So I was browsing through OTC and noticed we don't have any threads dedicated to food. I figured this was a shame since food is an important aspect of life and culture that helps people connect with each other. Plus, we kind of need it to live. So I figured, why not start a thread to let people here talk about food related topics?
I'll start things off by asking this: what is the most "disgusting" food you ever ate and enjoyed despite its reputation?
Personally, I've eaten things like organs including chicken testicles, stinky fermented tofu, and most recently durians. And I've enjoyed all of them. Especially the durian. Maybe I'm just one of the people who isn't bothered too much by the smell, but it really is just as good as its fans claim. The taste really is remniscient of almonds too. Now I want to try eating it in a cake or icecream.
Oh, bother.
Can't imagine why they'd be annoyed by a blatant attempt at cultural appropriation. /sarc
Disgusted, but not surprised
Neither the Belgians or the French calls these "French" fries though.
So me and my gf recently discovered an Indian restaurant in our hometown. The owner and the head chef are actual Indians, so the food served there is as close to the authentic thing as it is possible with the local selection of ingredients. And I have to say that Indian cuisine became one of my favourites. Some things I've noticed:
- It's filling as fuck. Each of us only ordered a dish + garnish (as far as these terms are applicable to Indian cuisine) and the portions weren't that big, but we couldn't even finish what we ordered.
- It's surprisingly dairy-heavy. Makes sense, considering how spicy everything is. I've read that this is mostly the Mongol cuisine influence, so go figure.
- Spices are everywhere. I'm accustomed to spiced rice because of our proximity to Uzbekistan with pilaf being the centerfold dish in the most of Central Asia (and pilaf is very spicy), but spiced tea? Spiced yoghurt?! Totally unexpected. Also, spiced yoghurt with mashed mango is absolutely heavenly.
- The way the food is served makes Indian restaurant a great place for dining in a big company of friends. You're supposed to mix up several kinds of curry on your plate.
- A lot of similarities to Georgian cuisine. Makes sense, considering the similarities in climate of both countries.
- No dessert on the menu. Though I kind of suspect that's because the ingredients Indian desserts are made of don't grow in Kazakhstan and can't be imported.
What about you guys? What is your most favourite Indian dish? What would you recommend?
Spiral out, keep going.
Oh, bother.
Hard to say. While I like Indian food, I have very few opportunities to actually eat it. So I don't have a favorite per se.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Indian food is interesting, because it varies so heavily between the North and the South. Most of the dishes commonly associated with it in the West, like curries, naan, and anything that makes use of dairy, tends to be from the North. Meanwhile South Indian food, famous for its masala dosas, tends to be almost completely vegan in its exclusion of animal products, being much more heavy on rice and tamarind.
A procrastination in of itself
I wonder if the heavy use of dairy is due to there being religious significance for cows in Hinduism, if you canât eat the animal because itâs sacred then you can at least milk it and consume that.
Iâm pretty boring when it comes to Indian food, mainly my Iâll have a korma or masala, with the standard rice and popadoms. I know I should branch out more, but Iâve not got a great heat tolerance.
âAnd the Bunny nails it!â ~ Gabrael âIf the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.â ~ Cyran
That's not that surprising. The Mughal Empire
ruled large parts of India for several centuries (and one of their Emperors was the one who commisioned the Taj Mahal) and their were founded by a member of the Timurid dynasty who originated in the Chagatai Khanate, on the the divisions of the Mongol Empire following the Great Khan's death.
Oh, bother.
I was lucky this weekend and noticed that durians were being sold in the market. I brought a couple back home. Still as tasty as I remember.
Disgusted, but not surprised
About Indian cuisine, I only had it a few times. The two times I had the best was when I went to an Indian/Bangladeshi restaurant ran by Bangladeshi people (I had chicken biryani with mango lassi and pakoras too once), and the time when my company's Indian colleagues shared some food for Divali (when I had samosas). They were heavenly even for me who is the stereotypical "can't take spice to save their lives" kinda person.
