Great Taste Magazine

By Robert F Johnson

May/June 2009

It has been famously written that “all the world’s a stage.” This may be true of life in general but we actors in the play of life must eat. To foodies, all the world’s a spice rack, a walk-in, and a pantry where, thanks to modern travel and technology, exotic ingredients and cuisines are readily available to satiate adventurous palates. There is no passport required as Great Taste makes the trip around the world to examine different regional cuisines and to make more familiar the customs and ingredients associated with each.

Central America, from Guatemala and Belize to the north down to Panama in the south, has quite a diverse culinary tradition which has been influenced by not only native inhabitants but also by foreign explorers as well. Warm weather and sunshine sustains a plethora of fresh, local produce such as avocados, plantains, chilies, maize and beans. All of these ingredients can be transformed into well known regional favorites such as guacamole and ceviche or the more exotic gallo pinto, a breakfast favorite made with rice, black beans, peppers, cilantro with scrambled or fried eggs.

-Salsa is the most popular condiment in Central America. Early Central American nations domesticated the tomato and chili pepper which are combined with other ingredients

-Tamales are holiday favorites and can be made with beef, pork, chicken or vegetables

-Arroz con leche (Rice with milk), a pudding typical comfort food in Central America, is one of the most popular deserts in the region.

-Central Americans locals avoid drinking the water. Rather than using the familiar bottled variety, most of their drinking water comes packaged in plastic bags.

Local Selections

El Carbonero – Various Locations

Chapina’s Guatemalan Cuisine - La Habra

Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen - Orange

South American culture and cuisine are a mélange of influence ranging from Europe to Africa and even to Asia. Despite the global influence, South American dishes strive to remain faithful to native Amerindian ingredients such as potatoes, quinoa, beans, cassava, and corn. South America, widely known for its grilled meats or churrasco, serves up seasoned beef, lamb, and venison grilled on spits then slathered with chimichurri, a sauce made with parsley, oregano, garlic, oil and vinegar. Quinoa, likened to a hybrid of grass and cereal, eaten like rice, is a typical accompaniment. Heavy, protein laden dinners are a feat of endurance in both preparation and consumption. Meals can last for hours and Chilean cabernet, on par with French Bordeaux, enhances and accentuates local ingredients and is essential to the full South American flavor.

Soups and stews, usually made with meat, root vegetables, beans, and plantains, abound in the region and are the crux of South American cuisine. No discussion of South American stews would be complete without mentioning feijoada, the national dish of Brazil, which consists mainly of black beans, salted pork or beef, smoked pork ribs and jerked beef. It is usually served with rice along with sides of collard greens and roasted flour. These dishes, inspired by humility and frugality, cooked long and slow, lend themselves perfectly to the easy going, undemanding Latin American lifestyle.

-Chimichurri or any sauce made with aji, a Peruvian hot pepper is the most popular condiment in the region. It is used as a marinade for meats and as a sauce for dipping.

-Ham and cheese empanadas or corn cakes with cheese are commonly eaten for breakfast throughout most of the region.

Local Selections

Agora – Irvine

Green Field Churrascaria – various locations

Empanada’s Place – Costa Mesa

Africa is all about the sauce. Peri peri is one many sauces that makes African meals not only delicious and healthy but also quite aromatic. They smell nothing like what grandma used to make but they are no less wonderful. The sauce is primarily a chunky tomato base with meat (lamb, beef or chicken), vegetables and spices. A meal, created in almost any one of the five regions that makes up this massive continent, would consist of one of many sauces, sides, and starch. The starch portion is usually rice, cornmeal porridge, steamed cornmeal dumplings, or couscous.

It is lunch rather than dinner which is the biggest, most anticipated meal of the day that always brings the family together. Nearly every lunch offers a soup or stew cooked in a large pot and a meat cooked outdoors on an open fire pit, which is sure to appeal to any backyard grill master. If casseroles are your thing, then you’re in luck because everything that goes in the stew can just as easily be made into a casserole. So slap some spicy marinade on your meat, fire up your burners, throw in some veggies and faster than you can say, Nina njaa – “I’m hungry”, you’re dining like the Africans!

-Peri peri is the most popular condiment of Africa.

-Sour porridge eaten with bread is a typical breakfast dish for Africans

-Fruit or fruit salad are usually eaten for desert.

-Lake Malawi in southern Africa is home to about 500 different types of fish. That is more than any other lake in the world.

