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Thread: "Ethnic" foods - what do you enjoy?

  1. #1
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    "Ethnic" foods - what do you enjoy?

    I have to smile - I was tickled pink to find Lingonberry jam in my grocery store, and thought - "I haven't heard of that or had it since I was little, from my Swedish grandfather," and sure enough, it was the only thing on the shelf imported from Sweden! I love it - it is tart and sweet and altogether yummy, I wonder, why do we not have it here? Do lingonberries not grow here?

    I am such a mutt, that I get to claim many different ethnicities, really, but the Swedish Coffee ring, breads and cookies, Lingonberry jam and it used to be lots of fish (before I became allergic to it) are strongly prevalent in Scandinavian cuisine. I love all sorts of food really, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Polish (before I became allergic to cabbage) so many who I have not one drop of blood from, but the Swedish ones resonate with me.

    What "ethnic" foods do you enjoy, and how do they figure into your heritage or not?
    I've Been Frosted

  2. #2
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    I'm Swedish from my Mom. My favorites are Potatis Korv (potato sausage) and Smur Bachelsur (butter cookies). I can buy the sausage at a specialty butcher and my niece has the tins to make the cookies at Christmas time.

  3. #3
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    It's pączki day and I'm part Polish! I ate half a paczek earlier in the day. One of my co-workers brought them from the bakery and they were huge. Pączki are kind of like bismarcks in that they're made with yeast vs. baking powder. Dumplings, please pass the dumplings. Bread dumplings, potato dumplings, fruit dumplings. Love pierogi (no onions in mine, though). I like the flavor of barley which is popular in Czech cooking. Beef barley soup, yum! I like borscht, but I don't like liver dumpling soup. Can't stand liver sausage, bleecchh! No, thank you.
    Praying for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine, and around the world.

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  4. #4
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    Growing up I had to chance to eat lots of stuff - mostly things like brains, cheeks, tongue and offal.
    Mom cooked "america" dishes too. Like meatloaf, fried chicken and stuff like that.

    My favorite story is about being asked "What do you eat at Thanksgiving?" I answered, "Tacos, beans, rice and tortillas......"

    The one thing I do miss about living in CA was the choice of foods.

    I was able to enjoy Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Greek and a few I forgot...Chinese?

    There were a few things I didn't like, but only because I had eaten that dish once and the second time out it was not as good.
    I ate pancit at a work pot luck, then had a chance to eat it at a home I was doing some work in. The second time it was not as appetizing, but I finished the plate because I was a guest.

    So I am willing to give any dish a few tries, due to the way people cook things! There are some mexican dishes have a regional twist to them, the recipe varies from state to state (in Mexico) But, I will try anything!

    One dish that haunts me to this day is turtle soup. I had some as a kid and it was the most delicious thing I ever ate.
    It was thick, spicy and wonderfully tasty. I know that some turtles are endangered, but that is one meal/food that I would eat again, no questions asked!

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by RICHARD View Post
    One dish that haunts me to this day is turtle soup. I had some as a kid and it was the most delicious thing I ever ate.
    It was thick, spicy and wonderfully tasty. I know that some turtles are endangered, but that is one meal/food that I would eat again, no questions asked!
    I bet the recipe would take just as good made with some other meat, like chicken or a pork or a fish that was not endangered ... as you mentioned it was thick, spicy and wonderfully tasty ... and you know the spicy part didn't come from the protein!
    I've Been Frosted

  6. #6
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    Well, anyone who knows my last name won't be surprised to learn I love Italian food.

    What may interest some:
    - my Dad's side is Sicilian, NOT Italian (BIG rivalry there, and a move for Sicily to secede from Italy is constant, there is another protest march this month over there). So we have many things which Italians to not; and vice versa. One example is polenta - that is northern Italian. I did try it once, I was in my 40's, and nope, not my thing. Sicilians eat lots of fish (being an island!), meat is a specialty item.
    - my Mum was from England. That diet is rather bland, and nothing touches anything else. She was PERFECT for my Dad in this respect. Dad's brothers and sisters always joked that he grew up on bread, he does not like Italian spicey foods. Since I do, I often use garlic; Dad wouldn't even come in my apartment when I had been cooking, he can't stand the stuff.
    - Since my Mum and Dad lived with Dad's parents for two years when they marred, Mum made lots of Italian dishes. And some English. I spent much of my childhood with Dad's parents (Mum was ill) so I grew up with their cooking. (Unlike my brother, by then Mum was doing lots better, and HE takes after Dad and hates spices and herbs.) I never had "American" food, and don't like much of it, to this day. I have never had 'mac and cheese,' the very idea makes me gag. (Mac is macaroni = pasta, belongs with tomato sauce, and 'American cheese' is a gross plastic cheese PRODUCT, yuck.)
    - I grew up in a Sicilian enclave. Everyone around us was also of Sicilian descent -- with a small few Neopolitan families. (Another great rivalry -- I had a fist fight with a girl whose grands hailed from Naples, when we were both in 7th grade). Hence everyone at school ate as I did, we brought the same things for lunches (no hot lunch back then). And 4 years of college, I was a commuting student, just went in for 4 classes in a row and drove back home. I did not realize I ate an ethnic diet, until I moved to DC at age 21 for law school. I rented a room with a family of Lebanese descent. (THEY did not eat an Amercian diet, either!) HOLY MOLY I never even HEARD of the foods they ate! But I loved most of it - and so my love of food developed.
    .

