Info about Dishes
Dishes – Food Intertwined with Culture
Food is as diverse as cultures. As environment shapes culture, so does it influence the taste of people and their dishes. There are different kinds of cuisines from all over the world. Each of these cuisines uses materials or spices native to their region of origin.
An example is English cuisine. Because of Puritan influences, traditional English dishes are relatively bland to non-English. Moreover, because the temperate climate is not favorable to the growth of the spices commonly found in the tropics, spices are used minimally. Examples of English food are roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Sometimes, the terms used to refer to dishes are also puzzling to non-native ears but are relatively simple preparations. For instance, toad-in-the-hole is simply roasted batter-covered sausages while bubble squeak is a mixture of left-over vegetables and chopped roast meat that is added to mashed potato and fried together until well-cooked and brown.
Italian cuisine is distinct for its pasta dishes, pizza and the use of olives and cheese. French cuisine is known for creamy and spicy viands served with wine. European cuisines are very reliant on the use of cheese as many European countries produce milk.
Asian dishes are different from European cuisine mainly because of the use of spices. An example of an Asian dish with various versions is curry. The main spice used is turmeric, which belongs to the ginger family and gives the curry its distinct yellow color. There are Indian, Pakistani, Japanese and Chinese curries.
Unique to the Chinese cuisine is the stir-fried method of cooking. Also, most Chinese dishes are cut into bite-sized pieces in order to facilitate ease of eating when using the traditional chopsticks. This is the same with chopstick-using cultures in East Asia such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
Generally, the staple food in Asian cuisine is rice. Many kinds of rice have been developed to fit the climates of the different countries. In Japan, rice dishes include domburi (rice with toppings) and onigiri (rice walls wrapped in nori seaweed). In the Philippines, rice is served throughout the day, with a variety of meat and vegetable viands.
There are also many various kinds of noodles which are prepared differently in Asian countries. From Japan, there is yakisoba, from China – lo mien, from Korea – chap chee, and from the Philippines – mami or goto. These noodle preparations can serve as the base ingredients in soups or stir-fried dishes.
If one is unfamiliar with the culture, one might become shocked with the dishes. Asian cuisines involve a lot of exotic preparations including snakes, worms and other food sources which might be considered inedible by people of a different culture. Thus, cultural sensitivity has to be practiced, even when encountering foods from other places. One does not necessarily need to eat food which is different from what he/she is already used to. Respecting the dishes of another culture is also a way of showing respect to the culture and to the people who prepared the food.