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Dominican Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

Tourists, vacationing in hotels of the Dominican Republic on the All Inclusive system, are sometimes offered dishes of the Dominican cuisine. But real national food, as elsewhere, is served in local restaurants (Comederia), where Dominicans dine.

To choose the right Dominican restaurant, pay attention to how crowded it is. It tastes better where there are more local visitors!

But first, let’s find out: what and when do Dominicans eat?

DOMINICAN CUISINE

After tasting the real Dominican cuisine, you may notice that it is based on a combination of different types of meat with the obligatory addition of rice and legumes, as well as bananas and local vegetables. It is also flavored with local herbs, which add a unique flavor and aroma to each dish.

BREAKFAST

The day starts with a fairly hearty breakfast. Usually, it is scrambled eggs with slices of ham, and mangu – mashed vegetable bananas or boiled sweet potatoes, seasoned with herbs, onions, cheese, and pieces of meat. And the breakfast ends with coffee with a lot of sugar. Also for breakfast, Dominicans often eat pieces of cheese fried in butter, which literally melt in the mouth.

DINNER

For lunch, Dominicans usually eat chicken with rice, or Sancocho – a stew of meat with rice and stews.

In general, rice and meat are the most common foods on the Dominican dinner table. There are many ways to cook rice and many more ways to cook meat. Rice is always served with bean gravy and vegetable salads made from avocado, tayota, yucca, and other local exotic vegetables.

DINNER

Family Dominicans usually dine at home. Most often, they eat the same for dinner as for lunch, only smaller portions.

DOMINICAN CUISINE GUIDE

If you decide to try some authentic Dominican cuisine, be sure to read our small guide to local food. We will indicate the Spanish name and the main ingredients of each dish to make it easier for you to navigate the menu.

SOUPS

Sancocho

This extremely thick stew is made up mostly of meat, chicken, or fish. An essential ingredient in sancocho is a piece of young corn on the cob.

In fact, in such a soup they put almost everything edible that was found in the kitchen. That is, pork sausage and bacon, as well as lime, garlic, cassava, yams can be in sancocho. In some ways, this soup may resemble our hodgepodge.

Asopao de Mariscos

Seafood soup with rice. Fish lovers should definitely try this slightly strange but very tasty soup.

DISHES WITH VARIOUS MEAT AND Poultry

La Bandera

Translated into English, the name of this dish means “flag”. The dish is quite simple and consists of red beans, rice, and meat (the color of the Dominican flag) with the addition of fried bananas and vegetables. Dominicans eat it for lunch and dinner. Typically, La Bandera is served with salad or crispy fried bananas.

Mofongo

Another dish definitely worth trying for lovers of culinary tourism. A real mofongo consists of several layers interlaced with leaves. Each layer contains different ingredients. This is usually fried mashed banana, bacon, or other meats.

There is a simplified version of mofongo, where mashed banana is simply mixed with chunks of meat and vegetables, as well as garlic, olive oil, and Chicharones (fried pork or chicken rind). There is also a recipe for shrimp mofongo.

Outwardly, the mofongo looks like pyramids in children’s sandboxes. It looks strange, but if you see such a pyramid, be sure to try it.

Let’s list a few more famous dishes of Dominican cuisine:

  • Arepitas de Maiz – cornmeal pancakes;
  • Camarones al ajillo – shrimp with garlic;
  • Cangrejo con coco – crab in coconut sauce;
  • Chivo guisado – stewed goat meat;
  • Chivo a la Diabla – stewed goat meat garnished with yucca root vegetable;
  • Chuletas – smoked and then grilled pork chops;
  • Croquetas de Pollo – chicken meatballs;
  • Lechon asado – roast pork;
  • Mangu – banana puree sprinkled with fried onions. It can be served with scrambled eggs, salami, and grilled white cheese;
  • Moro – rice with black beans. Sometimes the beans are stewed in coconut milk beforehand;
  • Pica Pollo – breaded fried chicken;
  • Puerco asado – vegetable stew with meat;
  • Servisio – this delicious and unusual dish consists of meat and vegetables baked in banana leaves;
  • Queso frito – fried white cheese;
  • Chicharrones de Pollo – small pieces of fried chicken.

SEAFOOD

They are prepared to keep the appearance of the product as much as possible. Fish, crabs, lobsters, mussels are boiled or baked whole on the grill, or fried, sprinkled with coconut. The main feature of seafood food is the variety of sauces.

Pescado con Coco is a delicious fish dish cooked in coconut sauce.

SIDE DISHES

Almost all dishes in the Dominican Republic are served with boiled rice or Tostones – fried bananas. Beans and local vegetables are also often served as a side dish.

Platano bananas, from which tostones are made, are larger than regular bananas and are not sweet at all. They are cut into slices, about a centimeter thick, and fried in a pan with a little oil. The outside of the toston has a thin fried crust, but inside it is soft and tender.

DESSERTS

For desserts, try sweet bean cream, fruit-filled cake (usually pineapple), rice pudding, coconut cookies, and coconut ice cream.
But there are also a few Dominican goodies, for example:

“Dulches-con-Coco” – coconut flakes with molasses;
“Dulches-con-Leche” – a mixture of milk with molasses;
“Dulches-de-Naranja” – orange pulp jam with molasses;
“Coco-Nueve-Con-Leche” – coconut pulp jam with milk.

FRUITS

The best Dominican dessert is, of course, fruit. They are always ripe here because they ripen throughout the year. The most delicious fruits, but, unfortunately, not suitable for any long-term storage and transportation, can be bought from farmers or from roadside traders.

It is worth mentioning some of the local fruits, some of which you probably know.

Pineapples, which are called pignas in the Dominican Republic, are tasty and juicy here. They are recommended to everyone who wants to lose weight. To do this, they should be eaten on an empty stomach.

More than 40 varieties of mango grow in the Dominican Republic. However, if you want to taste different fruits, you have to come here from April to September.

There are many types of bananas here. There are the usual yellow ones, there are red ones, there are bananas for frying and many others. Dominicans add them to all dishes, even meat or chicken. It turns out delicious – if you know which banana to add where.

Avocado is also worth trying. The fruits here are large and melt in the mouth.

Papaya, or lechosa, locally, is a fruit that you can eat just like that, either grind it in a smoothie drink or add in pieces, say, to your morning oatmeal.

Pitahaya are large reddish fruits with edible flesh inside. The fruit is cut open and eaten with a spoon. They are especially recommended for people with a sick stomach or diabetes mellitus.

Chinola (passion fruit) is an incredibly healthy fruit that grows on a liana. It is quite acidic, so it is best to eat it by cutting off the top and adding a spoonful of honey. Chinola is added for flavor and aroma to the local ice cream, as well as juices.

Sapote is a large brown fruit with suede skin. Inside there is a large varnished bone and pulp that looks like orange cream. It tastes like both sweet pumpkin and boiled carrots.

Mamon. This fruit grows in the mountains, so it is quite rare and expensive. It is advised to use it, having previously held it in the freezer.

Granadilla is a sour pulp with seeds inside. Most often used for making juice.

Guanabana or creamy apple is a large and prickly green fruit. Inside – white pulp with seeds. It quenches thirst and helps with many diseases.

Jagua is used to extract the juice.

Nispero is a medlar. The whole fruit consists of pulp.

DRINKS

Food in the Dominican Republic is usually accompanied by a glass of ice water and ends with a cup of aromatic coffee.

Rum is popular among alcoholic beverages. In the Dominican Republic, many different types of rum are produced: dark, light, aged, with various additives. In its pure form, rum is drunk in small portions, but more often it is diluted or used in cocktails.

There are almost no own wines in the Dominican Republic, but good beer is brewed here. The main varieties are Presidente, Bohemia, Quiskeia, and Seniza.

Sometimes locals prefer the Malta Morena drink. Despite the similar ingredients to beer, it is a sweet non-alcoholic beverage. It can be mixed with condensed milk for a creamy flavor.

From soft drinks, Dominicans drink orange juice, coconut milk, fruit drinks. Sugar is often added to freshly squeezed juices.

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Liberian Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

You can learn a lot about the history and culture of people through their literature, music, and food. This is especially true for Liberia. Once called the Pepper Coast, Liberia is located on Africa’s western coastline. It has the unique distinction of being the only African country to have been inhabited by freed blacks, former slaves from South America, North America, and the Caribbean. Declaring its independence on July 26, 1847, Liberia is also the oldest democratic republic in Africa. This unique story best reflects the traditional cuisine of Liberia.

Liberian cuisine can be described as a mixture of coastal West African cuisine with culinary traditions from the American South and the Caribbean.

Vegetable Food

Like most West African countries, Liberian food is built around rice and cassava. Rice is a staple food. Even today, especially in rural areas, many Liberians continue to grow their rice, cassava, and sugarcane. Cassava and potato leaves are boiled and eaten like spinach. The sugarcane is either peeled or the tough bark is cut open and the sweet juice is sucked straight from the cane.

In addition to rice and cassava, Liberia eats taro root, as well as vegetables and fruits: plantains, bananas, citrus fruits, papayas, mangoes, avocados, coconuts, okra, and sweet potatoes.

Meat and Fish

Fish is one of the key sources of animal protein in Liberia.

Also in the cuisine of Liberia, the meat of wild animals is used and is considered a delicacy, including elephants, pygmy hippopotamus, chimpanzees, leopards, dukers, and various types of monkeys.

Spice

The most popular spices in Liberian cuisine are habanero pepper and scotch bonnet chili, which are added to thick stews, and ground cayenne pepper is used as a flavoring and preservative.

Palm oil is added to almost all food in Liberia.

Bread

Rice Bread is a sweet rice bread commonly served as a dessert in Liberia.

Soups

Goat soup is a national soup served on important occasions and at special events.

Beef internal soup – made with beef, tripe, dried cod and other smoked fish caught from the nearby ocean.

Liberian Palm Butter Soup is a spicy meat soup (usually made with chicken and ham) that is cooked with chopped palm nuts, pepper, dried fish, okra, and spices. Traditional dish of the African tribe “Kru”, but widespread throughout Liberia.

Chicken Peanut Soup is a traditional Liberian lunch dish. It is a thick chicken broth soup with tomatoes, peanut butter, herbs, and spices.

Main Dishes

Jollof rice is a traditional red rice dish with vegetables popular throughout West Africa, including Liberia.

Fufu is a dense, thick porridge made from fermented dried cassava root. Fufu can also be made from rice, plantain, corn, or yam, but most Liberians use cassava. It is dried, ground into powder, boiled, and shaped into elongated balls about 5 cm in diameter. Fufu is usually eaten with spicy soup, pinching off a piece and immediately swallowing it without chewing.

Dumboy is a dish similar to fufu, with the only difference that it is prepared from fresh cassava root. It is first boiled and then crushed.

Palava sauce is one of the favorite dishes in Liberia, traditionally made from plateau leaves (okra), with the addition of palm oil and dried fish, chicken, or any other type of meat. Served with white rice.

Liberian Potato Greens is a traditional hot and sweet stew made from potato greens with meat or chicken. They are usually eaten with rice. Sweet potato leaves are also often replaced with cassava leaves.

Geebee / GB Soup – Despite the name, it is the main dish that is often served at parties and celebrations. It is a spicy thick meat gravy cooked with a lot of spices. Most often served with rice or fufu.

Salads and Snacks

Pepper Kala – Deep-fried crispy spicy dumplings served with a hot sauce.

Desserts

Rice bread and Sweet Potato Pone are served for dessert.

Drinks

Ginger beer is usually drunk with meals. Coffee is only served on special occasions.

Alcohol

Palm wine is a traditional wine made from fermented palm juice. It can be drunk as a beverage or used in food preparation, such as a yeast substitute in bread, or as vinegar after it has gone bad.

Gana is a local rum made from sugar cane, also called cane juice.

Serving and Etiquette

In Liberia, it is customary to place plates and glasses upside down and with a napkin on top on the table so that the guest can turn the clean dishes over for use. The host arranges all the food at once and stays at the table throughout the meal. All dishes also remain on the table until the end of the meal.

