Meal Time Through a Cultural Lens Day 5: Home Cooking!

To conclude our five-day foray into the multiplicity of meal time traditions, we divided ourselves between Ms. FarrWilliams' and Ms. Breck's kitchens to cook, reconvening twice in the Hassinger Room to enjoy the fruits of our effort! For lunch, we enjoyed bruschetta, three varieties of schnitzel (chicken, pork, and veal), Bratkartoffeln (German pan-fried potatoes), Yum Moo Yor (Thai spicy sausage salad), cauliflower with pork belly, stir-fried eggs and tomatoes, Haiga rice, and a build-your-own ice cream bar (featuring maple-toasted walnuts, bacon, syrup, and whipped cream), all washed down with warm tapioca pearl Thai tea.

Chef Max and sous-chef Sally stir frying the cauliflower and eggs, respectively.

Chef Tulio perfecting his bruschetta with freshly grated Parmesan. Maple-infused treats in the foreground.

For dinner, we partook of various globular, cylindrical, and round dishes, amongst other shapes. Team FW cobbled together a taco bar with all the trimmings (beef, guac, black beans, salsa, hard and soft shells...), summer rolls with homemade peanut sauce, and Lívance (Czech raised pancakes); Team B procured stir-fried eggplant, kimchi stew with mackerel, another form of cauliflower, eggy scallion pancakes, black sesame and red bean tangyuan (sweet rice balls coated in sesame sand), and Thai dessert soup. Although separated into two groups for efficiency, we thirteen gastronauts were very much united in convivial feasting, friendship, and fascination with cultures still mostly unknown but now not altogether unfamiliar.

Chef Pleng expertly colors glutinous rice flour before rolling the dough into tiny spheres.

Chefs Pleng and Max harmoniously sharing a stove.

The aforementioned Thai coconut-milk dessert soup, likened in appearance to Fruity Pebbles in milk! 

Chef Max's luscious eggplant with ground pork, colored with fermented broad bean paste.

Eggy scallion pancakes (admittedly defrosted, but daintily painted with scrambled egg by Candice and Sally).

Tacos: much greater than the sum of their (multifaceted and carefully prepared) parts.

Stained-glassy summer rolls with a knockout peanut sauce (featuring lime and maple syrup).

And lastly, Ms. FarrWilliam's raised-dough pancakes (Lívance), lovingly topped with her homemade summer strawberry preserves, a mix of sour cream and yogurt, raspberries, and cinnamon sugar.

Meal Time Through a Cultural Lens Day 4: Asian Cuisine

Day 4 began with a quartet of appetizing articles and film clips:

- https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/crying-in-h-mart 

- the epic opening scene of Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman:

- an insightful clip from The Joy Luck Club: 

- A scene from Jiro Dreams of Sushi, wherein the omakase experience is likened to a sonata of which Jiro is the composer...

With whetted appetites, we headed to Hei La Moon, Boston Chinatown's most conveniently located dim-sum emporium.

Elsa and Tulio demonstrate two forms of chopstick technique.

We tasted thirty-six small plates and baskets of tantalizing dim sum (which means "to touch the heart," as each parcel ought to). Behold the array of buns, dumplings, rolls, and chicken feet (full of skin-plumping collagen)!

Tea is essential to the dim sum digestion process! Be sure to fill others' cups before your own.

Peeking into one of the dim sum ladies' carts reveals three baskets of siu mai, shrimp dumplings, custard buns, salt and pepper ribs, and veggies encased in tofu skin.

On our way home from Boston, we stopped at Hmart in Burlington (in itself a sensory experience) to purchase groceries for tomorrow's home-cooking time. Our last stop of the day was close to home: Franklin's Asian Delight! Whatever low expectations the Asians amongst us had just from the name of the restaurant were quickly dispelled with our first sips of redolent Thai Tea and final scoops of coconut-pandan pudding. Pleng bonded with the owners, who made an off-menu portion of sticky rice just for her. Behold some of their provisions:

Beef Bibimbap, pre-mixing. Once a peasant dish, and now the popstar of Korean-American menus!