Red lentil dahl is probably my favourite due to really good memories of when I was in school: my one friend's mother cooked the most amazing dahl I've ever experienced in my life. Nothing since comes close, but it left me with a fondness for dahl.
Another friend's mother made a mean matki usal, too, which I was a big fan of. I haven't had matki usal for years, and not since I developed my food intolerances, so I don't know if I can still eat it. I can eat lentils if I'm careful, so I might have to explore this option one day.
Edited by Wyldchyld on May 3rd 2021 at 12:19:00 PM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
So I've seen someone saying tea is basically a leaf soup.
Apparently enough people claimed that there is actually a quora entry addressing that, pointing out tea is just an infusion. ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
Oh, bother.
What, do they call coffee "bean soup" too?
Edited by M84 on May 14th 2021 at 7:08:37 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
đorange fursonađ§Ą
I thought that about chocolate as "sweetened roasted bean sauce".
ááááááá|I DO COMMISSIONS|ááááááá
Interesting Person #928
I think this chart for what should be considered tea should come in handy in this discussion.
I'll just grab myself a cup of Saturn to go, please.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Accidentally dropped a couple (five) strong-mint chewing gums in a big cup of coffee one time.
Drank it anyway (and chewed on the gums as I found them with each sip.)
The experience blew my mind through the sheer contrasts of the sensations of chilly sweet freshness and blazing hot bitterness fighting it out as I chewed the coffee.
Will try that again one day, just to see if the first time was a fluke or not.
...
What is the weirdest culinary-combination that the rest of you came up with and actually tried out in your lifetime?
Since this is the food thread and all...
Years ago I used to have cheddar cheese, Tabasco sauce and Refresher
◊ (I don't know if they have them in the US) sandwiches. The smoothness of the cheese, the spiciness of the Tabasco, and the sweetness of the Refreshers worked surprisingly well together.
Cringe but free
The National: How a European ice cream maker turned Vietnamese pho into a popular gelato.
This hot, salty broth is the national dish of Vietnam. Pho is sold everywhere from street corners to five-star hotels, and consumed for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
It is a bit risky, then, for a half-Italian, half-German resident to start experimenting with such a beloved food. But Ehresmann likes taking risks â thatâs just how he ended up in Asia converting a noodle soup into gelato, a style of iced confection only introduced to Vietnam in recent years.
Ice cream is pandemic-proof
The owner of Ralfâs Artisan Gelato, Ehresmann left behind a corporate career in Europe to earn fame in the populous Vietnamese city by turning local foods such as pho, nuoc mam fish sauce and black sticky rice into gelato flavours.
Ehresmannâs curious innovations have been a blessing; theyâve helped his business survive the coronavirus pandemic.
Since opening in August 2016, Ralfâs has built a loyal Vietnamese clientele. Compared to foreign customers, who prefer Ralfâs sweet flavours such as coconut and strawberry, many locals adore his savoury creations infused with meaty and fishy flavours.
This has meant that, despite international tourists having been absent from Vietnam for nearly a year now, Ralfâs has been able to maintain its key customer base.
In terms of containing the coronavirus, Vietnam has been one of the worldâs most successful nations. Despite its huge population of almost 100 million people, the country has barely been touched by Covid-19, with fewer than 3,000 cases and only 35 deaths. This has meant that businesses such as Ralfâs have been able to operate as usual, free of the movement restrictions common elsewhere in the world.
âIt may sound strange but the pandemic â which Vietnam has excellently under control â has not noticeably damaged our business so far,â Ehresmann tells me via email.
âIt is almost the opposite [because] I suppose it's easier to afford the small luxury of a scoop of ice cream than an extended meal in a restaurant.â
Flavour fest at Ralfâs Artisan Gelato
It was prior to the pandemic that I met Ehresmann in Ho Chi Minh City and learnt how he went from being a public relations executive in Frankfurt to a gelato trailblazer in Vietnam. Since then Ralfâs has moved into a new building in the riverside community of Thao Dien.
Ehresmann creates so many flavours of gelato and sorbet â more than 70 at last count â that they arenât all listed on Ralfâs menu.
