot of food from other cultures (in NorCal, there's really no excuse not to try any food you've always been interested in) I think my favorite is Vietnamese. They have great combinations (anything from Vietnamese egg rolls to clay pots to spicy squid...).

I also have had Greek, Indian, Thai, Ethiopian (and by extention, Eritrean), Cuban, Japanese (I enjoy good, "fresh" sushi and sashmi :)) Nigerian, Brazilian (my boyfriend and I went to a restuarant in the Village where we had many Mojitos and some good food!), Carribean (another favorite). Of course the old standbys...Mexican, Chinese etc. I love Italian food too (especially pizzas with unusal toppings like shellfish). Most Americans have eaten some dish of most European cultures (English, German, French, etc.) so I won't include them.

You know, I was watching this video of this lecturer, Harry Wong. Anyway, he said that what WE call Chinese food is NOT Chinese food. So that General Tso Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork and the like is NOT really Chinese food.

FYI :D

Oh no!
 

What about my vegetable low mein???
:D

Re: Oh no!
 

I guess not. It's all AMERICANized. :D

This is true. I remember my 8th grade Spanish teacher was from Mexico. Of course, we thought Taco Bell was real Mexican food. You should have seen the look on her face.:eek: She arranged for us to have dinner together at an authentic Mexican restaurant one Friday evening. That is when I fell in love with fried ice cream.

A co-worker was telling me about this Oriental dish. I can't remember the name, but it's vegetables that they place in a bag and bury it so that the heat can ferment it. Then, after a while they dig it up and cook it (hope I explained that correctly ~ it's been years). Anyway once, I remember seeing it on the cold buffet at a Chinese restaurant, so I decide to get some. The smell alone should've warned me. I tasted it... it was the most God-awful thing I've ever tasted! It took hours before I could get the taste out of my mouth. http://www.plauder-smilies.de/yellows/crap.gif

So true, so true...
 

When I was in Spain for my study abroad, some friends and I went to a Chinese restaurant. The only thing that was on there that we have here was fried rice. I couldn't believe it!! I had NO CLUE what the stuff on the menu was. And Chinese peeps speaking in spanish freaked me out, lightweight; it's a whole different accent. I got some shrimp fried rice and called it a day. I never went back to that restaurant, and Chinese is my fave.

Mixed up
 

As a cultural meltdown of a family who supports interracial marriages-I have had a mass of hispanic, soul-black, italian, and chinese foods. My favorites are:

Chinese-fried wonton, egg rolls, sesame chicken
Philipiana-Lumpas
Italian-veal, real lasagna-not the stoffers stuff, real italian pizza
Hispanic-empanadas, quesadillas, monte cristos-your choice of deli meat on a doughnut bread, with powdered sugar, and raspberry sauce, patacones (colombian fried plantains) and the unknockable coca cola cake so you call it.

And I could go on...

Got questions ask

Re: Mixed up
 

Girl, thank you for reminding me...how could I have forgotten Philipino food: lumpia, panz(s)it, halo halo, chicken adobo, leche flan! Hmmmm...good food. (I was rasied in a town with a large Philipino population).

I am willing to try almost any new food at least once. ;) I love international cuisine. My favorite surprise of late has been Piri-Piri Chicken, introduced to me by a Brazilian classmate a few months ago. It is a very delicious Brazilian/Portuguese meat dish of chicken which has been seasoned with HOT chillies :D - and a variety of other spices. It's usually served with chips or fries, and a salad.

http://www.schwartz.co.uk/assets/Pir...kenBBQ_GIF.gif

What WON'T I try? Anything made of animals I consider pets (dogs, cats, horses... ) or pests (mice, insects, ...).