5 ms·

I've been very interested in the food industry, and I think the reason for this is multi-faceted. First, a lot of English-speaking countries place lower import

I've been very interested in the food industry, and I think the reason for this is multi-faceted. First, a lot of English-speaking countries place lower importance on veggies. We got calcium from milk and cheese, so we didn't need to learn how to cook well with lots of dark leafy greens, as an example. Second, European meals tend to focus heavily on a main and some side dishes, but a TON of countries simply do one dish for the whole meal. You're not trying to think of ways to cook squash, because the dinner is squash. Finally (there are more, but I don't want to get too crazy in the comments), European cooking tends to focus more on using a wide variety of ingredients. In contrast, you'll find a lot of SE Asian cooking uses many of the same ingredients, but they prepare the food in vastly different ways, leading to some completely different dishes. This means that they naturally have a huge repertoire of ways to modify their veggies to fit any meal. I have no real point, I just never get to talk about this stuff and I find it really interesting. If I was wrong about anything, please correct me below.

reactordev 3y ago
>"focus heavily on a main and some side dishes" Because traditionally they were served "courses". However, it's all biryani in the belly. I think the old ways of serving a main with sides is still a tip to that era when it was plated separately. I'm ok with having it all mixed together so long as the flavors complement. I don't want a steak, cubed, mixed with my veggies and mashed potatoes, all in a bowl. Some things should be separate, some things are ok being together/combined. Western style cooking has been dominated by French Cuisine and traditional Countryside cooking. Only within the last 30-50 years have they started branching out into Asian or South American dishes. Its way more approachable today than it ever has been with YouTube videos, online blog recipes, availability of supplies.
- hammock 3y ago
  >I'm ok with having it all mixed together so long as the flavors complement. I don't want a steak, cubed, mixed with my veggies and mashed potatoes, all in a bowl. Huh? They don't complement?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd%27s_pie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd%27s_pie
  - reactordev 3y ago
    You win the prize for readership. Yes, shepherds pie was exactly what I was referring to. You can keep your meat pie.
8ytecoder 3y ago
On the green leafy veggies - my mom cooks like 7/8 different varieties in as many different way. Each green tastes different and they’re cooked differently. The closest equivalent to spinach for example is steamed and made into a soup. I could just eat rice and that - even as a kid. There’s one that’s bitter and it’s cooked with a lentil. It actually tastes good. Another one that’s sour and is added to a spicy curry. And so on. (But afaik none of these are available any more)
JohnFen 3y ago
> a TON of countries simply do one dish for the whole meal. You're not trying to think of ways to cook squash, because the dinner is squash. But even if the dinner is squash, you still want to think of different ways to prepare it, don't you? This is how I, in the US, was fed while growing, and is how I do things to this day. I didn't realize that there was a cultural variation on this (or that my habit wasn't the common case in my own culture!) Today I learned...
el_benhameen 3y ago
I don’t have anything to add right now, but I found this to be very insightful and not at all too crazy. Thanks for posting.
crazygringo 3y ago
> but a TON of countries simply do one dish for the whole meal Can you provide some examples? I can't think of any. It's not Latin/South American, it's not European, it's not Chinese, it's not Japanese, it's not like anywhere I've been in Africa, and it doesn't match my knowledge of India or the Middle East. Nor can I imagine any country where "dinner is squash" makes much sense. Squash has almost no calories, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to center a meal on. Cuisines often have occasional meals that are complete enough to be eaten as a single dish -- some kind of protein-mixed-in-with-carbs like lasagna or paella or chicken stroganoff. But these seem to be exceptions in the cuisine, rather than the rule. Could you elaborate with some specific countries where the one-dish pattern is the norm?
- bigtunacan 3y ago
  Not parent, but as an example zucchini boats are pretty popular in my area of the Midwest as are stuffed peppers. A zucchini boat is basically just zucchini stuffed with meat, cheese, tomato, onions, and spices. That's the whole meal. Stuffed peppers is basically the same thing, but with peppers instead of zucchini.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    Oh for sure. I guess I think of both of those as being ground beef dishes rather than zucchini/pepper dishes. They're kind of like hamburgers but swapping out the bun for a vegetable. Maybe it depends on your ratios?
    - scottlamb 3y ago
      Is the "center of the meal" the part that provides the most volume and mass, or is it the part with the most calories? My lunch today was a full pound of bok choy (raw weight), 2 Tbsp avocado oil, 4 oz of steak, and 1 oz of cheese. kulahan and bigtunacan might say bok choy was my meal, but consistent with your observation, it provided only 9% of the calorie content.
goodbyesf 3y ago
> First, a lot of English-speaking countries place lower importance on veggies. Which ones? In the US, we are told to eat our veggies because they are good for you. The problem in the US is that something forced women into the workplace and families are resorting to easy processed meals like microwave dinners, fast food, etc.
- JCharante 3y ago
  Conversely I found it way easier to eat "healthy" in the US due to the popularity of flash frozen vegetables. In college I would buy a bag of pre-cut flash frozen vegetables suitable for a stir fry and just dump that into the wok and throw some sauce & protein. Abroad where people eat fresh vegetables I had the habbit of ordering food delivery everyday because I'm not going to waste 1 hour of my life every day washing & cutting vegetables and the knife and the cutting board etc.
RamblingCTO 3y ago
I'd like to provide a counterargument to: > Second, European meals tend to focus heavily on a main and some side dishes, but a TON of countries simply do one dish for the whole meal. A ton of German cuisine, especially historically is either Soup or "Eintopf" (literally one-pot). You might add bread, but the dish stands by itself. Especially in the winter time, this is something people still do a lot. Still looking forward to kale (Grühnkohl, or where I'm from: Braunkohl). I still love stuff like Schmohrkohl and Grühnkohl. Not so much the carrot and potato soup and things like that. PS: I'd consider "Auflauf" (casserole?) to be a one-pot dish as well.
just_boost_it 3y ago
What's your source for this? European countries are quite different from each other, and I'm wondering if your experience was only in restaurants while travelling (which is a very different experience to what most people eat every day at home).