Local Selections

Mozambique Restaurant – Laguna Beach

Massawa East African Cuisine – Garden Grove

Tana Ethiopian Restaurant – Anaheim

The Middle East has a range of different countries including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Though the dining rituals may vary, there is a recurring pattern with the food. All of the foods consumed in the Middle East are very fresh and nutritious, a direct reflection of their resources. There are many foods the countries of the Middle East share such as rice, dried fruits, and flat breads.  The region offers some pretty amazing foods like; dolmas, stuffed grape leaves; Hummus made of blended chickpeas, sesame tahini, lemon juice, and garlic; Nanelavash a thin, flaky bread usually round or oval shaped, and the oldest known bread in the Middle East; Sabich, an Iraqi pita sandwich stuffed with eggplant, hard boiled eggs and tahini; and Baklava, a sweet Turkish pastry often served as dessert. These are just a few of many lovely dishes to originate in the Middle East. The cuisine from this region is excellent but the most important part of the meal is family. Families of the Middle East use meals as a time to get together and not only enjoy each other’s company but also enjoy fantastic food as well.

-Hummus is the most popular condiment of the region and is eaten by itself as a dip or spread on just about anything.

-Baklava, an iconic desert pastry, is made with layers of phyllo dough and chopped nuts then sweetened with honey or syrup.

-Ramadan is the most popular holiday of the Middle East where, after fasting, they eat camel meat. The Prophet Muhammed made this a popular tradition as he is said to have remarked “Nobody is of my family who does not eat the flesh of the camel.”

Local Selections

Caspian Restaurant – Irvine

Darya Restaurant – various locations

Kareem’s Restaurant - Anaheim

The Mediterranean diet consists of a fusion of regional influences including Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt and Lebanon. Staples include olive oil, whole grains, fish, lamb, legumes and buttery cheeses. Regional diners generally eat outside in mass gatherings including family members, neighbors and new acquaintances alike. Guests are invited to tour the kitchen’s daily produce and meat selections before choosing various menu items to ensure an exceptional, hand picked dining experience.

The most common Mediterranean breakfast dishes start with coffee paired with fresh fruit, yogurt or a hard, twice-baked biscuit known as a “rusk” lathered with honey and butter. Rusks or Milk toasts (paired with warm milk) are also used as a baby weaning food.

Greek Orthodox Lent requires patrons to abstain from animal meats and products including milk and eggs as well as olive oil and wine. At the end of this holiday large family meals are prepared, many including a “Mayiritsa,” a lamb-based soup prepared on the Holy Saturday before Easter Sunday. The soup consists of lemons, onions, romaine lettuce, miscellaneous parts of lamb and a light lemon-egg sauce.

Following the feast a typical Mediterranean dessert is served, one being a cream cake. This sponge cake is soaked overnight in a heavy cream, sugar and egg base that is later dusted and caramelized, similar to a crème brulee followed by a warm cup of coffee.

-Tzatziki is the region’s most popular condiment, consisting of strained yoghurt, pureed cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, dill, lemon juice and mint. This multi-use sauce is often served with souvlaki and gyros as well as fresh vegetables.

-Olives are the most common export of the region, accounting for over 95% of the world’s total production. The berries’ first extraction is said to have occurred in the 13th century when Grecian monks hand-squeezed small amounts of oil for fueling church oil lamps.

-Ouzo is the Mediterranean spirit of choice. Distilled with anise and a licorice-like after-taste, Ouzo is the base for most European cocktails and is often compared with the liquor absinthe in its effects.

Local Selections

Byblos Cafe Mediterranean Cuisine – Orange

Zovs Bistro & Bakery – various locations

Papadakis Taverna – San Pedro

George’s Greek Café – Long Beach

To most, Asian food represents the frenetic pace of Chinese woks, the meticulous nature of Japanese sushi, and plenty of sake. China and Japan, a part of Far East Asia, are merely the tip of the chopstick and in no way accurately portray how simple yet complex the flavors throughout the region actually are. Vietnam and Thailand, of Southeast Asia, are masterful at combining fresh herbs such as coriander, ginger, Thai basil, and lemongrass to make savory broths, sauces and curries. Central Asian cuisine is dominated by the distinctive spices of turmeric, cumin, coriander, and red pepper essential in creating the sumptuous and renowned Indian curries.

No matter what the region all meals are typically eaten in a similar fashion.  Rice is served with several sides of meats or vegetables accompanied by a soup, which is eaten with the main part of the meal and not served before. Asian cuisine offers much more diversity and depth of flavor than Chinese stir-frys and Japanese sushi bars. Though often neglected and overlooked the flavors of Southern and Southeast Asia will not be addled.

