What to Eat, Part I

Hmmm, what do I feel like eating today.

Luckily, because I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, which has a diverse population, I can usually find something that will satisfy any craving that I have. Indian food? Sure, there are North Indian and South Indian restaurants, bakeries and stores. Chinese food? I can find restaurants serving foods from its many regions and find most of the ingredients at huge supermarkets, such as Ranch 99 or Lion. Recently, there has been a trend towards Southeast Asian food. While Thai food has always been popular, restaurants serving Vietnamese, Singaporean and Malaysian food are cropping up.

I don't have a sophisticated palate and I don't consider myself a food snob, but I do appreciate food that opens up ideas on the different ways certain food can be used and excites my senses. For instance, who knew that the avocado could be used in so many ways? Before, the avocado was mainly used for making guacamole, but then I found out that in Southeast Asia (such as in the Philippines and Vietnam), it is eaten as a dessert and is sometimes used to make a smoothie.




What a rather strange way to use avocado, I initially thought, but I couldn't deny how good it tasted. The avocado is mixed with condensed milk and perhaps some ice and topped with some whipped cream. It wasn't on the menu, but Vietnamese restaurants have it when avocados are in season. The taste was sweet with a slight hint of avocado, the texture was smooth and it left my palate clean.

Not usually adventurous when eating foods (I do have an aversion to eating internal organs, but make a few exceptions) and I don't trust when people say, "don't worry about what it is, just taste it" (only to find out that I had eat some sort of intestine), but I love exploring how different regions cook and eat their foods and the reasons why food is cooked in a certain way.