Pleng ordered chicken larb, a fragrant dish of tangily-dressed ground meat nestled amongst herbs and greens.

And of course, the bright-orange Thai iced tea, which (traditionally) derives its vibrant hue from a specific tea leaf.

Meal Time Through A Cultural Lens
Day 3: Central and South American Cuisine

Our third day started with a preview of two documentaries on Mexican culture, iconic meals and their preparation. We learned about the history of corn and its use, about the world's largest food market, Central Del Abastos, and about the role of acid from "sour oranges" in the kitchens on the Yucatan peninsula. Interestingly, Mexicans credit several other cultures for contributions to the variety of their cuisine (Spanish for flour tortillas, Germans and Czechs for beer, Lebanese for Al pastor). 

Our first stop on Wednesday's excursion in Gaucho's Churrascaria Brazilian Restaurant...

...meat lover's heaven..

...a good place for bonding...

...and a true cultural experience!

After a little rest and some necessary exercise, our evening excursion brought us to Cielito Mexican Restaurant in Bristol.

We enjoyed a variety of appetizers as Ceviche...

... or Quesadillas...

...as well as delicious main courses: Diabla Shrimp...

...and traditional Mexican "Torta".

To crown our dining experience, we tasted one of Cielito's famous desserts: Capiortada.

Meal Time Through A Cultural Lens
Day 2: Central European Cuisine

Tuesday morning, we begun our exploration of the Central European Cuisine by a peak into the Russian, German and Hungarian kitchens through excerpts from two classical literature pieces (L.N. Tolstoy: War and Piece, T. Mann: The Magic Mountain) and one contemporary article (Carolyn Banfalvi: Rhapsody in Red). Soon we realized, that the main cooking ingredients for today will be potatoes, pork fat, onions, paprika and garlic, sour cream, apples and plums.

Our first stop was Lala's Pastry shop (and diner) in Manchester...

...where the owner, Mr. Lala shared with us a little bit about his Hungarian background...

...and we tasted the original Hungarian goulash...

..the Szeged goulash...

..and the Tripe soup ...yes, it is made from cow's stomach, which has a unique, soft texture to it and should be good for your skin!

From the numerous sweets, the Dobosh cake seemed to be the most popular pick (thin layers of hazel-nut pastry alternated with hazelnut cream and topped with a layer of caramel).

Further culinary exploration brought us Tuesday afternoon to Boston. After a short visit to Quincy Market, we went to cafe Polonia and tried some more delicious food: the Polish Plate (a sampler composed from pirogi, kielbasa and goulash)...

...Gypsy Pancake (potato pancake filled with Hungarian goulash...

 ...Vienna Pork Chop...

...and regular potato pancakes.

Possibly the best ending to our day was the traditional Chocolate Babka with a scoop of ice cream.

Meal Time Through a Cultural Lens 
Day 1: New England Cuisine

We started our first day by sharing personal experiences with diverse food and our appreciation of it, then followed Anthony Bourdain in his exploration of New England cuisine with its staples: seafood, potatoes, cheese, butter and maple syrup...

During our excursion we first traveled up to Polly's Pancake Parlor for some late brunch...

...tasted some wonderful food including new maple flavored items (maple sugar and maple cream!!!)...

...and now we understand how can "New Englanders" survive such rough weather!

Our second stop was The Old Country Store and Museum in Moultonboro...

 

...with a selection of home-made soda...

...and old-fashioned candy.

.

Our final stop brought us to the Common Man in Ashland, where we had a delicious dinner and tasted a variety of old-fashion and modern cuisine.

Meal Time Through a Cultural Lens

EQ:

Which aspects of culture (values, customs, history, social norms, socio-economics, sources availability and traditions) could we learn about from particular presentation and composition of meal times?

Competencies:

o   Students will learn about culinary traditions in selected regions of the world by interviewing chefs in various restaurants.

o   Students will explore values, customs, history and social norms by researching respective cultures.

o   Students will gain an appreciation for the abundance of gastronomical sociology by consuming, literally and figuratively.