Part Two : Chapter Six : Asia

Well, I thought the "Americas" chapter was long, but it was nothing compared to the 50-page chapter about all things Asian. I had to split the reading up between two days, but I still found a bit of redundancy in the chapter. All Asian food is definitely not alike, and each country, and region, has very different delicacies that I learned about but many of the areas have a lot of the same agriculture, resulting in repetitive explanations of the uses of, especially, rice and seafood.

Spices, of course, play a huge part in the cuisine of the Asian continent, but each country uses those spices in very different ways. Also, it seems as though the use of chiles did not appear until the Portuguese brought their influences to the continent, in the not-so-distant past. It also seems that each country has their own versions of different dishes, but the main theme seems to carry through each. For example, the practice of cooking one's own food at the table, in steaming pots of broth, is known as Mongolian hotpot in China, Shabu-Shabu in Japan, and Chongol in Korea.

Similarly, India and the Middle East seem to hold quite a few similarities including the use of the tandoor oven. Both cultures tend to cook their breads on the inside walls of the tandoor, with stews and curries cooking in the center. They use lots of rice, meats, nuts and aromatics to stuff larger vegetables and other meats.

The amount of information in this chapter was overwhelming, and I found myself skimming quite a few of the paragraphs, but I wanted to give you a very brief overview of this chapter. I could write for days and not include all the information I just soaked in by reading this chapter, but I talk about Asian cuisine so often in my posts that it would be redundant for me to start telling you everything again.

One thing that I did find interesting as a theme running through this chapter is the attention to detail that is given to meals in the Asian culture. In general, colors, textures and flavors are all taken into consideration before a meal is planned, and ingredients are chosen based on this criteria. Too often, we throw together a meal, not thinking about the aromas we'll smell before we even dig into the food, or how the colors on the plate will affect the way we feeling during the meal.

I know I always enjoy a meal more when it looks pretty!