Chinese: "Why tf is white ppl food so awful??"

      • Chapo_is_Red [he/him]
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        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Greeks just took Turkish food and made it worse.

        Two different words for Eastern Mediterranean food

        More seriously, I'd bet central Asian influence on Mediterranean food probably predates the Turks. And I'd bet Anatolian Turks' foods were more influenced by the Mediterranean foods than the reverse, since they'd be having to adapt to the kinds of cultivation that work in that region

    • CloutAtlas [he/him]
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      1 year ago

      I believe parsley is the only herb native to western Europe. Parsley and salt were the only real flavor enhancers Europeans used until trade introduced garlic (from the middle east), pepper (from India), onions (from Asia) to the Europeans. And as the Romans and Greeks were the the ones facilitating these trades, the Italians and Greeks (and to an extent Iberia) have better cuisine from adopting foreign herbs and spices.

      • CriticalResist8 [he/him]
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        1 year ago

        Out of the herbs commonly used today, probably. But Europe has native plants and herbs that taste very close to garlic which were foraged for centuries, up until markets developed sufficiently that buying garlic was easier.

        There's actually a whole lot of herbs that still grow in the wild that are getting rediscovered, people even organise walks through forests and wild areas and teach you to recognize the plants and what you can use them for.

        • TheCaconym [any]
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          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Yep. This plant grew all over Europe (still does in fact), as high as Ireland, and is basically a slightly softer garlic. Companies are now using it in commercial food products again.

          Also stuff like Cumin was spread by humans so early we're not even sure where it came from; but it grew in basically all monasteries in France in the middle ages, for example.

          • notceps [he/him]
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            1 year ago

            It still grows all over Europe I grew up eating this stuff foraged from the forest for as long as I can remember. As the food takes on hexbear go on and on and on my opinion that people need to earn a certification to talk about food here grows more and more, yesterday people talked how "Food from the phillipines is not good" and "Ethiopian food is just edible" and now this? I implore to everyone to talk less about food.

            Like shit I literally made a ton of bear leek pesto and gave it to friends and people in the neighbourhood.

            • TheCaconym [any]
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              edit-2
              1 year ago

              It still grows all over Europe I grew up eating this stuff foraged from the forest for as long as I can remember.

              Yeah; often that stuff is still getting used and known about actively by locals in the countryside, and sometimes completely unknown (or with barely mentions) to the academic world.

              Funny it's called "bear leek" where you live; in France it's known as "bear's garlic".

              • notceps [he/him]
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                1 year ago

                Makes sense considering I live one country over, I just think the "getting rediscovered" sounds weird to me because it'd be like rediscovering chanterelles there's also a clear uptick in americans going "If I haven't eaten at your countries restaurant it must suck, and I've only been to my uncle vinnies pizzeria and that foodtruck that makes gyros."

                Read through yesterdays thread if you dare

                • The_Jewish_Cuban [he/him]
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                  1 year ago

                  Look man, if Americans haven't found a way to make your country's cuisine into a panda express that means it's shit. Sorry that's the will of the free market.

                  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
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                    1 year ago

                    Somewhere in that thread

                    I felt the same way about Æthiop food. Served on the pancake, eat with your hands? It was edible but I wouldn’t have it again.

                    I'm sorry but I cant take anyone's opinion on food seriously if they disliked Etiopian cuisine.

            • Frank [he/him, he/him]
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              1 year ago

              Oh my god Ethiopians food is so good. Here have like fifteen kinds of stews and a giant delicious sour pancake to scoop them up with. As close as you can get to heaven with your pants on.

          • CriticalResist8 [he/him]
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            1 year ago

            That's too bougie for most people (and you also have to be careful not to confuse it with lily of the valley), what you want is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliaria_petiolata haha

            I learned of that plant a few years ago from a botanist friend. You should harvest the leaves in early to mid spring and they smell exactly like garlic. The one time I went to collect some it was already late spring and they tasted too bitter to use (I tried making pesto). Used to be a very serf-friendly plant back in medieval times because it grows everywhere, peasants would go into the forest and other common grounds to forage for it on the daily.

        • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
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          1 year ago

          Poland and the Czechia famously overuse garlic. Czechia has a sweet pastry with garlic iirc.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
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        1 year ago

        Mustard, fennel, fennugreek, anise, Rosemary, thyme, celery seed, basil, parsely, sage, oregano, dill, mint, sugar, and I'm sure numerous others that I don't know about or aren't used anymore were native to europe or available very early. Pepper, garlic, and other imported spices were desirable bc there were no local analogues, not because there were no flavor enhancers available.