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> In her latest book …, Anya von Bremzen goes on a multi-year quest … In the process, she “crushes” bowls of noodles with a ramen otaku in Tokyo, learns to make

> In her latest book …, Anya von Bremzen goes on a multi-year quest … In the process, she “crushes” bowls of noodles with a ramen otaku in Tokyo, learns to make pasta puttanesca in a former brothel in Naples, and drinks ceremonial cacao at her own wedding in Oaxaca. The primary purpose of a book like this seems to be so that the author can go on a tour around the world and write the costs off as a business expense. If the book sells well, that’s just gravy (pun intended).

quesera 3y ago
Completely true. And the books never sell, so the losses just offset other income. Brilliant, really.
MichaelRo 3y ago
I also get the feeling that the whole thing is shoehorned for the obvious purpose of being contrarian for the obvious reason that being mainstream doesn't separate you enough from the pack to sell. So: arguing that national dish IS A REAL THING would require a much more elevated level of content and research. Claim the contrary with shallow arguments mixed with "I traveled The World to experience it myself" and easy peasy, must be true because. Other than that, National Dish is as much a thing as National Language. Take Latin / Romance languages for instance. It's something of a trope that in the old days (before modern communication and standardization of "national language" with one dialect proclaimed "the reference" and evangelized through media), going from Rome to Paris to Madrid meant every two adjacent villages would understand each other but 100 villages away this would cease to be true. Language changed so it makes just as much sense that food recipes changed. This is brilliantly illustrated for the Balkans region by Key & Peele's sketch "Macedonian Café": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1KiFON-GWg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1KiFON-GWg There's "Ćevapi" as "national dish" of Bosnia, a country the size of a pea grain so sure, THEY invented it. In fact it's the exact same situation for Latin dialects. Go from Bosnia to Serbia to Romania and every two villages will make a ćevapi that's similar enough but 100 villages away the flavor and recipe would have changed enough to create the "Macedonian Café" situation :)
- czDRZ-akk 3y ago
  This is nitpicking, but part of what makes the Key & Peele sketch funny is that the two recipes the cafe owner describes appear to be the exact same. I read it as poking fun at extreme nationalism creating artificial differences when there really are none. That being said, it is a comedy sketch, so ultimately it’s up to interpretation.
  - MichaelRo 3y ago
    In this case your perception is very different from mine. The recipes appear the same but there's subtle differences. Exactly the situation in real life and they chose, probably knowingly, the one food that's very controversial and every nation around claims their recipe is the best. Ćevapi -> ćevapčići -> mici (Romanian). I can understand Kay and Peele's sketch because I feel exactly the same looking over the Bosnian / Serbian recipe and it's nothing nationalistic here. Only a lot of "chef" pride: we got the best recipe in town, everyone else is subpar. Like what do they think, eat it with onion and cream? Disgusting! Proper way to eat mici in order to savor their flavor is with just a little bread and mustard: https://i0.wp.com/sunt-sanatos.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/mici-si-bere.jpg https://i0.wp.com/sunt-sanatos.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/05... You can eat them with fries, salad or what else but you're effectively trashing the effort of the cook. Like ordering an expensive and rare Kopi Luwak coffee and drowning it with sugar and milk and ordering a cola on the side to add insult to injury, I guarantee that the barista will smack you in the head if you do that.
    - czDRZ-akk 3y ago
      Kudos to the K&P writers for choosing such a representative dish then, it adds another level to the sketch that I’ll wager the average American audience member missed. To me, the two recipes the cafe owner describes sound exactly the same (the male diner even says as much), which I suppose is the point.

quesera 3y ago

Completely true. And the books never sell, so the losses just offset other income. Brilliant, really.

MichaelRo 3y ago

I also get the feeling that the whole thing is shoehorned for the obvious purpose of being contrarian for the obvious reason that being mainstream doesn't separate you enough from the pack to sell. So: arguing that national dish IS A REAL THING would require a much more elevated level of content and research. Claim the contrary with shallow arguments mixed with "I traveled The World to experience it myself" and easy peasy, must be true because. Other than that, National Dish is as much a thing as National Language. Take Latin / Romance languages for instance. It's something of a trope that in the old days (before modern communication and standardization of "national language" with one dialect proclaimed "the reference" and evangelized through media), going from Rome to Paris to Madrid meant every two adjacent villages would understand each other but 100 villages away this would cease to be true. Language changed so it makes just as much sense that food recipes changed. This is brilliantly illustrated for the Balkans region by Key & Peele's sketch "Macedonian Café": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1KiFON-GWg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1KiFON-GWg There's "Ćevapi" as "national dish" of Bosnia, a country the size of a pea grain so sure, THEY invented it. In fact it's the exact same situation for Latin dialects. Go from Bosnia to Serbia to Romania and every two villages will make a ćevapi that's similar enough but 100 villages away the flavor and recipe would have changed enough to create the "Macedonian Café" situation :)

czDRZ-akk 3y ago
This is nitpicking, but part of what makes the Key & Peele sketch funny is that the two recipes the cafe owner describes appear to be the exact same. I read it as poking fun at extreme nationalism creating artificial differences when there really are none. That being said, it is a comedy sketch, so ultimately it’s up to interpretation.
- MichaelRo 3y ago
  In this case your perception is very different from mine. The recipes appear the same but there's subtle differences. Exactly the situation in real life and they chose, probably knowingly, the one food that's very controversial and every nation around claims their recipe is the best. Ćevapi -> ćevapčići -> mici (Romanian). I can understand Kay and Peele's sketch because I feel exactly the same looking over the Bosnian / Serbian recipe and it's nothing nationalistic here. Only a lot of "chef" pride: we got the best recipe in town, everyone else is subpar. Like what do they think, eat it with onion and cream? Disgusting! Proper way to eat mici in order to savor their flavor is with just a little bread and mustard: https://i0.wp.com/sunt-sanatos.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/mici-si-bere.jpg https://i0.wp.com/sunt-sanatos.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/05... You can eat them with fries, salad or what else but you're effectively trashing the effort of the cook. Like ordering an expensive and rare Kopi Luwak coffee and drowning it with sugar and milk and ordering a cola on the side to add insult to injury, I guarantee that the barista will smack you in the head if you do that.
  - czDRZ-akk 3y ago
    Kudos to the K&P writers for choosing such a representative dish then, it adds another level to the sketch that I’ll wager the average American audience member missed. To me, the two recipes the cafe owner describes sound exactly the same (the male diner even says as much), which I suppose is the point.