Most Liberians eat with their hands, although American customs have brought cutlery to the kitchens of many city dwellers.

A typical Liberian dinner is a dumba or fufu, served with palm oil and palava sauce, as well as meat stews, jollof rice, and beef giblets soup.

Liberians greet each other with a handshake. At the same time, shaking, they take the middle finger of another person’s right hand and flick it up and down. This tradition dates back to the days of slavery when a slave owner broke a slave’s finger to establish property. The handshake (or “click”) celebrates Liberia’s freedom from slavery.

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Traditional Ethiopian Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

First of all, Ethiopian cuisine, before you learn about the specifics of Ethiopian cuisine in more detail, it should be noted that traditional Ethiopian cuisine does not imply any cutlery on the table.

Then how do they eat, you ask? The thing is that the role of ordinary plates is played by a large tortilla made of teff flour, which is called “injera”. In appearance, the cake resembles a large pancake, and to taste – sour bread. During the meal, the cake is placed on the table, and dishes are placed on top. What about forks, spoons? And in this case, “injera” comes to the aid of local residents. Small pieces of tortillas are broken off the edges and used to eat the served dish.

Ethiopia is a tropical country. Its location has a significant impact on the formation of local cuisine. Located in the northeastern part of the African continent, it is customary to eat rather spicy food here. If not all, then almost every dish in Ethiopian cuisine is served with a hot sauce. The most popular condiments that are included in almost all dishes are – onion, garlic, red pepper, cloves, mustard, ginger, coriander …

On the Ethiopian table, red pepper should always be present, in case of insufficient hotness and homemade cottage cheese, in case of eliminating excessive burning.

Capsicum, which is egg-shaped, is no less popular in Ethiopian cuisine. Capsicum seeds are used as seasoning in cooking and as a pain reliever for toothaches in medicine.

In the mountains of Ethiopia, there are many unique plants that can be used both in medicine and in cooking. One of these useful trees is “mariandera”. The leaves of this tree are used as sage, but you can even bake delicious bread from the seeds of “bananier de bru”.

Surprisingly, not all Europeans are ready to appreciate the local Ethiopian cuisine. Yes, unfortunately, it is.

For example, would you like to try butter barley porridge made with only rancid butter (i.e. spoiled with a bitter taste)? I doubt it. Okay, but what about pancakes made from yeast dough, but not those that we fry, but boiled pancakes.

Guests in Ethiopia are treated to a dish called African eggs. And it looks like this: a ham is put on a piece of toasted bread, and a soft-boiled egg is placed on top.

Do not say, Ethiopian cuisine, but the composition of meat dishes in Ethiopia is quite original. The Christians of the Ethiopian Church, like the Muslims, do not eat pork. The reason for this is the fasts provided for by the Orthodox Church. This led to the fact that Ethiopian cuisine is more like a vegetarian.

However, meat dishes are not completely excluded from the cuisine of this culture. Most often, exotic meats are used for cooking meat dishes. As a rule, this is the meat of snakes, lizards, crocodiles.

Ethiopian cuisine is also characterized by the use of camel meat. Local residents are sure that camel milk and the oil made from it have a number of tonic properties. Ethiopians often cook lamb or poultry. They consume breadfruit, which tastes like gingerbread.

On the tables of the richer part of the population, you can see an abundance of fresh fruits, jellies, and mousses. Spiders and locusts fried in palm oil stand out among the national dishes.

Another distinctive feature of Ethiopian cuisine is the almost complete absence of vegetable dishes. Instead, millet cereals are common there.

Fish is a popular product in some coastal areas. There are different ways to prepare it.

The most common modern dish is wat, which is stewed onions with boiled eggs and seasoned with spices. Sometimes beans or meat are added there.

In general, we can say that Ethiopian cuisine does not differ in particular benefits and tastes. Often, they cook there so that all the vegetables are overcooked, the meat is stewed, and the fish is overcooked. Moreover, in Ethiopia, they used to fry yesterday’s half-eaten food in oil and serve it as a new dish the next day.

Interestingly, in the Muslim regions of Ethiopia, the leaves of the narcotic khat bush are consumed, and special ceremonies are observed.

Indeed, Ethiopian cuisine and Ethiopian cuisine drinks are a wonderful exception to the general culinary culture. The most popular are such drinks as “zhalla” – beer made from barley; various honey drinks; local juice called “spris” – thick, multi-layered, which is made from fresh fruits: papaya, banana or avocado; moonshine with honey and herbs – “Taj”; and of course coffee.

The ritual of drinking coffee in Ethiopia can be equated with the tea-drinking ceremony in China. You can see and take part in such a ceremony in any restaurant or cafe in a given country. Incense smoking is one of the obligatory attributes of the ceremony. As a rule, coffee is added with sugar, herbs, and special oil. The best Ethiopian coffees are considered “Harar” and “Jimma”.

The process of brewing coffee looks like this in Ethiopian cuisine: coffee beans are laid on a metal sheet, which is laid on a roasting pan. On this sheet, the grains are washed three times and only then fried. Coffee is brewed in an earthen jug, where the ground coffee beans are poured with water, after which the jug is placed directly on the burning coals.

To check the thickness and readiness of the coffee, a fragrant brown liquid is poured into a glass and then splashed onto the jug itself so that it does not burst from the high temperature. It is known that on average, each Ethiopian drinks up to 10 cups of coffee daily.

This is such an original and peculiar cuisine of the tropical country of Ethiopia. If you go there on a trip, do not forget to share your impressions.

As already stated, everyone who tries Ethiopian cuisine reports an instant development of addiction and addiction. Painfully, it is delicious, fragrant! Especially those who love spicy food will definitely be satisfied. The fertile soil of the country for tens of centuries has allowed the cultivation of teff, maize, hot peppers, moringa – what creates a special character of the local cuisine. If you try to describe the cuisine of Ethiopia in a nutshell, then these are numerous cereals plus the sharpness of sauces. And if we characterize the local dishes in terms of appearance, then everything here comes down to just one word – “injera”.

The second, after injera, the key element of Ethiopian gastronomy is considered berbere – a mixture of hot chili peppers, fried onions, and a small amount of some kind of spices, well, just magical, otherwise – why do not local chefs reveal the full recipe for berbere and other dishes? Berbere is used not only in main dishes but also in sweet desserts. A thick consistency, dark cherry color, and simply incredible aroma are the key features of Berbere, which will allow you to always recognize Ethiopian food in the future, wherever you are.

Moving on to the meat. Ethiopians eat meat, but not always. The fact is that the local confession – Ethiopian Christianity – relies on Old Testament prohibitions and permits. According to the denomination of the Ethiopian Christians, it is necessary to keep several major fasts every year, plus fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. These days, it is customary to eat exclusively vegetarian dishes, which, by the way, are abundant in Ethiopia’s cookbook. The locals do not eat pork either – both Christians living according to the canons of the Old Testament and Muslims. But they love and know how to cook beef, goat meat, lamb, and poultry.

And now a little about specific names that will help you navigate and make the right choice when you find yourself in front of an open restaurant menu. Tibs – the so-called elongated pieces of meat, usually beef or lamb, fried and served with spicy gravy. Doro-wot will appeal to poultry lovers, it is chicken cooked in onion sauce. Kitfo is one of the more popular dishes, which is fried pickled ground beef with hot peppers and niter kibbeh (ghee with spices and herbs). Kitfo is also prepared with cheese and herbs. Kitfo, like many other things, is served with injera cakes.

Everyone, of course, knows about Ethiopian coffee. In general, the word “coffee” comes from the name of the province of Ethiopia, Kaffa. It is in Ethiopia that some of the best Arabica varieties grow. And even if today the country is not the first in the supply of coffee beans, it is still worth paying tribute to the taste of this drink. It is impossible to imagine a friendly meeting of Ethiopians, which would take place, not over a cup of a fragrant drink. And any delicious meal or reception always ends with a serving of coffee. For alcohol, we recommend paying attention to honey wine and beer from local breweries.

Ethiopia also has its own amazing feast traditions. As we already said, instead of forks and spoons, pieces of a flat cake are used here. However, no one will express contempt in your address if you take food with your hands. On the contrary! So you will eat exactly like an Ethiopian. Perhaps at first, it will seem absurd, but you will get used to it very quickly, and then wonder why spoons are needed at all, when it is so convenient and, most importantly, delicious to eat with your hands? Ethiopians also hate to eat alone, so here in catering establishments, it is in the order of things to invite a lonely person to join at the next table.

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French Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

French Cuisine: Food Aesthetics : France is a real gastronomic paradise, everyone knows about it. No other country in the world has shown such attention to food as here. Traditional French cuisine is distinguished by a variety of tastes, exquisite combinations of ingredients, and special cooking technologies. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it will always be a gastronomic extravaganza. Along with Chinese and Georgian, French cuisine is called the most diverse, vibrant, and original on the planet.
The French regard cooking as an art and famous chefs are called a kind of poets. They believe that ready-made recipes serve only as a basis for cooking, using which each housewife can bring something of her own and thereby make her dishes special and different from the dishes of the same name served in restaurants or in other families.

French Cuisine: Food AestheticsFrench cuisine is conventionally divided into three parts:
cuisine regionale – regional cuisine;
cuisine bourgeoise – widespread French cuisine and haute cuisine – extremely refined cuisine, an example of which was at one time the court cuisine of the French kings.
Simple and homemade cuisine in France is appreciated as much as dinner in a restaurant.
The concept of “haute cuisine” – that is, exquisite, based on complex preparation, unusual products, and a special presentation, appeared right here. The most famous and respected restaurant rating – “Michelin Red Guide”, also has a French origin.

Regional French Cuisine of the Southern Provinces

(Provence, Languedoc, Basque region, Gascony) is sharply distinguished by the pungency of food, great use in its preparation of wines and spices, especially garlic and onions. The regional cuisine is traditional. If in Provence more fragrant herbs are added to the meat, then in Burgundy they will cook it with wine. Alsatian cuisine also has its own characteristic features, characterized by satiety, more significant use of pork and cabbage. Residents of coastal areas use more seafood in their cuisine – fish, crabs, lobsters, lobsters, shrimps.
Compared to other European countries, French cuisine uses fewer dairy products. The exception is the cheeses that are famous all over the world. A platter of cheeses and a green salad must be served before dessert.
Another feature of French cuisine is the wide variety of sauces. The British even joke about this: if in England there are three kinds of sauces and three hundred and sixty kinds of religion, then in France there are three kinds of religion and three hundred and sixty recipes for sauces. In fact, it is believed that there are more than 3000 sauces in French cuisine.

French housewives use sauces to give dishes a certain taste and aroma and, with the same composition of the main products, diversify their food, and if the hostess has a pre-cooked broth in the refrigerator, making the sauce does not take much time.
The arsenal of spices of the French hostess is somewhat different from ours, namely, the widespread use of leeks, tarragon, and rosemary. The use of these aromatic herbs is desirable because they give food a special taste and smell.
Despite the absence of valuable sturgeon fish in France, the hostesses skillfully prepare delicious dishes from inexpensive fish using a wide range of various gravies and sauces. A characteristic feature of French cuisine is also the wide use, especially inside dishes for main courses, of vegetables such as artichokes, asparagus, lettuce.

Typical for the French table are omelets and cheese soufflés, which are prepared with various spices and fillings: ham, mushrooms, herbs.
Cooking a good omelet, according to the French, requires special attention. For omelets, choose heavy pans with a very flat bottom. Some experts from the French Academy of Gastronomy recommend: 1) do not cook anything else in the pan that is used to make omelets; 2) never wash this pan. It is enough to wipe the pan while still hot with clean paper with a little coarse salt and lightly oil to prevent rust.

