Thoughts on Gastronomy

Breakfast, lunch, dinner... maybe a snack or two in between.  There is one thing I think about every day - multiple times a day without fail: food.  Since moving to a new town and running our own business, we stay home and cook at night much more than was customary in the past.  Okay, maybe it's also the fact that we don't have every cuisine imaginable offered within a two block radius from the doorsteps of our Upper East Side Manhattan apartment.  Or maybe it's that we used to be able to have that cuisine delivered to our doorstep if it seemed too cold, snowy, rainy or we just didn't feel up to battling the city sidewalks.  As you can imagine, one gets quite spoiled with that kind of gastronomy available at any given hour on any given day. 

Last week we were sitting at home after an exhausting day of work.  I had only gone to the grocery store four times that week but for some reason there seemed to be nothing in the kitchen to make for dinner. I still can't figure out how that happens...  Well naturally, we thought, let's order out?  A quick search on Google and we found ourselves vastly disapointed - no delivery?!?! It seems like just about everything is on demand in today's world... you can chat with someone halfway around the globe from your couch, you can order movies, you can watch a show recorded from last week, write a letter to be electronically transmitted, all from your couch... but alas, I couldn't order delivery.

Delivery aside, I have actually found that I really enjoy cooking.  Being in a new town and trying to save money where we can, cooking is a perfect solution to provide an entertaining night at home.  Something else I've discovered since moving to this new town... southern food.  And it is delicious.  I've been fortunate enough to have traveled internationally.  During college, I studied abroad in Italy during which time I traveled to Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Austria, France, the Netherlands.  I also had the opportunity to travel to Israel.  One thing decidedly spectacular about traveling to different countries is trying the different cuisines offered.  Each country and city prides itself on a type of cooking, the ingredients and the lifestyle that surrounds eating.  So what about this same notion in the states?

I think sometimes the cuisine of America is somewhat overlooked.  From California to New York to South Carolina, I have recently thought about the very different food each state and region embraces.  Of course there are obvious standard dishes.  Who could live without pizza and burgers in America?  But take seafood for example - In California, halibut and swordfish are regular staples in the grocery store.  Travel east and it changes a bit to Atlantic salmon, lots of tilapia and sometimes easier to find lobster.  Down south - crawfish, lots of shellfish and a fish I have come to love, catfish.  It becomes a curious subject when you think about a town or states' food.  In Columbia, South Carolina where I currently reside, there are a few staples, or rather specialties, that can be found around town.  One category I had not been aquainted with before - barbecue.  Growing up in Southern California, barbeque is usually synonymous with Fourth of July burgers and hot dogs.  Here, think pulled pork, brisket, lots of sauce and oh yeah, hush puppies (aka fried cornbread).  Another saucy delight the town isn't short of is chicken wings - hot, spicy, mild, you name the way it's made, and it's one finger food that is fiercely competitive from one restaurant to the next.  And yet a third example of a southern treat that I certainly wasn't aware existed in California, grits.  Which I actually tried a hand at and it turned out pretty well.

Whether traveling abroad or moving to a new city, I love to embrace the culture and of course, the food. I think food even helps a person get acquainted with a new place, literally offering a flavor for the culture and people that might not think twice about what they are eating.  So for now I'm going to keep "cooking around the world and country" while the actual travel is on the back-burner and look forward to discovering even more regional delights.