Monday, July 12, 2010

Food, Eating

Growing up in China, I was not particularly introduced to a religion or encouraged to take a religion. Some of my friends teased me that I was a communist. Well, I don't have a religion, but I consider myself as a socialist or an unbeliever of capitalist more than a communist. However, I take what I eat and what restaurants I go seriously and adventurously.

Even though sandwich is simple and fast, I don't like to have it for lunch. I don't like American hamburgers or pizzas. Not because they look cheap or unsophisticated, it is because I don't find them tasty. Ordinary meats such as chicken and pork from American supermarkets are tasteless. I have to buy organic kosher chicken and organic pork (I wish I could find organic kosher pork.^_^.). I didn't know how to cook until 22 when I moved to the states. I made international phone calls to my mother to ask how to cook. However, at the second year when I started cooking, I invited ten people for dinner and cooked all the dishes.

One thing I enjoy most while traveling is to try local cuisine. I had an unforgettable time at a local restaurant in Seoul with a friend who introduced me to eat live octopus, a famous Korean dish. I still remember the moving octopus in the plane when the waitress bringing it out from the kitchen. I also love telling people funny stories about food. I have told many of friends the experience my parents and I had on eating larvas. Exploring different restaurants is one of my favor activities.

Not surprisingly I enjoy "No Reservation", a travel TV show on food, and like the TV show host, Anthony Bourdain. I even bought one of his book - Kitchen Confidential. I'm reading it every morning during breakfast. I'm having a good time. I found Bourdain's comments on vegetarians amusing.

Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.

.... Amoebas, however, are transferred most easily through the handling of raw, uncooked vegetables, particularly during the washing of salad greens and leafy produces. So think about that next time you want to exchange deep tongue kisses with a vegetarian.

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