Every country on the planet has a cuisine, although some like the US are an amalgamation of what the imports brought into the country than have something of its own to begin with.
Geography plays a key role in what an indigenous people eat as part of their diet and then of course how creative they get with what they find in nature is a matter of genetics.
So it was that I introduced Korean food to our 9 year old recently. Now for most countries in SE Asia use of spices comes naturally but access to and awareness of (or other way round) variety of spices is a matter of more research.
I find that the Indian style of cooking uses spices that are amazingly diverse - if you are lucky to have traveled in the different geographies in India it is evident - with cuisine literally changing from taluka (think county) to taluka and we have hundreds of them across 30 or so states. Again the influence of cultures from nearby countries and access to a certain terrain - from desert to oceans to glaciers to forests can make all the difference.
With Korean food there is use of meat (extensive if you are willing to try exotic) to equal degree as there are non meat dishes. I will say non meat since for many an average palate what constitutes food for a Korean may require a will to explore their edible delicacies.
Starters was a seafood pancake - like an uttapam from the south of India except this was loaded with crustacean and fish chunks with a tangy soy based sauce.
Some seaweed soup was followed by main course - we tried spare rib or Kalbi (amazingly done beef ribs soaked in a marinade for 72 hours and grilled over a slow fire till tender and crisp at the same time - with onions and brocolli); comes out on a sizzling plate wanting to be eaten.
Now like the side accompaniments in an Indian thali there was also the Banchan - variety of small goodies in little plates meant to be shared by the people at the table. It consists largely of variety of pickled vegetables - sprouts of unknown origin to lettuce to cucumbers; also dried fish (brine shrimp and anchovies - our favorites); to tofu and seaweed in some sort of mash; all adding texture, color and flavor to the entree.
Bowls of steamed rice complete the assortment.
With chop sticks which the little one has got a fairly good hang of (or rather grip on), we dug into all this wonderful variety with gusto and before long had cleaned out most of the dinner.
We left feeling full and sticky (with some of the sweet potato leaving a caramelly stain on our lips) wanting to try something different the next time.
Geography plays a key role in what an indigenous people eat as part of their diet and then of course how creative they get with what they find in nature is a matter of genetics.
So it was that I introduced Korean food to our 9 year old recently. Now for most countries in SE Asia use of spices comes naturally but access to and awareness of (or other way round) variety of spices is a matter of more research.
I find that the Indian style of cooking uses spices that are amazingly diverse - if you are lucky to have traveled in the different geographies in India it is evident - with cuisine literally changing from taluka (think county) to taluka and we have hundreds of them across 30 or so states. Again the influence of cultures from nearby countries and access to a certain terrain - from desert to oceans to glaciers to forests can make all the difference.
With Korean food there is use of meat (extensive if you are willing to try exotic) to equal degree as there are non meat dishes. I will say non meat since for many an average palate what constitutes food for a Korean may require a will to explore their edible delicacies.
Starters was a seafood pancake - like an uttapam from the south of India except this was loaded with crustacean and fish chunks with a tangy soy based sauce.
Some seaweed soup was followed by main course - we tried spare rib or Kalbi (amazingly done beef ribs soaked in a marinade for 72 hours and grilled over a slow fire till tender and crisp at the same time - with onions and brocolli); comes out on a sizzling plate wanting to be eaten.
Now like the side accompaniments in an Indian thali there was also the Banchan - variety of small goodies in little plates meant to be shared by the people at the table. It consists largely of variety of pickled vegetables - sprouts of unknown origin to lettuce to cucumbers; also dried fish (brine shrimp and anchovies - our favorites); to tofu and seaweed in some sort of mash; all adding texture, color and flavor to the entree.
Bowls of steamed rice complete the assortment.
With chop sticks which the little one has got a fairly good hang of (or rather grip on), we dug into all this wonderful variety with gusto and before long had cleaned out most of the dinner.
We left feeling full and sticky (with some of the sweet potato leaving a caramelly stain on our lips) wanting to try something different the next time.
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