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Monday Meal Review: Togo

“How many bites do I have to take?” “Do they have to be big bites?” “Does this count as a big bite?” The questions kept coming from Miss Emma, one of the most picky eaters to grace our Global Table. She showed us her spoon, topped with Djenkoume (a.k.a. cornmeal cakes). This is what her big bite looked like: Thus far. Emma has spent the majority of her childhood “losing her lunch” when faced with new textures and flavors. She couldn’t keep mash potatoes down until she was five… hers isn’t your ordinary finickiness. We were on very tenuous ground. I wanted to keep my furniture and rugs clean 😉 It was hard for me to relate to what Emma goes through when faced with new foods. Only rarely have I been physically affected by the thought of trying something new. There’s old Togolese proverb which reads: “It is impossible to go and look into the stomach of another.” How true. Even though I couldn’t put myself in Emma’s shoes, I was able to create …

About the food of Togo

There’s an old Togolese proverb which says “Do not roast all your corn in the winter.” The proverb sums up Togo nicely. While the words point to importance placed on resourcefulness in this small, west African country, it also points to something much more obvious. The Togolese love their corn. As with most proverbs, they draw from the popular culture from whence they originate. This skinny strip of a country in western Africa really does love their corn, especially cornmeal. Cornmeal cakes called Djenkoume are a popular staple, as is fufu (stiff cornmeal porridge, although sometimes it is made with yam). Either might be served with chicken [like Grilled Togo Chicken], goat, or wild game. What does a Togolese person do when they tire of cornmeal? Eat cassava. It can be savory, on the side of goat stew, or an after dinner treat, served as a soft, sweet porridge. From the dry savannas and tropical coast, this land also loves their peanuts. In fact, groundnut stew [Recipe] (an old favorite from our Ghanaian Global Table), makes …

Monday Meal Review: Thailand

It took a Green Papaya Salad from Thailand to make me think about the rhythms of my life. Rat-tat-tat-tat…. Rat-tat-tat…. Rat-tat.. Rat… Rat… Tat-tat… Thwap. As I pounded the garlic and chili peppers into a paste, feeling both awkward and unskilled, I began to ask myself some questions… Namely, how is it that something as simple as pounding food can be so hard for me, yet be so easy for another person – like… oh, say… someone from Thailand? I understand that Thai people learn how to use mortars and pestles at a young age… but … still… the question popped up. And then things got really existential. I’m not sure if it was a full moon, or the barometric pressure, but I got much, much deeper. As in, I began to compare myself to a mortar and pestle. I asked: “Am I moving smoothly through my life, making smart choices, or am I a mess of starts and stops, pounding the pavement hard for a while, then resting for too long before picking up the pace again?” You see, I’ve heard rumors wives …

About the food of Thailand

From her thick, green mountaintops in the north, all the way past her flatlands, through her river basins and glittering skyscrapers, Thailand has it all. And if you thought her landscape is stunning, you should taste the food. There’s a zing to Thai food that keeps me coming back; at first I thought it was the sour notes, formed from hefty squirts of lime juice. I do adore a good burst of lime…But over the years I’ve realized Thai food is far more complex than that. There’s a dance going on in every bite, especially in the salads, like som tam (green papaya salad [Recipe])… sure, there’s bright bursts of lime juice, but there’s also the smack of salty fish sauce, the brutal burn of Bird’s Eye Chili peppers, something sweet (usually palm sugar) and there, somewhere in the background, a hint of bitterness. In preparation for this week’s Global Table, we ate at My Thai Kitchen in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We covered the table with several selections, most notably the beef salad, the green curry …

Monday Meal Review: Tanzania

Moving Beyond Your Breaking Point Summer sweat is a near constant, now. I haunt my house, barefoot, draped in loose flowing dresses, completely aimless thanks to this seasonal fever. It’s all I can do to stay awake when the temperatures hit the nineties and the humidity approaches 100%. Eating Tanzania in this thick sort of summer heat was just perfect. All I had to do was close my eyes, and I was there. At least, I was there on the flatlands. But I wasn’t where I really, really wanted to be. Where I really wanted to be was Mount Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania. Unlike the sizzling flatlands, Mount Kilimanjaro is covered with a perpetual blanket of snow. This epic mountain has fascinated me ever since I read about it in Michael Crichton’s book Travels. Have you read it? It is one of his least known books, but by-far my favorite because it covers Crichton’s globetrotting days. In the book, Michael Crichton attempts to climb Kilimanjaro. He approaches the mountain with all the swagger and arrogance of someone who’s …

About the food of Tanzania

A few months ago, my next door neighbor, Jonathan, told me he was going to Tanzania to shoot documentary footage at an orphanage in Tanzania. “Your going to Tanzania?!” I exclaimed, thrilled with the serendipity of the situation, “Tell me all about the food – what do the children eat?” Over the next several minutes, he enthusiastically described the food of this east African country, possibly most well-known for the breathtaking peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. (Incidentally, if you ever get the chance to read the autobiographical book Travels, by Michael Crichton, you’ll find a wonderful passage about his hike to the summit of this great mountain). He said, while the food itself is simple, even outside of the orphanage, it remains utterly craveable. There’s an old Tanzanian saying that states “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.” And so it is with the food. Even when there is a little, if it is good and the supply keeps coming, it fills the heart and belly to capacity. The first food Jonathan mentioned was ugali, the white …

