(no subject)
Wed, Mar. 24th, 2004 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI'm having so much fun reading other people's food memes ^_^. Partly because I adore food, and partly because I find the cultural background really interesting. I've always had this fascination with "American" food. I mean, what did they eat at home? Did they really have spaghetti and meatloaf and mac and cheese a lot? It's weird, but it was so completely foreign to me, because I eat rice and stir fry and that stuff all the time.
The first time I ate dinner in America with an American family was when I visited my roommate sophomore year of college. It was weird. They did not have a wok in their kitchen or soy sauce. And they did things like make salad and had interesting pots and different spices and everything! Now I want to go see other kitchens. My aunt's kitchen is very American as well (she is married to one) and it completely freaked me out when I was visiting because nothing was familiar! They had tons of knives (on that fancy magnetic knife strip) and one of those salad dryer things and they cooked steaks and tuna melts. But they didn't have a rice cooker.
Up till then, I don't think I could actually imagine a kitchen without a rice cooker. It's just one of those things. Like a wok.
Eating home cooked food with my Japanese host family was incredibly fun too -- mostly from eating out here, you get the impression that they eat lots of sushi and raw fish and stuff, but really, my host family at least didn't. Lots and lots of miso soup though. And lots of little dishes and okra and fish and things that were kind of like Chinese food and yet not. And their staple was the tea machine (just tea steeping in a hot water heater thing, I suspect). But basically, they drank barley tea all the time -- with ice or hot, depending on the weather. I actually got really addicted to it, but I can't seem to find it that much here. Too much of it is sweetened, and I like that slightly malty barley taste.
It's just really fun seeing how home cooked food intersects or doesn't with restaurant food.
And it's fun reading different people's ideas of essential stuff. Me, for instance, I completely do not get pasta as comfort food... usually I can't eat too much pasta or I feel kind of bloated. But almost all of my roommates and my friends at college loved it! And of course, the boy gets tired if he eats too much Chinese food, but I really have to have Chinese food fairly often. Or if not, at least some sort of Asian food. And Chinese, especially the very non-fancy Chinese, is the best if I'm feeling homesick.
The first time I ate dinner in America with an American family was when I visited my roommate sophomore year of college. It was weird. They did not have a wok in their kitchen or soy sauce. And they did things like make salad and had interesting pots and different spices and everything! Now I want to go see other kitchens. My aunt's kitchen is very American as well (she is married to one) and it completely freaked me out when I was visiting because nothing was familiar! They had tons of knives (on that fancy magnetic knife strip) and one of those salad dryer things and they cooked steaks and tuna melts. But they didn't have a rice cooker.
Up till then, I don't think I could actually imagine a kitchen without a rice cooker. It's just one of those things. Like a wok.
Eating home cooked food with my Japanese host family was incredibly fun too -- mostly from eating out here, you get the impression that they eat lots of sushi and raw fish and stuff, but really, my host family at least didn't. Lots and lots of miso soup though. And lots of little dishes and okra and fish and things that were kind of like Chinese food and yet not. And their staple was the tea machine (just tea steeping in a hot water heater thing, I suspect). But basically, they drank barley tea all the time -- with ice or hot, depending on the weather. I actually got really addicted to it, but I can't seem to find it that much here. Too much of it is sweetened, and I like that slightly malty barley taste.
It's just really fun seeing how home cooked food intersects or doesn't with restaurant food.
And it's fun reading different people's ideas of essential stuff. Me, for instance, I completely do not get pasta as comfort food... usually I can't eat too much pasta or I feel kind of bloated. But almost all of my roommates and my friends at college loved it! And of course, the boy gets tired if he eats too much Chinese food, but I really have to have Chinese food fairly often. Or if not, at least some sort of Asian food. And Chinese, especially the very non-fancy Chinese, is the best if I'm feeling homesick.
(no subject)
Wed, Mar. 24th, 2004 11:51 pm (UTC)Yes. Oh, and you forgot mashed potatoes, the most comforting food of all and the biggest staple of the American diet! Aside from pasta. ;)
And of course, the boy gets tired if he eats too much Chinese food, but I really have to have Chinese food fairly often
When I go to MN to visit my fiance's family (they're Chinese immigrants) and we have Chinese food every day for a week, I start having major cravings for any American food I can get my hands on. So I can see where you're coming from, only in the opposite direction.
(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 25th, 2004 01:21 am (UTC)After a month in summer school with cafeteria food, I quickly started eating a LOT more Chinese food!
Seriously, though, meatloaf was the holy grail of foods almost -- I didn't quite believe it existed, and it was just such a weird concept! Plus, it's got its place in the hall of disgusting foods for kids (although I really like it).