Someone (OK so no one) once asked why I was willing to try so many different types of food. We aren’t talking about choosing tripe Pho over chicken Pho or the lengua (“tongue”) burrito over a pork carnitas one but the tendency to order dishes from the very bottom/back of the menu. The ones the restaurant probably never had in the first place but put on the menu to appear as if they offered a wide variety. The one with the usual reply: “sorry, we’re sold out”. Really? The one they make only for those that really want to get to know the cuisine.
I am not trying to come across as a foodie (I still love piping hot french fries from McDonalds…wait, isn’t that the very thing a foodie would say?); I just like variety. Why limit yourself to only one shade when there is an entire spectrum to choose from? Mocha could be good. So could a flat white or a deep dark chocolatey ebony. A cheerful yellow. An intriguing and exotic olive.
After four and half decades of eating, I believe I have come up with the perfect response: because I can. That’s it. Pure and simple.
The sensation of trying something completely unfamiliar and finding it to be delicious is indescribable and can only be experienced in the moment. Similarly, very few would disagree, but no matter how hard you try, you will never again be able to recapture the magic you felt after your very first kiss. It’s that way with food for me.
It sounds overly romantic but a dish can also tell you much about a place and the people who prepared it. Som Tam (green papaya salad) reminds me that southeast Asia is a humid region where fresh fruits and vegetables grow with no abandon. The bird chilies in the salad are a variation of the chilies that were first cultivated in meso-America and brought eventually to Asia by European colonizers. The street vendor who prepared the salad has had the recipe in her family for generations and tries her utmost to keep that culinary tradition true to the original.
My earlier response was partly in jest but there is a profound truth in it. In America, we are a country, when our better angels prevail, welcoming of many races, cultures, religions. Very few countries in the world enjoy the diversity we have on our own soil. It seems a shame, a waste really, that we do not explore this richness of (culinary, among others) differences. Perhaps this will bring us closer together, one bite at a time. Cheesy? You betcha.
For me, travel brings this passion for trying new foods front and center. In fact, I am starting to salivate just thinking about it!
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