reactordev 3y ago

>"focus heavily on a main and some side dishes" Because traditionally they were served "courses". However, it's all biryani in the belly. I think the old ways of serving a main with sides is still a tip to that era when it was plated separately. I'm ok with having it all mixed together so long as the flavors complement. I don't want a steak, cubed, mixed with my veggies and mashed potatoes, all in a bowl. Some things should be separate, some things are ok being together/combined. Western style cooking has been dominated by French Cuisine and traditional Countryside cooking. Only within the last 30-50 years have they started branching out into Asian or South American dishes. Its way more approachable today than it ever has been with YouTube videos, online blog recipes, availability of supplies.

hammock 3y ago
>I'm ok with having it all mixed together so long as the flavors complement. I don't want a steak, cubed, mixed with my veggies and mashed potatoes, all in a bowl. Huh? They don't complement?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd%27s_pie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd%27s_pie
- reactordev 3y ago
  You win the prize for readership. Yes, shepherds pie was exactly what I was referring to. You can keep your meat pie.

8ytecoder 3y ago

On the green leafy veggies - my mom cooks like 7/8 different varieties in as many different way. Each green tastes different and they’re cooked differently. The closest equivalent to spinach for example is steamed and made into a soup. I could just eat rice and that - even as a kid. There’s one that’s bitter and it’s cooked with a lentil. It actually tastes good. Another one that’s sour and is added to a spicy curry. And so on. (But afaik none of these are available any more)

JohnFen 3y ago

> a TON of countries simply do one dish for the whole meal. You're not trying to think of ways to cook squash, because the dinner is squash. But even if the dinner is squash, you still want to think of different ways to prepare it, don't you? This is how I, in the US, was fed while growing, and is how I do things to this day. I didn't realize that there was a cultural variation on this (or that my habit wasn't the common case in my own culture!) Today I learned...

el_benhameen 3y ago

I don’t have anything to add right now, but I found this to be very insightful and not at all too crazy. Thanks for posting.

crazygringo 3y ago

> but a TON of countries simply do one dish for the whole meal Can you provide some examples? I can't think of any. It's not Latin/South American, it's not European, it's not Chinese, it's not Japanese, it's not like anywhere I've been in Africa, and it doesn't match my knowledge of India or the Middle East. Nor can I imagine any country where "dinner is squash" makes much sense. Squash has almost no calories, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to center a meal on. Cuisines often have occasional meals that are complete enough to be eaten as a single dish -- some kind of protein-mixed-in-with-carbs like lasagna or paella or chicken stroganoff. But these seem to be exceptions in the cuisine, rather than the rule. Could you elaborate with some specific countries where the one-dish pattern is the norm?

bigtunacan 3y ago
Not parent, but as an example zucchini boats are pretty popular in my area of the Midwest as are stuffed peppers. A zucchini boat is basically just zucchini stuffed with meat, cheese, tomato, onions, and spices. That's the whole meal. Stuffed peppers is basically the same thing, but with peppers instead of zucchini.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- crazygringo 3y ago
  Oh for sure. I guess I think of both of those as being ground beef dishes rather than zucchini/pepper dishes. They're kind of like hamburgers but swapping out the bun for a vegetable. Maybe it depends on your ratios?
  - scottlamb 3y ago
    Is the "center of the meal" the part that provides the most volume and mass, or is it the part with the most calories? My lunch today was a full pound of bok choy (raw weight), 2 Tbsp avocado oil, 4 oz of steak, and 1 oz of cheese. kulahan and bigtunacan might say bok choy was my meal, but consistent with your observation, it provided only 9% of the calorie content.

goodbyesf 3y ago

> First, a lot of English-speaking countries place lower importance on veggies. Which ones? In the US, we are told to eat our veggies because they are good for you. The problem in the US is that something forced women into the workplace and families are resorting to easy processed meals like microwave dinners, fast food, etc.

JCharante 3y ago
Conversely I found it way easier to eat "healthy" in the US due to the popularity of flash frozen vegetables. In college I would buy a bag of pre-cut flash frozen vegetables suitable for a stir fry and just dump that into the wok and throw some sauce & protein. Abroad where people eat fresh vegetables I had the habbit of ordering food delivery everyday because I'm not going to waste 1 hour of my life every day washing & cutting vegetables and the knife and the cutting board etc.

RamblingCTO 3y ago

I'd like to provide a counterargument to: > Second, European meals tend to focus heavily on a main and some side dishes, but a TON of countries simply do one dish for the whole meal. A ton of German cuisine, especially historically is either Soup or "Eintopf" (literally one-pot). You might add bread, but the dish stands by itself. Especially in the winter time, this is something people still do a lot. Still looking forward to kale (Grühnkohl, or where I'm from: Braunkohl). I still love stuff like Schmohrkohl and Grühnkohl. Not so much the carrot and potato soup and things like that. PS: I'd consider "Auflauf" (casserole?) to be a one-pot dish as well.

just_boost_it 3y ago

What's your source for this? European countries are quite different from each other, and I'm wondering if your experience was only in restaurants while travelling (which is a very different experience to what most people eat every day at home).