The Romance of Food
"this is the best chai in all of Dubai"
my best memories in life have come from experiences like this, a friend or family member who's a native of a city or region, taking me on a food journey of their favorite places. it becomes such a sensory experience once they proclaim their best.
to me, it's about…
the anticipation of a magical experience of taste and smell.
the build up of "you should get this dish from this place" on the way there.
the stories told around the table with good company.
and of course, the dancing of flavors on the tongue.
this is the romance of food.
Ever since I've realized this experience is so visceral to me, I've been chasing it ever since. Food is such a simple pleasure and has continued to evolve over time as we discover new flavors, travel, technology, and accessibility of food grows. Food represents history, culture, people, geography, art, and sustenance. Food was also the first luxury for people, once we had a surplus of food we could produce beyond survival, societies began to thrive and specialty ingredients or meats were reserved for special occasions or rituals.
Especially in the modern age, we take for granted the foods which were once delicacies only served during special events, when certain crop was in season, or not even grown within the region! I'm reminded of my uncle from India talking about how 'when [he] was a kid, we looked forward to going to weddings because that was the only time you could get Chicken Biryani, now with a tap of a button on your phone, you can get it to your door. Honestly because of that, it even tasted better back in the day!' This is even biologically true, as our anticipation for the food spikes the dopamine moreso than the actual fulfillment of it (thanks Atomic Habits by James Clear). Personally, I'm happy I get to explore and experience all of these foods, but I will say I think trying to incorporate some of that anticipation makes it more pleasurable.
However, this also opens up a wide range of new foods as well, which we're seeing more and more often with globalization. As we become familiar with foods from across the globe, we continue to experiment as our ancestors did with food. Generations ago it was messing around with ingredient ratios and temperatures versus today it's mixing flavors and tastes newly available to us (indo-chinese! korean soul! chinese american!) and these are just fusion cuisines, not even mentioning taking foods native in a certain region and using it in new dishes.
It's amazing the rich history food has and even how recent some foods commonly consumed are! For example, my brother recently got an espresso machine for our apartment and we started to dig into the history of the drink. Did you know espresso actually originated in the late 1800s by the French? It was patented then, but was never actually build/used until later in the early 1900s when a few Italians refined the design and created a machine to make traditional cups of coffee faster. However, modern espresso we know and love today (the ones in the 2oz tiny cups used to make lattes, cappuccinos, etc) was only created in 1948! Less than 100 years of a style of coffee found in nearly every bougie coffee shop! Even in the last 15-20 years, how espresso is brewed and served has changed dramatically as we begin to fine tune taste, look, and even the tools that go in to it.
Here's a few videos that go into it.
Or how about a Thai restaurant staple beloved around the world? Ever heard of Pad Thai? You know, that sweet, sour, salty noodle dish that weighs a pound or two feeding you for 2-3 meals (or one hungry athlete) for about $10? Surely that dish was passed across generations in Thailand! Well actually, it was purely a dish invented by propaganda and derived from Chinese rice imports from the 1930s. Invented out of necessity to unite a nation with a lack of cultural identity, and to brace a country from impending imperialist invasion with a cheap ingredient of noodles, turning it into a staple the citizens could survive off of in case of war. The government upheld this propaganda by distributing recipes for Pad Thai and preventing Chinese people from serving it street side. And…. it worked! The Pad Thai we know and love has disseminated itself across the globe as a distinctly Thai dish.
More here...
I continue to chase this romance of food not only for the sake of a pleasurable experience, but to explore the depths the world has to offer. It truly is a learning experience as once you allow a restaurant or friend take you through a journey of flavor through a dish, questions naturally pop up of how such an amazing experience was crafted. Whether it's a centuries old dish cultivated through regionally native ingredients, a new drink made possible with modern machines and technology, or a full-blown propaganda movement to sustain a nation, every dish has it's story and will continue to evolve as we learn more on a millennia long journey to creating new tastes.