Oysters (Huître)

France is extremely famous for its oysters. From September to April is the oyster season and in every cafe and restaurant, you will see people enjoying this delicacy. Oysters are usually eaten alive, sprinkled with a little lemon juice. Some prefer a natural flavor, while others use a variety of sauces and condiments with them. The most popular oysters are Belon and Maren-Oleron. Wild oysters are also highly valued and are caught at ebb and flow or near river estuaries. According to existing signs, they can be eaten at any time, except in summer, because at this time they multiply and their meat becomes tough. But the French have developed a new breed of oyster that is eaten in the summer months.

Before eating an oyster, you must first open the shell that contains this delicacy. To do this, you will be given a special knife, with which you can easily cope with this seemingly difficult problem. To prevent the mollusk from slipping, take it in a napkin, turn the sharp end towards you, and with a light movement insert the tip of the knife between the narrow slit of the shutters, gently push them apart and remove the surface protective film, cutting it in a circle, then pour the mussel with lemon juice and use it inside, citrus aroma will perfectly complement its piquant taste. By the way, you can understand that you can see fresh seafood when you shrink it, which is a characteristic reaction when an acidic environment is exposed to a living organism.

Snails

Snails are no less famous French food. They are eaten in two types: burgundy and smaller dark ones. Seasoned with onions, garlic, parsley, and other herbs, Burgundy snails are usually served in their own shells with garlic oil and herbs. Sauces and stews are made from the second type of shellfish. But you still need to be able to cook dishes from them. Also in France, grape snails (escargot) and mussels (moule) are highly prized.
Snails are served ready-made on hot iron utensils and eaten whole, just like raw oysters. You can take them with the help of special metal tongs, which are always applicable to the dish. Armed with them in your left hand (if you are right-handed) and a special oyster fork (usually with one prong) in the right, holding the cornea of ​​the snail with the first device, pull out its contents with the second. In this case, garlic oil will become an excellent component that gives the snails a harmoniously finished taste.

Foie gras

Foie gras is a fatty goose or duck liver, one of the favorite French delicacies. The delicate taste of foie gras can be appreciated in both cold and hot dishes. It is also very popular pickled. Foie gras is currently banned in many countries of the world, since the method of its production is considered rather cruel, but France is not yet ready to deprive itself of such a gustatory joy. This food, one might say new, is only about two hundred years old. However, during this time, the fame of him managed to visit all corners of the globe. Spices, pepper, and salt are added to the bird’s liver, then poured with cognac and left to spend the night on the ice. The next morning, truffles and Madeira mushrooms are mixed into it, and everything is ground into a uniform mass. In a water bath, the dish is kept for about one hour in the oven. Watering the goose with fat, the product is served cold. There are other foie gras recipes. To do this, the liver of geese is artificially enlarged.

Frog legs (cuisses de grenouille)

Frog legs are a famous French delicacy that is now served in a rare restaurant. This is due to the difficulties in cooking and many prohibitions designed to protect frogs from complete destruction. Boneless meaty frog legs are served stewed or fried with various sauces and seasonings. Frog legs taste like chicken meat.
They are usually eaten with their hands, grabbing a limb with their fingers and tearing off a small amount of meat with their teeth, but if the legs are large in size, it is customary to separate the pulp from the bone with a knife, and only then bring the slices of the delicacy to your mouth using a fork.

As the story goes, this exotic dish was not considered a delicacy at all during the Middle Ages and was the food of poor peasants. Due to the famine that reigned then and, accordingly, a meager diet, this food first took root among the common people, and only then, having already acquired a certain national cult, was it introduced into the culinary pantheon of France.
A characteristic feature of the French diet is the abundance of vegetables on the dinner table. Potatoes, various varieties of onions, green beans, spinach, cabbage of different varieties, tomatoes, eggplants, celery, salads are not a complete list of vegetables from which salads, snacks, side dishes are prepared.

First dishes – soups from leeks with potatoes, onion soup, seasoned with cheese, clear beef broth soups, filling soup, kasha, Provencal fish soup, fish soup.

Onion soup (soupe à l’oignon gratinée)

The famous French broth onion soup with cheese and croutons was once considered a soup for the poor because of its simple and inexpensive ingredients, it is now one of the most beloved in Europe. In fact, onion soup is a wonderful dish in every respect: tasty, aromatic, satisfying, warming, and empowering. According to Hemingway, this is a wonderful breakfast for those who have not slept. A plate of hot onion soup is instantly sobering after a long stormy evening and gives strength for a new workday. This property of onion soup was often used by the movers and traders of the Parisian markets, who started their work in the dark. Not for nothing, since time immemorial, when onions were the main ingredient in soup for Roman soldiers, the low cost and excellent bactericidal properties of this vegetable made it indispensable for a great army. In addition, it was then believed that raw onions caused headaches, and the stew was the main way of eating onions.
For centuries, onion soup has been a common dish on the table of the European poor. And only in the xviii century, it became a royal delicacy. According to legend, the inventor of the modern version of the onion soup was Louis XV. Finding himself on the hunt without supper, he made a soup of onions, butter, and champagne himself.

The recipe was extremely simple: fry a lot of onions in oil, pour champagne, bring to a boil and eat, however, his recipe was very far from what is called French onion soup today.
Another interesting property of French onion soup is that it is an excellent aphrodisiac. It does not have the harsh taste and smell of fresh onions, but most of its beneficial properties are retained. Onions contain vitamins A, C, B6, many minerals: from calcium to rare selenium. Onions even contain protein. And in combination with other ingredients of French onion soup: broth, cheese, croutons, and sometimes with cream and wine, you get a complete tasty dish that inspires romantic feats. And given the very low-calorie content of onions, we can say that this dish is ideal for both ardent men and graceful women.
In fact, the extraordinary taste and aroma of the soup are achieved thanks to a special recipe for caramelizing onions with the addition of wine, cognac, vermouth, or sherry.
When cooking many dishes, the French put a small bunch of herbs in the pan, the so-called composite bouquet, bouquet garni, – a small bunch of parsley, dill, bay leaves. Before serving, the bouquet is removed from the food.

Bouillabaisse

Bouillabaisse is also known as Marseille fish soup or Marseille fish soup. This is a true legend and pride of Provence. Bouillabaisse is an invention of the Marseilles fishermen, having sold their daily catch, in the evening they cooked soup from the remnants of this catch. And there were fish, and squid, and shrimp – everything that got into the net during the day. In addition to seafood, vegetables and herbs that were at hand were added to the soup.
The fame of the delicious soup spread throughout Europe, and it became a culinary attraction in Marseille. According to the cooking technology, it can be called an ordinary Russian triple ear: first, all small things are cooked that even a cat will not eat, then larger fish is cooked in the resulting broth, and so on. The difference between bouillabaisse and triple fish soup is in serving, that is, in its sequence – along with mustard-colored broth, pieces of baguette, thick garlic sauce, and grated cheese are served.

Pour broth into a plate (a pan of broth is served on the table), smear a piece of baguette with garlic rui sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and put in a plate with broth. So, drinking white wine, we do it until we cover the entire surface of the broth on the plate with these sandwiches. The baguette is dry, like a toast. He absorbs the broth. As soon as the plate is filled – without hesitation, we take a spoon and taste the croutons soaked in soup, because now they will bring a dish of fish that was last cooked in this soup.

Among the many recipes for bouillabaisse, two dominate: Norman and Marseille. The main difference between them is that potatoes are put in the Norman bouillabaisse, and the Marseille bouillabaisse is a rich soup made only from seafood. In restaurants that are located far from Marseille, such fish are delivered by plane specifically for the preparation of this soup.

The main types of fish used to prepare bouillabaisse in restaurants are sea rooster, sunflower, sea scorpion. They give the soup a true Marseilles flavor and aroma. Other fish are added to them – only about 7-10 species. Of course, the more different types of fish and other marine life are put into the soup, the richer and tastier it becomes. This is how various recipes for the famous bouillabaisse soup appeared, and it is not surprising that there simply cannot be a single “most correct” bouillabaisse.
In regional varieties, they add calvados, walnuts (Normandy) to bouillabaisse, acidify with vinegar (Brittany), use a bouquet of garni as spices, add potatoes to Toulon bouillabaisse.

Quiche

Traditional French open pie quiche made from chopped (puff) dough with various fillings is used in France as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or in addition to them. The most famous quiche – Lauren – with smoked brisket and Gruyere cheese. Anything can be used as a filling: vegetables, fish, meat, but always in combination with eggs, cream, and any kind of cheese. Quiche is eaten cold or hot.

Main dishes beef steak with deep-fried potatoes and steak with blood with a slightly toasted crust and almost raw inside. These two dishes are the epitome of French cuisine. The French love that the meat is not overcooked; pink juice should be preserved in it.
Widespread white meat stew with white sauce. Second courses include sea and freshwater fish (cod, flounder, halibut, mackerel, pike, carp), seafood shrimps, lobsters, scallops. After the second course, cheese is served on the table, with several varieties at once. You can drink cheese only with white or red wine, and in no case with juice or tea.

Cock in wine (Coq au vin)

Rooster in wine is a classic French dish. In France, fresh or frozen game is used to prepare this dish. Dishes are also prepared from seasoned game. The game is kept in the air (at home outside the window) for several days. The traditional Burgundy recipe uses a whole year-old rooster and red Burgundy wine, and it is very important to drink the same wine while eating the dish that was used in the preparation. The name of the dish can change depending on the name of the wine in which the chicken was stewed, it can turn out: coq au Chambertin, coq au Romanee-Conti or any other coq au. Of course, each wine-growing region has its own recipe for rooster in wine.

Croissants

Croissant, along with a baguette, is the most popular type of baked goods in France. It is baked from puff or yeast dough and can be with all kinds of sweet and savory fillings. In fact, Croissants is not a French “invention” at all, and we must give credit to the French, they do not deny this. There are many legends about the origin and shape of this unusual bun. In 1863, the Ottoman army laid siege to Vienna, and then, during the retreat, the Turks left a large number of sacks of coffee. A Viennese pastry chef found these bags and decided to serve fresh, fragrant crescent-shaped buns (a symbol of victory over the Turks) with oriental coffee in his bakery.
In the 19th century, the French radically changed the baking recipe, they began to bake it from puff yeast dough with butter, which changed the taste of baking beyond recognition. So it turns out that Viennese and French croissants are similar only in shape, and the recipe for a modern croissant belongs to the French. Its success became so incredible that soon the croissant was called a French bun.

The traditional French breakfast is coffee and croissants, most often of natural flavor, so that you can cut it in half, spread with Norman butter and homemade jam. Croissants with chocolate are also very popular.
If you have tried French sweets and desserts, then you will forever remain connoisseurs of French cuisine, and the desire to enjoy French desserts will arise again and again. Like everything in France, desserts have their own unique history. We all know that dessert is something sweet, tasty, and unusual, but in France, dessert is a broader concept.
After all, the word dessert itself comes from the Old French word “desservir”, which meant “to clear the table”. Thus, a dessert is a dish that is served after the main one, and it can be sweet, and nuts, and fruits, and berries, and juices, baked goods.

Mille Feuille

A famous French pastry or cake, consisting of three layers of puff pastry, greased with cream. The fact that in Russia, the countries of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia is proudly called “Napoleon”, in France it is poetically called “millefeuille” (mille-feuille in translation “yarrow”) – a divine dessert made of almond cream with berries and fruits between layers of puff pastry …
An important component of Mille Feuille is puff pastry. It, like a setting for a good diamond, should not interfere with the enjoyment of the dessert but is intended to slightly complement the unique taste of the filling.
The origin of puff pastry has its own mysterious history. The Assyrians invented it. Apparently, it was not easy without a refrigerator: to make the dough, it had to be rolled out thinly, greased with butter, sprinkled with flour, folded into an envelope, put in the cold – and so several times!

When baking, the oiled layers are separated from each other, and a puff pastry is obtained. The country of Assyria has long disappeared from the world map, and the dough invented by its inhabitants still forms the basis of many famous oriental sweets. So, the famous baklava is the same Mille Feuille! Real baklava for the sultan should have at least 40 layers – according to the number of beloved wives from the harem. Each wife had to roll out the dough once, put a filling of nuts and spices on it, and the sultan could already try all this and choose: whose layer is tastier, that is the beloved wife.
Now there are various variations of the Mille Feuille recipe: sometimes seasonal fruits or jam, whipped cream, chocolate, powdered sugar, and more are added to it. Traditionally, Mille Feuille is a dessert, but now it is found in a savory form.