Classic gelatos varieties include stracciatella, pistachio, vanilla, coffee, tiramisu, chocolate, banana, rum raisin, hazelnut and caramel. The sorbets boast a huge variety of fruit infusions, including mango, guava, blackcurrant, redcurrant, passionfruit, kiwi fruit, green apple, raspberry, sour cherry, peach and lemon. Those flavours are complemented by sorbets based on Asian fruits such as soursop, jackfruit, dragonfruit and durian.
In most shops, the last flavour would be the strangest on the menu. With its pungent odour, custard-like texture and the most acquired of tastes, durian is a polarising delicacy in Asia.
The fruit is banned from many hotels, due to the stench it creates, but also so popular that it regularly sells for more than 440,000 Vietnamese dong ($19) per kilo across the continent.
Yet the durian sorbet barely stands out on Ralfâs menu due to the presence of many other truly odd flavours. These include a sorbet made from Bia Hoa Vien, a locally brewed craft beer.
âItâs bitter but refreshing, too,â Ehresmann says.
Sweeter, yet also alcoholic, is his prosecco sorbet, which is made from Italian sparkling wine. Thereâs also gelato flavoured by tonka bean, a rare black legume from Central America, and tomato with chilli and chive. Curiouser still is kem than, a gelato flavour that has âactivated carbon from coconut shells for teeth whiteningâ.
Pho ice cream
Above all of these flavours, though, the one most visitors to Ralfâs enquire about is the pho.
I was so intrigued by how Ehresmann managed to turn a favourite noodle soup into gelato that I asked him to whip it up right in front of me.
âI make everything from scratch,â he told me proudly as we stood in his kitchen. âMost gelato shops use pre-mixed ingredients and artificial colours and additives, but that is the lazy way. The traditional way is to use only fresh ingredients, plus the sugar, water, milk or cream.â
As he was explaining this to me, one of his staff darted down the street to a favourite local pho restaurant and returned with a steaming hot beef version.
Ehresmann carefully separated the soup from the noodles, meat and bean sprouts by pouring it into a sieve. Then he measured the right amount of sugar and water, mixed that together with the soup and poured it into a vertical ice cream machine to freeze.
That was it. It seems quite simple, really. The trick was in calculating the ingredient proportions exactly.
Passage to Vietnam
It helps, no doubt, that Ehresmann was born and raised in a country world-famous for its precision. Germans are known for being sticklers. Fuse that with the flair and inventiveness of the Italians, and you have a potent blend evident in the work of Ehresmann, who had an Italian mother and a German father.
From the time he was a child, he adored gelato. In 2010, he saw an opportunity to take over a gelato shop in the city of Munich.
Disillusioned with the corporate world and also going through a divorce, he decided to take a risk and switch careers. While running that shop in Munich, he attended culinary institutes in Germany and Italy that specialised in training students to make artisanal gelato. Soon after, he met a âwonderful woman onlineâ. She lived in Ho Chi Minh City.
After a few âvery positive visitsâ to Vietnam, he took his next gamble and shifted his business to Asia. Nearly five years later, Ehresmann is ensconced in his adopted nation. He spends his days dreaming up quirky new gelato flavours and says nothing makes him happier.
Oh, bother.
So now that more and more people here are getting vaccinated and thus are able to eat out again, or are about to get vaccinated soon, what's the first place you plan to eat out at?
Disgusted, but not surprised
A bit off topic, but our government has offered the dineries an option of employing an app that tracks the customers' COVID status if they want to not follow the quarantine regulations. So we've already been eating out for a while.
Spiral out, keep going.
A Self-inflicted Disaster
I want to go to a buffet once this is over. It's been a year since I've been to one.
"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow
Oh, bother.
Yeah, I miss buffets too. I particularly enjoyed pigging out on the dessert bar.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Face me now, Bitch!
I haven't been to Golden Corral in years, I want to the one in my area gain.
Watch Symphogear
The French, or at least certain sectors of France, are insistent that the Belgians are closet French. The Belgians hate this.