One time I talked to an acquaintance about why she hadn’t tried the best taco truck that I love that is literally next to her house.
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@aehdeschaine @fifilamoura I once interviewed a Swedish chef and I was like what was your relationship with food at home and he said ‘I just wanted to make better food than what I grew up with’
But
A lot of Nordic food things (curing, preserving) are also super valid and I’ve learned some of them. I guess the Lutheran dislike of ‘hedonism’ is something I really struggle with
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@meganL @skinnylatte this is me sometimes
I like a lot of different foods and trying new things, but when I’m really in need of something soothing or comforting, bland things call to me -
@bluestocking @skinnylatte Surely there's a difference between bland and "lacking flavor", though? Oatmeal is bland, but it doesn't completely lack flavor, for instance. Same for potatoes baked in their jackets.
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@ddr yes! So I grew up with food in Indonesia / Malaysia / just like that and you can see how it’s a big cultural shift
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@epicdemiologist @gannet the Jains and religious Japanese / Koreans make delicious food without alliums!
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@meganL @skinnylatte I mean, I can taste a lot of flavor and texture nuance in stuff other people find really bland and it brings me a ton of pleasure but it’s things other people would absolutely describe as disgustingly flavorless.
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@bluestocking @meganL there’s a term used for some types of Chinese food that’s like ‘flavorful and bland’
I don’t think everything needs to be heavily seasoned, but I do want food to be made of good ingredients and made with care. My favorite food in the world is simply steamed fresh fish with just soy sauce. But every part of it has to be good to work.
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@skinnylatte I think cold climate relationships to food (and obviously available foods) are very different than tropical ones. Very different flavor personalities but deliciousness usually comes down to the quality of ingredients and someone being a good cook because they care about the food they're cooking. @aehdeschaine
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@fifilamoura @skinnylatte I'd agree. And I've actually really enjoyed learning about traditional Nordic cuisine! Not a fan of the fermented fish, but the broader preservation practices are fascinating, and the "Nordic diet" counterpart of Mediterranean is really interesting, too. And spice DOES have a long history in the cuisine, but in specific places.
I admit the most flavorful explorations I've done have been in mostly-warmer cuisines. But living in the PNW's growing season really helps!
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@fifilamoura @skinnylatte It is interesting that, the more I explore, say Chinese or Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food, the less I crave the few "traditional" foods from childhood. I always want to find a jazzier version, and the craving becomes nostalgia but not culinary appreciation...
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@skinnylatte This sounds extreme for me! I understand spice, or a *specific* flavour, but I have never heard of someone not liking flavour full stop!
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@aehdeschaine @fifilamoura there’s a whole genre of food that is ‘Asians hired by colonial Europeans to make food for them, ended up jazzing up their food’
I love Hainanese ‘British’ food, it’s so fun. It’s like curry chicken pot pies and black pepper steaks and really old school food from the early 1900s with more pepper and curry and soy sauce
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@sashin @skinnylatte having spent a few years in the Midwest in the 70s, I can concur that the (mostly) Norwegian-Americans I knew did not like seasoning. It was really odd.
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@kimlockhartga @sashin oh you were there for peak flavor fear too. Also when they were afraid of fat I think
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One time I saw an internet discussion about ‘what are some things that cause your society to ostracize you?’
The Americans said ‘not liking dogs’
The Singaporeans said ‘not liking food’
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@skinnylatte the. lack. of. flavor. comforting … I’m… I’m speechless.
That might explain British food.
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@aulia these people tend to be Nordic descended tho. I don’t usually associate the Nordics with worse food than the UK, but there is something about suffering and food and not allowing yourself to enjoy anything that is very interesting. (I blame Lutheranism. Some Dutch and Germans are like this too)
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@skinnylatte I’m still dumbfounded
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@aulia this helped
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Aulia Masna last edited by [email protected]
@aulia honestly just fascinated. I want to go and eat all these things in fascination
All the stuff with cheese looks fine
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jesseszewczyk/strange-and-confusing-midwest-foods