Macaron

One of the most famous French delicacies is a delicate but crunchy pastry. Traditionally, two round cookies are baked, between which cream is placed, but there are also variations with jam or jam. French pasta comes in a variety of flavors, and you can usually guess by its color. The most common are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and pistachio. Born in Italy, macaroni (macaroon) quickly gained fame in the French court. Marie Antoinette, for example, adored macarons since childhood and even named her cat after them. At culinary sites, macarons are made like macaroons, but this recipe is somewhat “outdated”: this is how macarons were made in the 18th century.

Now the recipe for this cake is based on egg whites, almond powder, sugar, sweet ice, and salt … but there is a little trick in its preparation: before baking, the baking sheet is left in the air for about half an hour or an hour, depending on the humidity of the air – then it forms on macaroons a film that protects them from cracking, and a characteristic “skirt” around the edges – croûtage, as the French say.
Each French confectionery has its own trademark: for example, the famous Laduree every year invents a new aroma and color of macarons for true gourmets. Multicolored crispy round pieces, fastened with a delicate cream, are happy to give for Valentine’s Day and Christmas, lovingly wrapping them in holiday wrappers with ribbon bows.

Cheese (Fromage) –  occupy the main place in the cuisine of France.
Several decades ago, French President Charles de Gaulle exclaimed: “How to govern a country that produces 325 types of cheese?” In our time, these data are very outdated: the number of varieties of French cheeses has long exceeded five hundred. What are the reasons for this wealth and diversity? Of course, this is a variety of landscapes, from lush and rich pastures near the sea coast to the multi glass mountain meadows of Auvergne, Jura, and the Vosges, where cows of various breeds graze. These are the fertile valleys of the Loire and Rhone, where goats find their food at the edge of the vineyards, and the karst highlands of Provence, Languedoc, and the Pyrenees, where the only sheep can successfully survive.

But first of all, these are the people themselves, many generations of cheesemakers, who carefully, diligently, and skillfully learned to extract the best from the milk of their animals. And, finally, these are all the French in general: they know how to appreciate the individual taste of their “cheese platter”, consider this wealth as part of the famous ability to live (savoir vivre), and enjoy it.
There are a huge number of types of cheeses here: salty, sweet, soft, hard, spicy, homemade, moldy, in wine, in a salad, on a piece of bread, in a soup, and in thousands of different ways.
In France, more than 500 types of cheese are produced from cow, goat, sheep, and even buffalo milk, different in hardness and all kinds of fat content. Blue cheeses are very popular in France, some of the most famous: Roquefort and Brie. Camembert, Reblochon, Banon, Mimolet, Pont-l’Eveque, Temple and others are also produced here. Cheese can be served as an appetizer, dessert, or fondue.

Wine (vin)

France is a country of wine-growing regions, each of which grows its own grape varieties and, accordingly, produces its own wine. Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat are the most famous varieties of wine based on grapes growing in France. Real champagne is one of the favorite women’s wines, produced only in the French Champagne region. True wine aficionados often prefer fine French wines.
There is no hard and fast rule about when to use white and when to use red. Red wine, however, is more commonly used for cooking dishes from domestic and wild animals, and white wine for fish dishes. In the home kitchen, housewives often do the opposite and experiment. However, some dishes, such as edible shells – moule mariniere or fish and white meat dishes, are prepared only with white wine, because red wine gives them an unpleasant blue tint.

In French cuisine, only dry and semi-dry (unfortified) grape wines are used. White wine should not be very sour. In many of the now classic French recipes, some non-French wines such as port or sherry are recommended. But the French themselves often replace these wines with their own sweet wines such as Muscat. In Normandy, cider, which is widespread in this area, is actively used for the preparation of fish dishes. Cognac in the north of France is often replaced by calvados (apple vodka), and in Gascony – by Armagnac. Our cognacs can be successfully used instead of French ones as additives to wines or for burning directly on food, for example, on meat. To do this, before serving, the finished hot dish is poured with brandy and set on fire. This gives the food a specific flavor and flavor.
An important role in Haute French cuisine is played by the compatibility of drinks and dishes. For this, a special science has been created. Wine, chosen correctly and a little bit of luck, emphasizes the taste of the created dish. Poor choice of them only kills the experience of food. Many people know that red wine does not go well with white fish, but not everyone realizes that any wine does not match nuts, boiled eggs, chocolate, mayonnaise.
You can’t drink wine after coffee. Apples enhance their taste, cheese emphasizes their disadvantages and advantages. All this comes with experience and the study of special rules. The French recommend drinking white before red wine, young before old, and dry before sweet. And there are many such rules.

In France, the housewife’s ability to cook well is a matter of pride for herself and her family members. The French always talk about this with pleasure, and there is a special expression that characterizes a woman who knows how to cook food well – cordon bleu (blue ribbon).
We have had the French word “gourmet” for a long time. According to our dictionaries, he is a lover and connoisseur of delicious dishes.
The French have two words that differently characterize people who love delicious food. One of them is the same word gourmet, which is used to refer to people who love to be satiated with delicious food. Another word is gourmet. A gourmet is a person who understands the intricacies of gourmet food. This is a connoisseur in cooking. A Frenchman is pleased when he is considered a gourmet.

The French meal plan provides for two breakfasts.
The first breakfast – fruit and vegetable juices, eggs, cheese, butter, omelets (with jam, ham, cheese, mushrooms, herbs, stuffed tomatoes, and other side dishes).
Second breakfast – cold seafood and fish snacks, poultry meat, stuffed or stewed vegetables, hot dishes of simple preparation.
Lunch – any snacks of European cuisine, soups, main courses.

No more than one snack a day (and not an hour before meals). Clarifications are needed to understand this rule. French children, like their parents, always eat at the same time. Although children in France do not have snacks between meals, this does not mean that they are starving.
In France, parents don’t worry if kids get hungry between meals. They think it’s best to wait, but eat a normal healthy lunch at the right time. The French have a saying that perfectly reflects their attitude towards hunger: “bon repas doit commencer par la faim”, literally translated – “A good dinner begins with hunger,” or something like: “Hunger is the best seasoning.”

Etiquette is generally a separate chapter when it comes to the French nation, and even more so if during a meal.
The meal must be accompanied by an interesting conversation. The French at the table prefers to talk about culture, art, and French cuisine – the national pride of every Frenchman. It is not customary for the French to make lengthy toasts at the table. It is not accepted to clink glasses.

France is an amazing country, famous not only for fashion shows, but also for a variety of “delicious” holidays. Fans of tasting new dishes should definitely visit this country in October when the Week of Taste takes place. It ends with a grand festival of chestnuts, which has long been considered national.
The holiday dedicated to chestnuts is never forgotten either in big cities or in small settlements. These days, France can be called a gastronomic paradise, there are so many different kinds of food here. The only condition that must be met is the presence of chestnuts in every dish. For this, special varieties of this plant are grown. French restaurants offer visitors to try soups, cakes, mousses, liqueurs, and other chestnut dishes and drinks.

For those who, for various reasons, cannot visit a cafe or restaurant to enjoy something tasty, fried chestnuts in special bags are sold on the streets.
Not only people are not indifferent to the holiday of chestnuts, but the weather also loves it. The proof of this is the warm and sunny days that delight everyone throughout the holiday. These days, in addition to tasting all kinds of chestnut dishes, sports competitions, various contests for readers and theatrical performances are held annually, thanks to which you can find out how the chestnut got to France.
The smell of roasted chestnuts that is in the air for a whole week, delicious and original dishes, interesting and gambling contests simply will not allow anyone not to get into the festive spirit.

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American Cuisine: History and Most Popular Dishes

Speaking about the national dishes of America, many associates it with traditional fast food and barbecue. Not everyone knows that this country has many unusual recipes that are known to this day all over the world.

American cuisine is filled with a great variety – here you can find vegetables, seafood, meat, and many other products, when combined together, dishes with sometimes unusual names are obtained, but at the same time they do not lose their taste, and often only become more open thanks to each other. friend.

Amazing fact! One American in five eats at least once a day in fast food. But with this in mind, Americans prefer to eat something sweet for breakfast (for example, toast with jam).

Origin of American Cuisine

If you think about what kind of people still influenced the birth of American cuisine, then the Italians who began to massively immigrate to the United States at the end of the 19th century can be safely called the first. Towards the middle of the 20th century, traditional Italian dishes such as spaghetti with sauce, pizza, and apple pie became commonplace. Together with Italian farmers, Americans have achieved the popularity of eggplant.

French, which spread widely in Louisiana, played a special role in the birth of American cuisine. After all, it was the French at a certain point in time who to a greater extent settled this region and brought notes of French cuisine to American cooking. The cuisine was based on affordable seafood, as well as corn and hot peppers. The first seafood was crayfish and shrimp. Often, all of these foods were cooked in one clay pot. Dishes such as jambalaya, a rice dish reminiscent of the modern name for paella, and gumbo, a thick spicy soup similar in consistency to a stew, can be found in local Louisiana restaurants even today.

The number of American dishes is increasing every day. The construction of railways was reflected in the fact that the need for labor increased, there were not enough people. As a result, many workers from China came to the country. Thus, Chinese cuisine has added to the richness of American cuisine with its own national characteristics.

What Is American Food?

American cuisine, as mentioned earlier, has different national origins. Some of them came from Europe, mainly from England, Germany, and Italy, and other countries.

The Americans also have their own traditions. For example, ice is widely used in American cuisine. An ice jug is a common attribute of restaurant service. Iced tea is also in demand. Beer is usually served cold in a chilled mug.

Cheese is considered a typical product in American cuisine. American cheese is a mixture of processed cheeses (mozzarella, cheddar, and so on), cottage cheese, and butter with spices.

One of the weaknesses of the American person is the love of peanut butter, which is a traditional American product made from ground peanuts with the addition of vegetable oil and salt. This product is also in demand all over the world.

Rice is often cooked as a side dish in American cuisine. It can be different: long, brown, and wild. A small secret of such cuisine is that many spices are used in food: garlic powder, various varieties of pepper, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, bay leaves, caraway seeds, and much more. The Americans simply cannot do without it.

American food can be characterized by the distribution of a wide range of convenience foods in stores and fast-food restaurants.

The basis of the daily diet of the American family is built on the principle of minimum cost and time.

Amazing fact! American cuisine is undeniably considered harmful. More than half of Americans do not know and do not want to learn even the basics of healthy eating. Approximately 52% of US residents are of the opinion that it is easier to understand the tax system than with their own food.

In supermarkets, counters are bursting with an abundance of a variety of ready-made meals and semi-finished products. Despite the huge selection of original dishes from all over the world, the American table looks a little monotonous, which causes negative emotions. In other countries, women are not as deeply interested in the theoretical knowledge of cooking as in the United States. The American hostess, arranging a treat for guests, does not serve ready-made dishes on the table, but spends quite a lot of time in her kitchen before acquaintances arrive.

Based on the foundations of American cooking already known to us, we can conclude that it is the closest to our time, the most suitable for the pace and needs of a modern person, in comparison with the cuisines of other countries. It is close to modern people, first of all, not to taste, but in psychology, because it is quick to prepare and not picky, one might even say primitive. No other country has influenced the nature of food around the world to the same extent as the United States, they have left their unforgettable mark on the history of culinary around the world. She surpassed even France in this, was able to prove that it is possible to prepare a work of culinary art from simple products, regardless of the time and money spent.

The main thing here is imagination and the ability to cook. And only then will you get a difficult tasty dish, but a work of art.

America’s Most Famous Dishes

Americans are associated mainly with fast food and the tradition of outdoor cooking. Because of this, there are a lot of recipes for barbecue in the national cuisine of America. There you can also find such masterpieces that everyone is tedious to recreate at home. Now on the Internet, you can find a lot of recipes for American cuisine, which stand out for their simplicity of preparation, while taking into account all the subtleties of the American style. Savoring the meat freshly fried using these recipes can help you understand why Americans are so fond of barbecues.