  7. #7
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    best of two worlds!

    I'm half Italian and half lithuanian. Growing up our family got all of the traditional pasta dishes (boy, do I miss those!), also stuffed cabbage and potato pancakes and haluske from my mom's Lithuanian side.

  8. #8
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    I have Polish ancestry, so naturally I like kielbasa, galunkies, pierogies, etc. Don't much care for sauerkraut, though. I have discovered all kinds of cuisines over the years: Thai, Indian, Vietnamese (pho, yum!!), Mexican, Indonesion (panang curry rox!) and many others. My SO and I do heaps of ethnic cooking, and over time have seen availability of exotic ingredients increase.
    I've been finally defrosted by cassiesmom!
    "Not my circus, not my monkeys!"-Polish proverb

  9. #9
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    Copenhagen, Denmark - GMT+1
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    Karen, Lingonberry is quite normal in Denmark, also. It's always used for for Game... a bit in the sauce and some on the side. My mum's brother and his family and friends all went hunting and his wife made the most delicious dishes (Phesants, wild Ducks etc.)

    I grew up with with mostly potatoes and various meat - and overcooked veggies. Ryebread is something I eat every day, I love it, and it's healthy and filling. When Oprah W. was here, she brought back lots of it. Here are pictures of various ones:
    https://www.google.com/images?q=rugbrød&oe=utf-8&hl=da&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=kzoXU5GCHqTt4gTBvIDIAw&ved=0CB0QsAQ

    One very Danish dessert is "Roedgroed med Floede) - something a foreigner has difficulties pronouncing. It is made from rhubarbs and strawberries. Here are pictures of it, and if you scroll down, there's an English explanation.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=rødgrød%20med%20fløde&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

    Of ethnic foods I love most of them... especially Italian, Greek, Indian, Chinese and Thai.

    In this link there are some typical Danish cakes and cookies. If you click on "Afspil" you'll see them one by one:
    http://samvirke.dk/billedgallerier/g...t-danmark.html

    I'll be glad to translate recipes if you want to try.



    "I don't know which weapons will be used in the third World war, but in the fourth, it will be sticks and stones" --- Albert Einstein.


  10. #10
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    Oh, Randi, I love rye bread - I get it sometimes as a treat for myself, and didn't know that that was also a Scandinavian thing! Rye bread with strong ginger jam - yum!!!!!
    I've Been Frosted

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karen View Post
    Oh, Randi, I love rye bread - I get it sometimes as a treat for myself, and didn't know that that was also a Scandinavian thing! Rye bread with strong ginger jam - yum!!!!!
    LOL! How can eat anything sweet on rye bread?

    Because of you, I remembered to take out a huge jar of pickled currants to use with my dinner.



    "I don't know which weapons will be used in the third World war, but in the fourth, it will be sticks and stones" --- Albert Einstein.


  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randi View Post
    LOL! How can eat anything sweet on rye bread?

    Because of you, I remembered to take out a huge jar of pickled currants to use with my dinner.
    Hee hee - you have to try it sometime, Randi - just spread some strong jam - or even a bit of honey really thin on toasted rye, the interplay of savory and sweet is quite yummy, I promise!
    I've Been Frosted

  13. #13
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    Munich
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    I am from very close to the French border and I rather have problems with the pork-oriented German cuisine - even if a good sausage is a nice thing. Consequently I do not care for some of the Polish cuisine as well. IMO it is very similar to what you get in Bavaria.
    But I love:
    Thai
    Vietnamese
    Malaysian
    Singaporean
    Indian
    Mexican
    Tex-Mex (ok- that's ethnic from my point of view)
    Italian (there are more Italian places in Munich than Bavarian)
    Spanish
    Greek
    Moroccan
    Libanese
    Turkish
    .....
    Of course we have much rye bread here or mixed breads and while I am with Randi that I will rather have it with prosciutto or cheese (or both) I prefer it to white bread

  14. #14
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    I am a full blooded Italian but born here. I was brought up on mostly Italian foods, just loved my Mom's tomato sauce and meatballs, yummy. I also love Chinese, and the all American steak and potatoes. I also love most fish and seafood.


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  15. #15
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    Does anyone like the sriracha (rooster brand) hot sauce?

    I picked up a jar of the garlic chili sauce and it's so good. I ate almost a whole jar in the matter of days.

    http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/garlic.htm

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