-Fish sauce is a very popular condiment of the region and is used in broths, stews and as a dipping sauce.

-Pho, Vietnamese broth with beef, fresh vegetables and herbs is a common breakfast dish in Southeast Asia.

-Desert usually consists of sweet rice puddings.

-Traditional holiday foods eaten around the Mid-Autumn festival in China are mooncakes. These sweets are usually made of mung bean or lotus seed paste.

-Asia is so heavily populated that it is claimed if every Asian were to walk past you in a single-file line, you would not live long enough to see the end of the line.

Local Selections

Hamamori – Costa Mesa

Egg Roll King – Various Locations

Royal Thai – various locations

Pho Bac - Irvine

Polynesia’s many islands are scattered over the central and Southern Pacific Ocean. The islands have constant tropical weather making it the perfect place to lounge, experience the beauty of the islands and festive culture that surrounds you. The Polynesian claims to fame are their fantastic feasts called Luaus. For Luaus a huge feast is prepared with the food slowly cooked in an underground oven called an “ahimaa.”  The ahimaa is lined with preheated volcanic rocks; next food such as pork, chicken, lobsters, potatoes and even yams are wrapped in banana leaves, layered in the oven, and then carefully covered with more leaves.  More hot stones are placed on top of the banana leaves and they are covered with earth and burlap bags to contain the heat within the oven.  The food steams in its own juices, and after several hours the oven is ceremoniously opened in front of everyone to see. The Polynesian feast is spread out on a tablecloth of palm fronds or banana leaves.  It is traditional to eat with your fingers and common to dip juicy pieces of roast pork, fish, breadfruit, taro, and other goodies into coconut cream sauce. Hours of Tahitian dancing, music and drinks follow the feast. Luaus are meant to bring family and friends together and these huge celebrations are the Polynesian people’s way of enjoying life and all that life has to give.

-Soy sauce is a well known condiment of the region but a lesser known condiment, inamona, is also used. Inamona is made of algae, sea salt and mashed nuts and is used to flavor bland root vegetables such as taro.

-Breakfast usually consists of lots of fresh fruit, coconut milk, coconut shavings and sometimes po’e.

-Po’e, a typical creamy pudding-like desert of the islands, is usually made from Haupia coconuts and can be flavored with bananas and pineapples.

-Breakfast usually consists of lots of fresh fruit, coconut milk, coconut shavings and sometimes po’e.

-Large feasts, luaus, are common rituals for special occasions and holidays.

Local Selections
Roy’s – various locations

Don the Beach Comber – Huntington Beach

Aloha Grill – various locations

America’s reputation for hamburgers, hot dogs and fast food sometimes takes a beating from other parts of the world who feel their cuisine is more sophisticated. While a burger may not be the inspiration for the next four- star restaurant on the peninsula or represent trendy haute cuisine, what it does represent is America’s ability to take a foreign concept, like the Hamburg steak from Germany, and reinvent it as a truly American staple. Hot dogs, apple pie and pizza are all as American as Miss Liberty herself and have found a home in America despite having origins in other parts of the world just as Miss Liberty is of French origin. There is no shame in our perceived stereotypical foods.  We should be proud as they demonstrate creativity and ingenuity on the part of our ancestors and contemporaries by borrowing ideas and making them agree with American palates.  Enjoy Philly cheese steaks, funnel cakes, corn dogs, Buffalo wings and clam chowder for their comfort and taste but be proud of them at the same time.

-Salsa, soy sauce and ketchup are the most popular condiments.

-Pancakes or flap jacks are common breakfast fare

-The banana split is the desert of choice for Americans.

-Holiday cuisine usually consists of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing and gravy.

-California’s Frank Epperson invented the Popsicle in 1905 when he was just 11 years old.

Local Selections

McKenna’s on the Bay – Long Beach

Smokin’ Mo’s BBQ – Huntington Beach

Salt Creek Grill – various locations

Daily grill – Various Locations

America is the melting pot of the world and nothing portrays that fact any better than the diverse, globally inspired flavors that we consume. Traditional European styles of preparation such as French and Italian as well as Asian techniques are used with fresh local ingredients to create American fusion cuisines. These hybrid tastes and cuisines have taken on their own personae in America. So the next time you plan a dinner or decide to go out to eat, be adventurous and let the heady aromas of Thai and Vietnamese cuisine or the pungent curries of India waft to mind.

European Local Selections

Anaheim White House – Anaheim

The Olde Ship – various locations

Pascal Restaurant – Newport Beach