Many people forget about the extraordinary variety of other national dishes glorified in America, although it shouldn’t be worth it. One of the most famous dishes is the traditional turkey, which in America is usually prepared for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Following the recipe, it is possible to embody the originality of American cuisine and please your loved ones with a new delicious dish.

The most interesting American dishes:

  • salads are mixtures based on an abundance of vegetables and fruits, usually seasoned with an original sauce;
  • a variety of hot sandwiches, the filling of which can be either ham or breast, or just vegetables;
  • pastries and sweets – the most popular in this category are pumpkin pie, the banana split is ice cream and banana dessert, cheesecake with different types of fillings, the brownie is a chocolate cake with liquid chocolate inside, and, of course, popcorn;
  • dishes that include non-standard American products, for example, corn chowder is milk soup with corn, clam chowder is seafood soup, corn dog (sausage in corn flour dough, in other countries it is popular under the name Great Dane), pecan pie is a corn syrup quiche with pecans, fries, and so on.

All these dishes can be distinguished for the fact that they stand out for their balance of products and their ease of preparation.

Mixing Disparate Foods in American Cooking

Let’s take the well-known fried chicken as an example. Usually, it is served as a main course with a side dish of vegetables or various cereals. In the USA, however, they decided not to stop at a standard dish and introduced their own peculiarities.

They serve this product with waffles or pancakes and use honey or maple syrup as syrup. It turns out to be a rather unusual combination, but tasty because meat and sweet notes complement each other. In the South of the United States, this is almost the most common and favorite breakfast dish.

Years later, many restaurants around the world began to apply this idea to their dishes. But, as you know, everyone wants to stand out with something, therefore, both sweet and sour sauces, such as lingonberry and berry sauces, began to be served both with meat and chicken.

As a second example, consider fried cucumbers. Yes, exactly cucumbers. They are simply cut and fried in batter. If you think about why such a combination was invented, I think no one can clearly answer you. Most likely this was done just for fun, but initially, no one expected that it would come out pretty well. No one will deliberately fry cucumbers, because this is the product that is eaten as it is or complements some kind of dish with it. And only Americans cook it deliberately to get satiated, while they consider it delicious.

Another unusual combination is celery with peanut butter and raisins.  This is not only a sweet dish that is easy to entice a child, but most importantly, it contains vitamins, carbohydrates, and fats. After this, both children and parents are happy.

America is an amazing country, which has many such subtleties in terms of culinary that are not known to everyone. Experimenting with products, trying to bring out an unusual dish – this is a special feature of this country that distinguishes it from others.

I hope you found this information interesting and exciting. Thanks for reading!

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Chinese Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

Chinese cuisine has existed for more than three thousand years, as evidenced by the finds of archaeologists who have unearthed bronze plates, kitchen boards, pots and knives dating back to 770-221. BC. One and a half thousand years ago, the first Chinese cookbook was compiled; since antiquity, there have been many “restaurants” and tea houses in the Middle Kingdom. Cooking was considered an art in China, and cooking was always taken very seriously.

In the traditional requirements for chefs, there are points that food should be not only tasty, but also healthy, and even medicinal. Hence the spread of herbs in Chinese cuisine, which often has medicinal properties. In ancient Chinese cuisine, much attention was paid to the concepts of yin and yang. All foods and dishes were divided into those that give energy, and those that soothe. For example, meat is a pure yang product; water carries yin energy. To maintain health and longevity, you need to build your diet so that yin and yang are in harmony.

The Chinese love to eat together. A holiday, business negotiations, a family dinner, or just a meeting with friends are an excuse to enjoy delicious dishes. The theme of food is reflected in a large number of fixed expressions or sayings. For example, “eating vinegar” means feeling envy or jealousy, and “eating another’s tofu” means fooling, “eating ice cream with your eyes” means looking at a member of the opposite sex.

The Chinese eat slowly, little by little, enjoying the taste. Eating quickly speaks of disrespect for the owner and for the food itself. As a sign of respect and special care, it is customary to put a treat with your chopsticks in the guest’s bowl. In China, there is no concept of “having a bite” – it is believed that food is sent to people from heaven, so every meal is an event. There should be balance in the dishes on the table, but with a predominance of liquid and soft media, which are considered the most useful and easily digestible. For large holiday dinners, up to 40 dishes are served. Green tea is usually drunk before dinner, then cold snacks are served: fish, meat, liver, or vegetables. Then each guest receives a bowl of rice, common dishes and sauces are placed in the center of the table. Warmed wine or matan is served with food. After the meal, the broth is served and again green tea. This order of dishes is very good for digestion, guests get up from the table with ease, they are cheerful and happy.

A very important element of the Chinese table is its appearance, the order of the dishes, and their color combinations. Table setting is usually kept in white and blue tones, bright colors or contrasting combinations are undesirable. Dishes are decorated with herbs, vegetables, fruits or some of their parts are skillfully cut in the form of chrysanthemum flowers, spikelets of wheat or bizarre animals.

Wok – Chinese cuisine, cooking Chinese cuisine is primarily the art of a chef. The variety of dishes and their special flavors are achieved through various methods of processing food and mixing them. There are several basic principles that Chinese chefs have followed for centuries. First and foremost, the components of the dish must be crushed. They break, tear or cut. The tradition of grinding all raw components allows not only to preserve the maximum amount of nutrients, but also to save fuel by reducing the cooking time. China was densely populated for a long time, the tree was highly valued, and the peasants had to save fuel. It is precisely because of the need to save firewood that a convex wok pan appeared, in which food, chopped into small pieces, heats up very quickly. By placing several bamboo baskets in the wok, you can steam several dishes at the same time.

By the way, the custom of finely chopping the ingredients to save fuel explains why in China people eat not with forks, but with chopsticks. But the food was cut into small pieces and chopsticks were also used at the court of the emperor, when there was no need for economy. In this case, this way of serving dishes was explained by the fact that it is not good to force the emperor and his guests to make efforts by cutting meat or vegetables. The pieces were just one bite in size.

Chopping and frying foods correctly is another principle of Chinese cooking. The product is cut into small equal cubes and fried in oil over a high flame for just a couple of minutes. Previously, ginger and allspice are fried in this oil, the aromas of which give the dish a special flavor. Often fish, meat and other foods are fried in batter, which keeps them juicy. Sometimes, although quite rarely, the fish is cooked whole, keeping its shape and removing the bones. The fish, cooked entirely with head and tail, symbolizes the integrity of the world or the completion of the business.

Chinese food Most Chinese food is very multi-component. Each dish uses a large number of parts, each of which is prepared separately, and only in the final everything is mixed together. A huge number of seemingly incompatible aromas and tastes of different products are organically mixed in Chinese cuisine into a single whole. For example, such combinations as “fish-flavored pork”, “fruit flavored beef”, sweet and sour cucumbers. The purpose of the art of cooking, as understood by the Chinese, is to hide the true aroma of the original product so that the guest does not guess what ingredients the dish consists of. The decoration and appearance of the finished dish serves the same purpose.

Chinese cuisine is impossible without spices: red, black, white pepper, ginger, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaf, nutmeg, wild garlic, herbs – basil, parsley, celery, cilantro, peppermint, dill and all types of onions. Soy sauce is very popular in China, with which rice is seasoned, as well as sesame oil, wine vinegar and maotai rice vodka. Another “seasoning” that Chinese chefs love to use is monosodium glutamate, an additive commonly found in packaged foods. It is absolutely harmless and acts primarily on the taste buds of the tongue. As they expand, they perceive more taste. It is important to note that the bad taste from MSG will also increase. This substance neutralizes unpleasant odors such as fish.

Mifeen noodles, Chinese cuisine Since ancient times, rice, wheat and soybeans have been cultivated in China. Rice is the main everyday food in China. Everything is eaten with rice, or rather everything is eaten with rice. This cereal is very rich in starch, that is, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fiber, which makes it very useful. Rice contains B vitamins, vitamin E and PP, as well as minerals: copper, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, potassium, manganese, selenium and zinc. 100 g of raw cereals contains 4.1 g of protein. A mixture of rice, other cereals, honey and water was eaten by the ancient Olympians before the competition. Rice is easy to digest and can be stored for a long time.

Rice as an agricultural crop appeared about 10 thousand years ago due to the fact that melting glaciers left swampy lands in the area of ​​what is now India, Thailand and China. It was rice that grew best on silty soils. Excavations in the village of Hemudu, Zhejiang province in eastern China, indicate that rice cultivation in China began seven thousand years ago. The first written mention of rice dates back to 771 BC. (Book of Changes). Today rice is the food of three quarters of all inhabitants of the planet. In Asia, rice is a symbol of fertility and prosperity. There are about a thousand varieties of rice in China. Basically it is the so-called “short rice”, while in other Asian countries and India – long grain or “long rice”. In modern cuisine, rice is used as a side dish; rice flour is used to make mifen noodles, sweet cakes and some desserts, as well as vinegar, vodka, and yellow rice wine.

Chinese cuisine, mung beansNo less than rice, soy is used in Chinese cuisine. In general, different beans are used in Chinese cooking, these are mung, azuki beans, horse beans, peas and others. But soy is the main plant among legumes. It is distinguished from its counterparts by the low content of carbohydrates and the high content of proteins, oils, and calcium, which are much more in soy than in meat or milk. Soybeans began to be grown three thousand years ago and by now they have learned to use all the resources in this wonderful bean. Soy is used to make a sauce that is very often used in a wide variety of dishes and, above all, with rice, soy milk, flour, cottage cheese, and other products. Soy contains unique proteins that are superior in some respects to animal proteins. The oil contained in soybeans has components similar to fish lipids, vitamins C, B, and E, trace elements, lecithin, and choline. Soy is free of cholesterol and lactose. Daily consumption of soy sauce provides the body with riboflavin, vitamin B6, magnesium, copper, protein, iron, phosphorus, manganese, and niacin. Soy sauce is very salty, so it can be used in place of salt or with unsalted dishes. Tofu or doufu is bean curd, which is obtained by adding salt to soy milk.

The Chinese prefer pork from meat. This choice is not due to the taste of the meat, but rather to utilitarian and moral reasons. Pigs are easy to raise and feed with what is left after lunch; pigs are not used for work, so it is not a pity to use them for meat. Almost every Chinese family kept pigs in the last century. Even the hieroglyph “house” consists of the parts “pig” and “roof”. In the western regions of China, where the influence of Islam is strong, beef is preferred. Poultry meat is popular in all parts of the Middle Kingdom.

Contrary to popular belief, only a small proportion of Chinese people are vegetarians. Those who adhere to the Buddhist teachings to reduce the suffering of all living things mimic the taste and texture of meat using soy proteins and gluten obtained from wheat. There are even technologies for imitating seafood using plant substances. Chinese vegetarians, contrary to stereotypes, do not eat a lot of tofu, but get their nutrients from mushrooms, corn, beans, and a variety of vegetables.

Tea plays an important role in Chinese cuisine. Tea is good for digestion as it helps to digest fatty foods; it quenches thirst and perfectly complements the vitamin diet. Tea contains up to 500 different vitamins and minerals. However, speaking about tea in China, first of all we are talking about green tea and all kinds of its varieties. The Chinese also drink black tea, but they call it red. Red or, according to the European classification, black teas are rarely drunk in China, since there are fewer useful substances in such teas. Basically, Chinese red tea is prepared for export. What the Chinese consider black tea – pu-erh – has a very dark infusion and is prepared using a complex technology.

