4 ms·
Good thing I live in a place where people of different cultures talk to one another, exchange food ideas, and with some hunting you can get the ingredients you
by jmspring 13y ago
Good thing I live in a place where people of different cultures talk to one another, exchange food ideas, and with some hunting you can get the ingredients you need. Specialty ethnic food stores help as well. Maybe it is the willingness to explore and not shop at places like Safeway and the other big chains?
I've purchased a Goya product or two when it was the only variety available. That said, if I need asafetida (a spice) for an Indian dish I'm not going to look to Goya. When I need tortillas for tacos, I'll buy locally made instead of Goya or Mission. (tortillas are a silly example given the diversity in the bay area...but I don't know what the big chains actually carry...)
I'm not afraid to pickup a random cookbook (be it southern cooking to pakistani to peruvian) and attempt to cook something. If ingredients aren't available, be creative and substitute.
This seems like one more "homogenization" of the US.
- tptacek 13y agoHow, exactly, does getting tamarind and nopalitos into the aisles of Safeway count as "homogenization"?
- graeme 13y agoI think he means: everyone eats the same thing Meaning, we all eat the same brand "diverse" foods, rather than seek out the originals from locals of that cuisine.
- tptacek 13y agoMexican people do not as a general rule go into the fields to pick tomatillos. We're talking about the raw materials of ethnic recipes, not freezer-pak reheatable Mexi-meals.
- graeme 13y agoWhat tedunangst said. If everyone can access the same thing in the same stores, then there is homogeneity in what is available. I don't think homogeneity ought to have any negative connotation, used in this way. I'm also not sure the OP meant it negatively, though he might have.
- tedunangst 13y agoIf everyone gains access to the same ingredients, then you're no longer special for using ingredients other people haven't heard of. not special => homogenized.