Planning out meals isn’t that exciting. But planning out a theme kinda is. Especially since the theme contains certain ingredients that go into multiple dishes. Instead of “I need this exact ingredient for this dish but a whole bunch of different ingredients for another.” Not to mention it’s much easier for me to put stuff together based on my mood, and if I have the ingredients for it.
Such as Asian foods. They all carry 3 basic ingredients along with customization. The ingredients I need are a type of sauce (heavy on soy but there are ways around it), a protein (fish, chicken, pork, beef), and a vegetable.
The added stuff can be seasoning, broth, and seaweed. These are added for flavor but don’t take away from the main profile of the dish.
Dominican foods are very heavy on roots, types of bananas, corn, rice, and meat. A lot of dishes around the world are heavy on rice and even potatoes. But dishes from Europe are heavy on flour (pasta, bread). But the one thing every culture has in common is the vastness of how creative they are with their dishes. And this is just something I notice as I’m researching different things to cook.
I’m enjoying finding dishes I want to try. Especially since I have always struggled with eating. But as I’m developing a healthy relationship with food I found my love for cooking from scratch. And I think the main reason I have been practicing mainly cooking Asian dishes is that I love anime. Plus the fact I want my meals to look pleasing. Plus, it’s probably also due to having roommates that talk nonstop about getting tools to make all types of Asian dishes.
I find it is easier for me to eat a balanced diet when my food looks good. Eventually, I want to start cooking a week of dishes from different cultures. Even though, as I’m researching, I noticed a lot of times dishes from around the world look similar to the dishes I grew up with. I’m Dominican and my parents cook Dominican food. And as I look into it I find that a lot of dishes were inspired by other cultures.
So in a sense, learning how to make the original dish from other cultures improves the cooking of my culture’s dishes. A lot of the differences come down to seasoning styles and what’s locally available in each country.
Cooking is so fun since I’m learning so much.
Xexiar 