Chinese white and yellow teas are considered especially valuable. These are most often tips or the top leaf with a bud. This tea is harvested in the spring – in March-April, when the tea bushes start to sprout. Tea varieties differ in different provinces and parts of the country. So, in the southwest, in the Yunnan province, coarser tea is grown, it is used to prepare pu-erh tea, various varieties of red tea and pressed green teas. A little to the east, in Guangdong, oolongs are grown, a little to the north, in Fujian – the most famous oolong tea in China – Te Guanin or Iron Bodhisattva Guanin. This tea belongs to a special group of teas called oolong or oolong. These are medium fermented teas used in traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Tea – Chinese cuisineDried tea leaves are strongly twisted into balls or spirals, when brewed, they open and withstand up to 15-20 infusions. The aroma of such tea, especially if it is of good quality and fresh, changes from infusion to infusion, the floral notes in the aroma are replaced by spicy and tart, the infusion becomes darker with each subsequent infusion. Such high-grade tea is able to “pass” about three liters of hot water through ten grams of dry brew! However, the price of such tea can be one hundred or more dollars per hundred grams. Of course, this tea is drunk without sugar and sweets.

In the central part of China – in Sichuan, Hunnan, and Anhui – mainly green tea is grown. There are a lot of varieties of green tea and most of them appear due to special methods of drying or processing the leaves. From the northern part of China, tea is practically not grown but pressed tea is very popular in these places, especially on the border with Mongolia, in the steppe regions, where meat and fatty foods prevail. In these places, tea is prepared with milk, salt, and fat. There is a version that a similar method emerged from the need to “wash the dishes”. Indeed, after cooking a meat dish in a boiler, the fat is very difficult to peel off, and there is very little water. Thus, everyday necessity has shaped the tea preferences of the whole region.

Chinese cuisine has spawned a large number of small and large Chinese restaurants around the world. Naturally, scammers also took a closer look at this popularity. The characteristic features of improper preparation of traditional Chinese dishes in some supposedly “Chinese” restaurants are too fatty or too bland dishes. Otherwise, Chinese food is delicious and healthy. However, some dishes may be too spicy for the European stomach, so some adaptation period is required before traveling to China. In a Chinese restaurant, it will not be superfluous to clarify the composition of unfamiliar dishes. It is not worth eating at once and eating unfamiliar dishes a lot, even if you like their taste. Mindful of Chinese traditions, eat slowly, enjoying the skill of the chef and unique flavor combinations.

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Indian Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

Indian cuisine is expressive that has found fans all over the world. For those who do not know anything about it, it makes sense to try to figure out what is so special about Indian culinary traditions.

In this kitchen, spices set the tone. The taste and appearance of dishes depend on the professionalism of the chef, his ability to choose the right ingredients, and – what is important! – the temperature at which the food is cooked.

As a rule, Indians eat with their hands – more precisely, with the fingers of their right hand. Sometimes, during the meal, “devices” are used – cakes. It is not acceptable to take food with the left hand – it is for washing the body. A collective feast is a rarity: food is a serious and individual matter, according to India.

However, new trends, including in table etiquette, began to actively penetrate Indian life – today in local restaurants, especially in large cities, forks and spoons are increasingly used, although very often the waiters bring a knife only at the request of the client. At lunchtime, inexpensive eateries lure visitors with “set meals”. In the Indian sense, this process looks something like this: quickly and quickly serve a round tray, in the center of which rises a pile of rice, around – everything else. Rice for an Indian is perhaps the most important component of food.

Curry is the Head of Everything

In Indian cuisine, freshly prepared herbs and spices play an important role, and there are more than two hundred of them at the disposal of chefs. They give well-known products an unusual taste, color, and aroma. For a European who is not very familiar with traditional Indian food, it is sometimes difficult to grasp all these subtleties.

Indians try to cure various ailments with spices. For example, a mixture of pepper, ginger, and turmeric, which is fried in oil, is trying to treat colds. They say it helps. The technique of roasting spices is different: before seasoning this or that dish, they grind various ingredients into powder or put them whole, sometimes they do both at the same time. When the cook sees that the spices have reached the desired condition, he is poured along with the oil into the food being cooked. Some Indian chefs do not use oil at all – they fry directly in a dry frying pan – according to them, this is tastier, since the oil does not clog the natural taste of the product.

One of the most favorite Indian dishes is Rice and Curry. It comes in countless varieties: white, brown or red, thick, thin or dry, spicy or tender, with chicken or fish, meat, eggs, or vegetables. Several types of curries are necessarily served with each meal in small bowls (spicy thick liquid dishes, not to be confused with a mixture of seasonings, which is also called that). Sometimes it is served on a tortilla – chapatis, certainly with a monstrously spicy sauce (a natural precaution against gastrointestinal infections). Today curry is a food that has gone from a national league to an international one, spreading all over the world. Outside of India, curry on flatbread is rarely served, more and more in cardboard or plastic boxes with disposable forks.

The curry mixture contains several main ingredients: boiled and dried turmeric root powder, coriander seeds and hot chili and cayenne pepper powder, and fenugreek seeds. Sometimes they also add ajgon (or Indian cumin), black pepper, garlic, ginger, Indian saffron, asafoetida, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Previously, mixes were made just before food was prepared, but now you can buy them in the store. This mixture of curry has given its name to many dishes – meat, vegetable, and fish.

In different regions of India, culinary traditions can vary greatly.

Nutrition Philosophy

In Ayurveda, in one of the four Vedas, great attention is paid to nutrition. The principles of food consumption have been developed meticulously – depending on the constitution of a person and his psychophysiological state, on the season of the year, locality, etc.

In the north of India, Muslim influence is very strong – as a rule, the Islamic culinary style is more widespread, in which the emphasis is on various types of grains and meats. They eat more lamb and buffalo meat. The cuisine of this region is well-fed and spicy, but in sharpness, it is much inferior to the cuisine of the south.

In the mountainous northeastern regions of the country, the menu is less diverse – to some extent, it reflects the character of the harsh nature. Vegetables grow best in carrots, cabbage, and onions. Barley also ripens well here, from which the famous chang is brewed – a low-alcohol drink that is a distant relative of beer.

The inhabitants of northern India bake nan – bread cakes from grain. Without them, the meal is considered incomplete. Cakes are baked in a special clay oven, somewhat reminiscent of a huge jug – in tandoor. Meat, poultry, and fish are cooked in it. In tandoor – on a spit – a lamb leg can be baked. Without all sorts of spices, of course, and in this case is not complete. Before baking, the lamb is marinated in nutmeg vinegar with the addition of ginger and garlic paste, chili pepper, and vegetable oil. Before putting it into the oven, be sure to grease the meat with yogurt mixed with herbs and spices. Lamb is also cooked in chunks – often in mustard oil, adding turnips, spinach, onions, and dill.

The author of these lines liked the kyufta in tomato sauce – meatballs, very similar to our meatballs. This dish can be found in many countries of the Middle East and South Asia, but it tastes different everywhere. And the “fault” is precisely the spices. The Indian gestaba, a large meat ball soaked in hot and aromatic juice, also left a good impression.

Bengali cuisine is more varied. This is not surprising: West Bengal is the only Indian state stretching from the Himalayas to the ocean, and it also captures the fertile valleys of the sacred Ganges. Bengali chefs are renowned for their fish and crab curries and vegetarian daal puree soup. A typical spice in Bengali cuisine is calvanji, onion seeds.

There is a fairly large coastal zone in the west of India, so fish and seafood dishes are preferred here. The visiting culinary card of this region can be safely called the dishes called “Indian salmon” and “Bombay duck”, which turns out to be not a duck at all, but a fish. It is cooked either as a curry or deep-fried.

In the south of India, meat is practically not eaten – in states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, meat dishes are unpopular. Mainly they eat seafood, fish, rice, and vegetables. Every morning from the fishing villages scattered along the coast, boats leave for tuna, sardines, barracudas, sharks, shells, shrimps, cuttlefish, and lobster. Southerners, not stingy, season all their dishes with hot chili, so you can often see yogurt on the table – it is believed that it neutralizes pepper heat in the mouth well.

Indian cuisine cannot be imagined without rice. It must be served with races, pickles and papads. Rasam is an infusion of pepper on tomato, lemon and other vegetables and fruits. Pickles is a salad of lemon and mango slices marinated with hot pepper. Frankly speaking, the substance is very peculiar, you need to get used to it. Papad – unleavened cakes made from rice flour, it is customary to eat spicy food with them.

In Punjab, preference is still given to meat food. Anduri-chiken, a chicken stuffed with chili pepper, is very popular. It is fried in tandoor. Many dishes are made from chickens: for example, paoru-chiken – chicken baked in dough, tiku-chiken – fried pieces of chicken meat marinated in spices.

Drinking Traditions

Usually, the Hindus quench their thirst with lime juice, a drink made from tamarind and caraway seeds and, of course, tea – they usually drink it with milk and sugar, as well as with spices. By the way, there is an interesting story connected with tea in India.

It happened not so long ago – in 1971, when the Indo-Pakistani conflict broke out. Then the Indian army occupied East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Soldiers and officers were so accustomed to drinking tea with milk at home that they could not deny themselves this pleasure during a military campaign. But the problem was that the milk had to be transported from India. While it was getting to its destination in tank trucks, it managed to turn sour. The soldiers did not want to delve into the essence of the problem, so bad gossip began, which greatly alarmed the government.

The exit was found unexpectedly. A certain merchant Gurbash Singh took up the supply of milk to the army. For some reason, it didn’t turn sour. The enterprising businessman then made a good fortune. He told his secret only a few years later, when he was no longer afraid of competitors. It turns out that he threw frogs into milk tanks. By the way, this method of preserving the product is familiar for a long time and in Russia. With the funds received on credit, the successful entrepreneur bought several dozen milk tanks, into each of which he shoved a dozen live frogs. Nobody began to go into the details of why this merchant’s milk does not turn sour, so he got a monopoly on the supply of the product to the army, very quickly becoming the “milk king” of the whole country.

It is not customary to regale guests in an Indian house with strong alcoholic drinks. They are often treated to palm wine – toddy. It has been made in India for a long time. They also drive the national schnapps out of Toddy – Arrak. However, most of the locals prefer to drink soft drinks, which, like tea, quench their thirst well. For example, lassi is a refreshing yoghurt drink that Hindus sometimes mix with a little mineral water. This drink is a kind of “fire extinguisher” that quenches the heat in the mouth.

Food in India is more than food: it has to do with the soul, mind, and body. According to the Indians, properly selected and prepared, it can become the best medicine not only for the body, but also for the soul, and improperly prepared it can be poison.

The complexity of the story about the culinary traditions that exist in India lies in the fact that in this country there is still a very confusing system of caste status replete with corrosive trifles. She meticulously defines the rules: who can eat with whom, and who can’t eat with whom; who has the right to cook food and who does not; from whose hands it is allowed to take food; what utensils to use … But this is a completely different story, which we will definitely tell you about. Of course, when it comes to Indian cuisine, one cannot fail to mention that very many residents of the country do not eat meat at all – they are vegetarians. However, it makes sense to talk about this separately.

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Nigerian Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

Nigeria is considered a country where you can not only relax and unwind but also taste unusual, very tasty dishes.

What is the Cuisine of Nigeria?

Nigerian cuisine, however, like West African cuisine in general, is known for its richness and enormous variety. Typical foods include beef, poultry, fish, vegetables, rice, and potatoes. The country’s cuisine uses many different herbs, spices, and seasonings.

Dishes of local cuisine The main dish of local cuisine is considered to be a side dish. He plays the main role. As a side dish, usually boiled rice or yams, fried with vegetables, or two varieties of potatoes (a little sweet and sweet) are served. Richly seasoned fish or meat dishes are served on a separate plate.

Moya-moya is a traditional Nigerian dish. This is a ripe bean casserole with egg and smoked fish, baked in palm leaves.

Suya – Very thin strips of beef that are well sautéed over an open fire with nut butter and sprinkled with cayenne pepper. Fresh Nigerian pineapple and fried bananas are also worth trying. They taste different from those that are familiar to us.

Local residents do not eat salty food and fruits. Nigeria’s cuisine is quite high in calories, however, this should not prevent travelers from enjoying its great taste.

