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Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
11–20 of 31 posts
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#12It’s interesting to note what ‘cultural staples and customs’ are actually a recent invention (in the grand scheme of things) or likewise popularized through corporations that advertised so hard that they embedded themselves into the very cultural fabric.
Cf. hamburgers being maybe 100 years old; tomato sauce being only put on pasta in the late 18th century; ‘standard Italian’ not being codified until the unification of Italy in the late 19th century (one reason why Italian-Americans perhaps say capisch instead of capisci? Some southern accents dropping the -i! [really, they’re languages——languages are just dialects with an army]), the food that we call kimchi today only popularly containing peppers starting in the 19th century; and the whole thing with car companies in the United States tearing up tram tracks and lobbying for jaywalking to be considered a crime!
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#13It’s interesting to note what ‘cultural staples and customs’ are actually a recent invention (in the grand scheme of things) or likewise popularized through corporations that advertised so hard that they embedded themselves into the very cultural fabric. Cf. hamburgers being maybe 100 years old; tomato sauce being only put on pasta in the late 18th century; ‘standard Italian’ not being codified until the unification…
Fun fact: even today, kimchi (and food in general) in North Korea is less spicy than the South, because they've basically missed out on 50 years of culinary evolution.
https://www.youngpioneertours.com/north-south-korean-kimchi/
Likewise, while Japanese cuisine is generally not spicy at all, the few outliers like mentaiko generally originate from the southern regions like Kyushu and Okinawa that traded with Korea & China.
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#14It’s interesting to note what ‘cultural staples and customs’ are actually a recent invention (in the grand scheme of things) or likewise popularized through corporations that advertised so hard that they embedded themselves into the very cultural fabric. Cf. hamburgers being maybe 100 years old; tomato sauce being only put on pasta in the late 18th century; ‘standard Italian’ not being codified until the unification…
Sicilian-Americans drop the final vowel, food example would be "proshut" in NJ
But pizza would also be "modern"
Today's sushi is from 19th C. Edo.., allegedly one person, Hanaya Yohei
Is food.. "anti-Lindy"? (Maybe because innovations that are infectious tend to be universally beloved, quickly killing off their progenitors)
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#15Also known as Bamiya or Bamia (okra stew) among the Malay-Arab community in Singapore.
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#16It’s interesting to note what ‘cultural staples and customs’ are actually a recent invention (in the grand scheme of things) or likewise popularized through corporations that advertised so hard that they embedded themselves into the very cultural fabric. Cf. hamburgers being maybe 100 years old; tomato sauce being only put on pasta in the late 18th century; ‘standard Italian’ not being codified until the unification…
How much of that is pegged to global literacy I wonder. You won't have popular standardised recipes until chefs and homemakers are literate
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#17I love these kinds of tales of cultural fusion, because they're so much the norm in human history, and yet we've got this weird idea of fixed identities, categories, and cultures - trace any food, any dance, any music or art back far enough and you're walking continents, and frequently not the ones you think.
My favourite is the food you get in Xi'an which is pretty distinct from what you'd ordinarily consider "Chinese" food (ie Sichuanese or Cantonese)
The flatbreads, cumin and lamb dominance all speak to the Silk Road history...
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#18Iraqi Jews had other stories of food migration.
For example there is the curious fact where due to Iraqi Jews the falafel in Israel has Amba as a condiment, originally an Indian mango chutney
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#19It’s interesting to note what ‘cultural staples and customs’ are actually a recent invention (in the grand scheme of things) or likewise popularized through corporations that advertised so hard that they embedded themselves into the very cultural fabric. Cf. hamburgers being maybe 100 years old; tomato sauce being only put on pasta in the late 18th century; ‘standard Italian’ not being codified until the unification…
Fun fact: even today, kimchi (and food in general) in North Korea is less spicy than the South, because they've basically missed out on 50 years of culinary evolution. https://www.youngpioneertours.com/north-south-korean-kimchi/ Likewise, while Japanese cuisine is generally not spicy at all, the few outliers like mentaiko generally originate from the southern regions like Kyushu and Okinawa that traded with Korea & C…
Generally true that, but caveats specifically for condiments:
(mustards are just more entrenched than peppers.)
Wasabi can compete with peppers on spiciness (imho)
Common condiment shichimi has pepper-- to-garishi, where the to- literally says "Tang (china)", meaning "foreign". And Sichuan pepper I think?
What then would be the native spice, "karashi"? Brown mustard..
That said, there are properly native pepper variants like shishito. And the unnamed one that is in kanzuri
https://youtube.com/shorts/1RoMOI8Hh-Q
(Sorry abt videoai, not mine)
Re: Refactoring cuisine: how an Iraqi stew sailed to Singapore
#20It’s interesting to note what ‘cultural staples and customs’ are actually a recent invention (in the grand scheme of things) or likewise popularized through corporations that advertised so hard that they embedded themselves into the very cultural fabric. Cf. hamburgers being maybe 100 years old; tomato sauce being only put on pasta in the late 18th century; ‘standard Italian’ not being codified until the unification…
Pasta itself was not frequently consumed in Italy before the industrial revolution as it was too labor intensive and thus prepared only on special occasions.
'Real' Italian cuisine is without tomatoes (a new world crop) and ~without pasta, or any modern pizza with tomato sauce.