Monday Meal Review: Tajikistan

It is often said that family who live in close proximity take each other for granted. But in many ways, I think it’s just as easy to take each other for granted when family is scattered around the country. We get used to a certain state of … loneliness… of missing each other. We resign ourselves to the distance, and take for granted that it can be no other way than to be apart. It got so bad, for me, that I hid behind my work and responsibilities. I didn’t take trips, not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t know how to leave. I didn’t know how to shut off the flow of work and make time. The result? Until this week, I hadn’t seen my family in over a year. Fifteen months to be exact. Some of them I hadn’t seen in more than three years. I’d resigned myself to being too far to help, too far to matter, too far to influence. When my sister announced she was throwing a graduation party …

About the food of Tajikistan

In Tajikistan, if you don’t have bread, you don’t have food. It doesn’t matter if the table is piled to the ceiling with meat, vegetables, and sweets. Bread is the purest sustenance to the Tajik people, especially nan (a thick flatbread Tajiks love to decorate with ornate markings). And why not. Bread makes all kinds of sense in this rugged, mountainous land bordered by China, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan (the country actually sits in Asia). Nan stores well because, if it dries out, the hardened discs can be hydrated with stews or the like. The bread also goes with everything, and is extremely economical, such as yogurt Naan [Recipe]. Along with the nan, a Tajik table often includes communal meals enjoyed out of a single platter. Examples include plov (or rice with root vegetables and meat [Recipe]) or Qurotob (a mish-mash pile of flatbread topped with cheese, fried vegetables, and onion). If the weather feels a bit nippy, locals might pull up to a steaming bowl of lagman soup (lagman are thick, homemade noodles, which we made back …

Monday Meal Review: Taiwan

I got a really neat question in my email this week. I thought I’d take a brief departure from my normal meal review to answer it, in case you’re looking for similar ideas: Hi Sasha, I came across your website. I absolutely love it. I’ve worked in international transportation for 30 years, teach yoga, and love food too. Your website really speaks to me. I had a question: My daughter graduated high school and I’d like to give her a simple yet unique grad party with foods that her and her friends would find exciting. Do you have any ideas for a menu? Theme? Thanks for your help! Angela The irony? This week we’re in New Jersey celebrating the graduations of two nieces and one nephew… both from high school and college. My amazing sister, Elisa, made several Global Table recipes for the party, so I’ll skip to the list of what worked. BIGGEST HIT: Cake on a rope, from the Netherlands. Food-wise, it’s fun to have interactive recipes… something to bring everyone together. Fondue …

About the food of Taiwan

Feeling overcast? You just might love Taiwan. This tropical island east of China is a mountainous land, where you’ll find clouds and the whipping rains common with monsoons. This week we explore the food that dots along the 13,902 square miles of this small nation. But don’t get the wrong idea; just because she’s small (about the size of Massachusetts), doesn’t mean the people are few and far between. The opposite is true, in fact. There are 1,600 people per square mile which makes Taiwan one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Personally, I’d love to climb to the top of Jade Mountain (the highest mountain in Asia), and look over the stunning (steaming?) beauty of Taiwan. Taiwanese food is a melting pot of various Chinese ethnicities, which is reflected in the food. There’s everything from hot pots (where meats and veggies are cooked at the table, then enjoyed with an array of sauces), to fried noodles and rice, and duck smoked over tea leaves. If you’re feeling a bit more Japanese, you’ll be …

Monday Meal Review: Syria

“Want to help me make the kebabs?” I asked Ava, gesturing toward the pile of long, metal skewers, the bowl of sour cherries swimming in water, and the ground lamb meat, spiced with baharat. I tried to imagine what this spread looked like in a three year-old’s mind. Dangerous, slimy, raw. I cringed a little internally, knowing she wouldn’t want to help. Knowing this would push every squeamish part of her mind. But then she spoke. “Sure!” she smiled and slipped her hand into the cold, wet bowl of cherries. A moment later she plucked one out. “Can I eat it?” I thought about the sour flavor. How outrageous the slippery flesh would taste to her young taste buds (I once read that children have more taste buds than adults). “No… let’s wait until we can eat the cherries with the meat.” I replied, thinking it would be her best shot at loving it. “Okay!” she chirped, agreeably. We took turns, me threading the small meatballs onto the skewer, she sliding on the cherries. Soon, this wasn’t …

About the food of Syria

Oh, Syria. This wedge-shaped land spreads from the west, where she dips delicately into the Mediterranean sea, back to the east, up, over the mountains, all the way to the Iraqi border. Along the way, her cliffs and canyons smooth out into hot desert and scrubby grasslands. Lost, towards the south, is the ancient city of Damascus, quite possibly the world’s oldest city according to National Geographic. While Damascus has all the allure of a teeming city and world heritage site, the fun fact that stuck with me the most was that the buses don’t stick to their scheduled stops in Damascus. They just drop you where you want to get off, as long as it’s on their route. Makes sense to me. This week we explore Syria’s love for bold flavors, like garlic, pomegranate, sour cherry, and more. Of course, traditional Middle Eastern favorites are everywhere, such as hummus, tabbouleh, stuffed grape leaves, and falafel… all enjoyed with a bite of homemade pita bread (and all, I might add, previously made for other Global Tables – simply follow the …