The cuisine of Nigeria is the national cuisine of the state of Nigeria, located in West Africa. Nigerian cuisine is very similar to other West African cuisines. It consists of dishes or foods from the hundreds of ethnic groups that inhabit Nigeria.

Typical Foods

Vegetable Food

There are a lot of dishes in Nigerian cuisine based on rice, beans, yams, and cassava.

Meat and Fish

Meat in Nigeria is used in the preparation of most dishes.

Dairy

Wara is a soft country cheese made from cow’s milk.

Spice

Today, Nigerian cuisine, like most West African cuisines, uses many spices, herbs, combined with different types of oils to create deep-flavored sauces and soups, which are often spiced with chili peppers.

Traditional Dishes

Bread

Akara – Deep-fried pea flour cakes.

Alkubus is steamed bread made with wheat, flour, yeast, and water. Served with Miyan Taushe. Typical of the Hausa and Fulani Nigerian peoples.

Soups

Miyan Kuka is a thick Nigerian soup made with crushed baobab leaves and dried okra. Very common in Hausa cuisine.

Gbegiri is a thick bean soup popular in northwestern Nigeria.

Okro soup is a thick soup made from okra, spinach, crayfish or shrimp, meat, and pumpkin seeds. Served hot with ugali or fufu.

Egusi soup is a popular leafy vegetable soup thickened with ground pumpkin seeds (egusi), which is popular in Nigerian cuisine.

Banga soup is a popular palm nut soup in southern and mid-western Nigeria.

Edikaikong is a nutritious vegetable soup typical of the Ibibio and Efik people of southeastern Nigeria. It is prepared from beef, game, dried fish, crayfish, beef offal, pumpkin leaves, onions, palm oil. Because the soup contains expensive ingredients, it is considered a delicacy and is served on special occasions or to wealthy families in Nigeria.

Afang is another nutritious vegetable soup that originated among the Efik, Ibibio, and Ananng peoples of southeastern Nigeria. It is served at home and also sometimes at ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, festivals.

Pepper soup is light meat and fish soup with herbs and spices. This is one of the few soups in Nigerian cuisine that can be eaten on its own, rather than as a sauce for fufu or crushed yam. Pepper soup is often an appetizer at formal events and is also consumed in the evening at pubs and social gatherings.

Omi ukpoka is a corn soup made from chopped dry corn mixed with smoked fish.

Draw soup is the name for thick, viscous soups from southeastern and southwestern Nigeria. They are boiled with okra, ogono seeds, and jute leaves. This soup is usually eaten by dipping pieces of fufu into it.

Main Dishes

Fufu is a thick, dense porridge made from cassava and green plantains. It is the basis of many African cuisines, including Nigerian cuisine.

Coconut rice – rice cooked in coconut milk.

Jollof rice is a traditional African rice dish with tomatoes and peppers.

Pate – pate made from ground dry corn, rice, or achi (millet). Mainly served with spinach, tomatoes, onions, peppers, eggs, beans, peanuts, sugar seeds, and minced meat. Especially popular in northwest Nigeria.

Maafe is a stew made with peanuts, tomatoes, onions, and other ingredients.

Tuwo masara is a cornmeal dish eaten in northern Nigeria.

Tuwo shinkafa is a thick rice pudding commonly eaten with miyan kuk soup, goat stew, or miyan taushe. Tuvo shinkafa is most common in the northern part of the country.

Miyan taushe is a stew of pumpkin leaves with peanuts, often also spinach, meat (usually goat or lamb), and smoked fish.

Moin-Moin / Moimoi is a traditional protein-rich Nigerian pudding steamed in banana leaves. The pudding is made from a mixture of black-eyed peas with onions and freshly ground pepper (usually a combination of bell pepper and chili or Scotch Bonnet).

Ekuru is a traditional food of the Nigerian Yoruba people living in southwestern Nigeria. This is another bean pudding similar to moin moin. Ekuru is also made with black-eyed peas, but no pepper is added. Served with roasted peppers.

Suya – meat with chili powder, peanut powder, and other local spices, grilled on skewers. It is one of the most famous Nigerian cuisine and can be found easily throughout the country.

Tsire is a meat generously topped with a mixture of ground peanuts and chili. Prepare with or without skewers.

Kilishi – Meat cut into very thin slices is dried, brushed on both sides with a paste of chili, spices and local herbs, and then quickly grilled.

Balangu – meat (beef, goat or lamb) cooked on coals without spices so as not to spoil the taste of the meat. Salt and spices can be added later to taste.

Nkwobi – Cow’s legs stewed in a spicy thick sauce, a traditional dish of southeastern Nigeria.

Ofe akwu – palm nut stew served with rice.

Ayamase is a stew made from green or red Scotch Bonet peppers.

Gbegiri is a bean stew typical of the people of southwestern Nigeria.

Ofada stew is a palm oil-based stew widely known in western Nigeria. It is made from palm oil with unripe peppers, tomatoes, beef and nere seeds.

Iyan – yam puree.

Asaro, a thick yam porridge, is a popular Nigerian dish common in the western region. Asaro is made by boiling and lightly mashed yams in a tomato, chili, and chili sauce with palm or vegetable oil. It can be garnished with fish, meat, or crayfish as desired.

Salads and Snacks

Ewa Agoyin / Ewa Aganyin is a popular street food in Nigeria and is commonly eaten in Lagos and other southern states of Nigeria. It is a soft bean puree. It is usually eaten with crushed pepper and a hot tomato sauce. The local name for the dish is “Ewa G”. Additional ingredients may include palm oil, onions, and crayfish. It is usually served with bread.

Ogi / Eko is a fermented grain pudding from Nigeria, usually made with corn, sorghum, or millet. Traditionally, the grains are crushed and soaked in water for fermentation for three days until they become sour. Then this mass is boiled until the consistency of a creamy pudding. Usually served with moin moin or akara.

Dodo is a garnish of ripe bananas fried in vegetable or palm oil.

Desserts

Funkaso – millet pancakes.

Mosa – fermented corn, ground into a thick paste, toasted and dusted with sugar. There is also a variant of moza made from a very soft plantain, which is ground into a paste, mixed with dried black pepper, fried, and sprinkled with sugar.

Chin Chin – fried biscuits made from flour, eggs, and butter.

Puff Puff – fried balls of sweet dough.

Alkaki – deep-fried sugar dough products.

Drinks

Kunu is a popular drink made from millet, sorghum, or corn in Nigeria.

Fura da nono is a popular drink, especially in northern Nigeria, made from boiled millet or sorghum, ground with a little cow’s milk.

Zobo is a drink made from rosella juice.

Soy milk is a drink made from soaked, crushed, and strained soybeans.

Alcohol

Palm wine is popular in African cuisines, including Nigeria, a palm tree sap drink that can be distilled in ogogoro.

Ogogoro is a strong alcoholic beverage made from the raffia palm tree. The alcohol content in ogogoro usually ranges between 30 and 60 degrees. Ogogoro has a large social component – it is an integral part of numerous religious and social ceremonies.

Burukutu is an alcoholic beverage made from sorghum and millet.

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Mexican Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

The traditional culture of each nation consists of the material and spiritual spheres, which, in turn, include a number of components that determine the worldview of the people. One of these components of the material culture of an ethnic group is food. Like other peoples, the Mexicans have developed their own set of food products, closely related to the natural environment and economic and economic activities. The variety of dishes and the way they are processed are also closely related to the ethnic traditions of the Mexicans. The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristic features of Mexican cuisine and the complex traditions associated with it, to show the specific features inherent in the food culture. The history of Mexican cuisine is deeply rooted, combining Spanish and Native American culinary traditions. The synthesis of the two culinary cultures began as early as the 16th century. The main ingredients of Mexican cuisine were: corn, beans, chili, spices, cactus, and tomatoes. The Indians, on the other hand, prepared from other products, and here the beloved chocolate played an important role, the daily diet of which was guided by it. The Spaniards added wheat, barley, rice, meat, olive oil, nuts, wine, and parsley. One of the innovations was cheese.

The presence of cattle and other domestic animals brought in by the Spaniards allowed for many different dishes to be added. This is how the hard cheese “Manchego”, consisting of sheep’s milk, appeared in Mexico. Mexican cuisine is considered the most popular in the world, namely, it is famous for its national cuisine. In modern public catering enterprises, two trends are distinguished: 1) the desire for the originality and sophistication of the chosen cuisine and culture; 2) many assortments of national dishes and drinks. Mexican cuisine is unique, it includes a rich assortment of meat and vegetable dishes, different sauces, and exotic fruits.

The peculiarity of Mexican dishes is the presence of a large number of different spices and the constant chili pepper, without which no Mexican dish can do. With regard to meat products, in most cases, Mexicans use pork, beef, veal, lamb, and poultry. One of the most important ingredients of Mexican cuisine is the spicy sauces “mole” and “salsa”, which complement the taste of the main dishes. Another characteristic of Mexican cuisine is the use of a variety of corn varieties as the main ingredient in various national Mexican dishes: corn is used in almost all dishes, from “hard beer” to tortilla. Traditional tortillas made from cornmeal are on the menu of every Mexican restaurant. Corn tortillas can also be used to make the popular tacos, which uses selected beef as the filling. It should be noted that dishes made from corn, chili, beans, and pumpkin have been cooked in Mexico for many years. It is also important to note the interesting fact of the use of prickly pear, vanilla, and agave cactus as an ingredient in Mexican cuisine. In addition, there is a wide variety of fish and seafood dishes in contemporary Mexican cuisine. Many people use not only the classic heating equipment for restaurants but also the use of ancient methods of cooking: clay vessels or leaves. Mexican cuisine is easy to prepare, so it is not only delicious but also healthy.

Guacamole remains one of the most popular Mexican dishes since ancient times, the recipe of which has survived through the centuries to the present day. It includes avocado pulp flavored with lime juice, chili, cilantro, and green onions. Served “guacamole” with tortillas. As a side dish for various fish and meat dishes, for the preparation of which a “cutter” (sausage) is used for meat, Mexicans use beans. Of course, all this is not complete without chili. As mentioned earlier, there are many different spices in Mexican cuisine, such as cilantro, cumin seeds, chaya, verbena, avocado leaves, Santa yerba herb. As for dessert dishes, pancakes with various fillings of exotic fruits and condensed milk occupy an important place here. Alcoholic drinks in Mexico, of course, are not limited only to tequila, but it is Tequila that is in great demand, both in the country itself and abroad. The homeland of tequila is the city of the same name in the state of Jalisco. Tequila has a rich assortment of various high-grade drink “mescal”. Mescal is a strong Mexican alcoholic drink, it is a pure distillate of agave mash, enriched with a variety of fruits, spices, and honey. The word “mezcal” in Mexico means everything that is made from agave juice. Typically, the drink is placed in a bottle, at the bottom of which a caterpillar or other species of insects that live in Mexico float. It is believed that if a caterpillar does not dissolve in mezcal, then it is of high quality. Thus, having considered the features of Mexican cuisine, we can say that Mexican cuisine is an integral part of the culture of the people. It is determined that the traditions of food, laid down in Mexican cuisine, have evolved over the centuries. The Mexican cuisine was significantly influenced by the influence of the religious factor, that is, the dominant religion in the country. Mexican traditional dishes are based on cornflour dishes, cacti, alcoholic beverages, and, of course, different types of sauces and spices, without which no dish is complete.

Each nation has its own, time-tested set of favorite products, from which skilled chefs create recipes for delicious dishes. In many ways, the national products of Mexico owe their origin to the geographical location of the country and the historical features of its development. It’s amazing that some of the popular foods that people around the world are used to come from Mexico.

Scientists have found that everyone’s favorite chocolate, beans, peanuts, coconuts, tomatoes, and vanilla are native to the land of the Aztecs and Mayans. They are included in many recipes of Mexican cuisine, giving them a national flavor.

The oldest product in the Mexican diet is corn, which is carefully cultivated by many civilizations. Many dishes are prepared on the basis of cornflour. Masa, like tortillas, is a Mexican stuffed flatbread, and tamales, a porridge with a sweet or savory flavor, is traditional food. Such cakes were stuffed with a variety of products, from meat and poultry to cheese and vegetables. There were many types of corn. The process of processing grains has been taking shape for centuries. For the people of Mexico, tortillas have the same meaning as bread for Europeans.

Beans in Mexican cuisine are another important product from which a variety of soups and cereals are prepared. Beans combined with vegetables, spices, and meats made wonderful traditional dishes.

It is impossible to imagine a menu in Mexican restaurants without chili peppers. This product is used fresh, dried, and smoked, and it adds flavor to every dish it contains.

The highly developed national cuisine of Mexico dates back to the culture of the Indians, which prevailed in the era before the Spanish colonization. The traditions of the Aztecs and Mayans, who lived in the highlands and were destroyed by the conquerors from Europe, were preserved by the Mexicans, as a tribute to the history of the country, and have survived to this day. Ancient peoples founded and perfectly developed agriculture, the main results of which were crops such as grain, legumes, peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, avocados, and many others.

The national Mexican cuisine contains dishes, the composition of which was formed by the ancient inhabitants of the country. It is known that the Maya did not adhere to vegetarianism and ate turkey and meat from dogs specially raised for this purpose. The diet was based on corn, beans, and pumpkin crops, and the ancient peoples knew about pepper and honey from time immemorial. The Aztecs diversified their plant diet with shrimp, algae, and some insect species, ants and larvae.

It has been proven that insects provide the human body with an amount of protein that exceeds their content in meat, which is why in some parts of Mexico they are a delicacy even in our time. The source of meat for the Indians was hunting wild animals and birds such as wild boars, ducks, fallow deer.

Spanish colonization brought new features to the cuisine of the indigenous peoples of Mexico and to the characteristics of Mexican cuisine. Some food crops have been banned. Among them was amaranth, used by the Aztecs instead of wheat for baking bread, which led to the malnutrition of local residents.

The invasion of the conquistadors was accompanied by the emergence of new types of meat: beef, pork, lamb. Also, the conquerors from Europe brought with them wine, vinegar, and cheese, which have long been known to the inhabitants of their continent. The process of assimilation of Indian Mexican cuisine receives a new tender – it is enriched with products from Africa and South America.

The united food traditions of the countries of several continents have formed the unique features of modern Mexican cuisine, thanks to which it has gained popularity all over the world. The widespread use of vegetables makes the dishes healthy, enriched with vitamins and minerals, and the inclusion of sauces with various spices in the menu gives them a bright and rich taste.

Typical Mexican vegetables, such as avocados, are added to the carrots, spinach, beans, and cauliflower familiar to Europeans. They like to add it to first courses, sauces, salads, and desserts. Avocado guacamole is offered in many Mexican cafes as a mild sauce for the main course. Jerusalem artichoke tubers are very useful and typical food for Mexico. The vegetable chayote pear is used for making traditional salads and for baking.

Many wonderful fruits grow in Mexico, without which it is impossible to get a complete picture of the national cuisine. The most famous of these is the papaya, loved by most Europeans. Its fruits are used not only ripe but also unripe. Cherimoya, a sugar apple, tastes like a mango, and guava can be compared to the pear we are used to.

Mexican desserts are a special section of national recipes. Their peculiarity lies in the unusual combination of sweet and spicy foods, which always delights foreigners.

Local Kakheta Kemada sweets are genuine works of art. Sugar Skulls are traditional sweets made for the Day of the Dead national holiday. Sweets and condensed milk containing corn, once again prove the versatility of this ancient Mexican product.

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Food

Russian Cuisine: Food Aesthetics

Ancient Russian cuisine, until about the XIV century, was based more on customs than on culinary art. It was simple and not varied. In the peasant diet, such a technique as frying is almost never used. Food was cooked in a Russian oven, widely used: cooking, languishing, and stewing. For blanks for future use, salting, fermentation, and urination were widely used. Since ancient times, the table has been very clearly divided into lean and modest. The abundance of vegetable, berry, and mushroom dishes in Russian cuisine is due precisely to the fasting for many days. On the one hand, such a strict division led to a simplification of the menu, but on the other, to the creation of many original dishes that have become the hallmark of Russian cuisine and have no analogs in any foreign cuisine. For example, sauerkraut, pickles, dried mushrooms. Again, during fasting, a lot of forbidden milk accumulated in the house. To prevent it from disappearing, they made cottage cheese, but not ordinary, it was squeezed tight and several times, pressed, then simmered in the oven until it became completely dry. But after such processing, the cottage cheese was stored for many months. From the same series – ghee, which retains its freshness and taste for a long time after a truly unique technology and processing.

The peculiarities of the national cuisine have been better preserved than, for example, the typical features of clothing or housing. Traditional Russian dishes are high in energy and contain a lot of fat. This is due to the harsh climate: it was always necessary to eat a lot. The dishes in Russian cuisine are simple, rational, and practical. People prepared main dishes from bread, flour, and everything that the forest gave – honey, berries, nuts, mushrooms (although the population of the southern part of Russia is wary of mushrooms, afraid to use them). The main part of the Russians’ food was various types of cereals and dairy products. The meat was considered a festive dish.
The Russians learned to preserve and preserve food – they smoked, dried, salted meat, fermented vegetables, and fruits, pickled, salted (cucumbers, garlic, grape leaves, wild garlic greens), made jams, dried fruits (prunes, dried apricots, raisins).

When there was not enough flour or cereals, people ate “second bread” – potatoes. They also often ate cabbage, from which soups are made, for example, cabbage soup (“cabbage soup and porridge – our food”), as well as carrots, beets, and buckwheat (buckwheat porridge).

Bread

Bread played and plays the most important role in everyday and festive food. Russians say: “bread is the head of everything”.
Russians revered bread very much: according to the old custom, dropped bread must be picked up, wiped off, kissed, and asked for forgiveness for negligence. People have never thrown away bread crumbs. From childhood, the child was taught to respect this product. The guests were greeted with the words “bread and salt”.
Bread is used for snacking food throughout the day (for soup, for the second course).
Russian rye bread is baked with various additives (spices, raisins – the most famous aromatic bread “Borodinsky” with coriander).
White bread or lavash is also sold (white bread from the south or from Central Asia in the form of a large flat cake).

Snacks

Russian cuisine is especially famous for the abundance of various snacks. These are salads, pickles (vegetables, mushrooms, fish), pies with different fillings (meat, fish, cabbage, potatoes, rice and eggs, apples, lemon, different types of jams), pancakes with different fillings (products made from batter, poured into a hot frying pan in a thin layer), smoked meat, fish, sausage, ham, caviar – black from sturgeon, which is appreciated more than red from salmon.

Soups

Russian soups are hearty and thick, or, as the Russians say, “dense”. They are cooked in water or kvass; sour cream or mayonnaise is often added to a bowl of soup. Be sure to eat bread with the soup.

  • Cabbage soup – cabbage soup, there are about 60 types of cabbage soup.
  • Borscht is a red soup made from cabbage, beets, carrots, meat.
  • Solyanka is a soup with pickled cucumbers.
  • Ukha is a Russian fish soup.
  • Okroshka, pickle, beetroot – cold soups.

Meat Dishes

There is no tradition in Russia to lightly fry meat. Very often, dishes are prepared from minced meat. Cutlets are prepared from minced meat, it serves as a filling for dumplings, pies, cabbage rolls (minced meat in cabbage leaves). Armenian kebab is popular – pieces of lamb. Russians often eat fish.

Sweet

Russians love sweets, shops offer a large and varied selection of chocolate, sweets (sold by weight), ice cream, cookies; crumpets are popular – baked mugs made of yeast dough with powdered sugar.

Milk Products

Fermented milk is made from sour milk, products from cottage cheese are common – curd mass (with dried apricots, prunes, raisins), sweet cheese.

Festive and Ceremonial Dishes

  • Christmas is soothing, kutia
  • Shrovetide – pancakes with butter
  • Easter – Easter cake, eggs, Easter, do not eat hot dishes
  • Funeral feast – pancakes, kutia, white jelly

Borrowed dishes

Over the centuries, Russian cuisine has been enriched with many dishes from neighboring peoples.

  • Shish kebab is a Caucasian dish by its origin, borscht and hodgepodge are Ukrainian soups.
  • Pelmeni is a Siberian dish in the form of boiled products made from unleavened dough stuffed with minced meat, as well as fish, potatoes, and cabbage.

In the early 90s. Russians fell under the influence of imported foods and fast foods. Especially loved fried – baked goods, french fries. Now they are again partly returning to domestic products and dishes. At the same time, especially in big cities, proper nutrition is gaining immense popularity; dietary, vegetarian, and exotic (mainly Japanese) cuisine is becoming fashionable.

Drinks

The traditional Russian drink is kvass – a dark, slightly alcoholic drink made from bread or honey.

Vodka is considered one of the symbols of Russia, although in recent years the amount of vodka consumption is inferior to the amount of beer consumption.
There are world-famous brands of Russian vodka: “Stolichnaya”, “Smirnovskaya”, there is also an old tradition of home-made vodka, the so-called moonshine.
Vodka is affordable both in price and because you can buy it everywhere if you want, and this is one of the reasons for alcoholism among Russians. Cases of poisoning with vodka or moonshine are not uncommon.
Vodka and beer should be eaten. There is an endless selection of different products. Dried squid, smelt (small dried fish), roach (dried fish that must be broken and eaten like chips), chips, peanuts, pistachios, croutons (small dried pieces of bread with different flavors) are sold with beer. Vodka should be eaten with bread, sausage, pickles, wild garlic, etc.

In the past, Russians usually ended the day with the rite of tea drinking, exchanged news at tea, talked about the events of the day, and the whole family gathered for tea.
Tea is brewed in a special teapot, allowed to settle, and then the tea leaves are poured into cups and topped up with boiling water, or tea is prepared in a samovar. Tea is served with sweets: jam (cherry jam is most appreciated), sweets, cakes, buns, biscuits.

Samovar
Samovar is a self-heating device for making tea. The samovar consists of a vase (there is a charcoal brazier with a pipe), handles, a teapot burner, a spout with a key.
In the past, in every home, the samovar occupied an important place in the interior of the living room or dining room. During tea drinking it was placed on the table or on a special table, the tea was poured out by the hostess or the eldest daughter. Gradually, samovars began to resemble not teapots, but decorative vases, became simpler and stricter, and finally became electric. In modern times in Russia, the samovar has ceased to be a basic necessity.

Feast

There is a big difference between everyday and holiday food, between the dishes offered in restaurants

Food throughout the day
Breakfast 
Breakfast is preferably hearty. During the day, there is often nowhere to eat, so Russians prefer warm food – porridge (oatmeal, rice, wheat, buckwheat, semolina), scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes. They eat cottage cheese, cheese, drink tea or coffee.

Lunch 
Lunch usually consists of the first – soup, and the second – hot (meat or fish with a side dish). Russians are accustomed to eating during the working day in fast foods (there are establishments of this type offering Russian national dishes), in canteens and cafes. Unlike a rich Russian home meal, a foreigner may be surprised by the small portions in Russian restaurants. There are quite comfortable restaurants at the highest level, but a normal Russian cannot afford to have lunch or dinner there.
On the street, you can always buy something to eat – pies, pastries, pancakes, shawarma (kebab), fried potatoes with different fillings.

Dinner 
Dinner does not play a very important role in the diet. Usually, they eat what was for lunch, or what is found at home.

Home festive feast
In Russia, family holidays are usually celebrated at home, guests are also invited home and treated themselves. There is no custom to hold meetings in restaurants.
Russia has a tradition of a rich feast. For a long time, it has been so established that the guest must be received as best as possible and fed to the fullest.
The change of dishes (appetizers, the first is soup, the second is hot, the third is sweet) in the Russian feast is not very clear – as a rule, all sorts of snacks, pies, salads, meat dishes, and even desserts are on the table at the same time. At the same time, Russians attach great importance to the abundance on the table – there should always be a lot of food of all kinds and different (despite possible material difficulties).

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