“Have you ever tried Indian food?” He was standing at the stove in my kitchen and, like many of my young, male, Indian tenants before him, was cooking from the pot he’d brought with him, using the ingredients he’d brought with him, his entire family’s specter standing behind him making sure he used the correct tomatoes.
When I moved to London in my early 20s, I could make spaghetti, pizza, sloppy joes and not much else. My first cookbook was Claudia Roden's Book of Middle Eastern Food. I needed home cooking. My friends would ask about American Food. I had no idea since what my US based relatives ate pretty much the same food as the English. I finally settled on a menu of New England clam chowder subbing mussels for the clams, cornbread, and salad.
Sep 13, 2023·edited Sep 13, 2023Liked by Marjie Alonso
Loved the humor and everyday-ness of this piece, though it represents something much bigger. I can hear you advising them😀.
We used to finance our summer vacations by renting the former maid’s room to Columbia University students. I preferred males because they didn’t cook and the stayed in the lab or library most the time. But when they did cook, the odors of Chinese food, not always pleasant, filled the apartment.
One evening, our boarder said to me how much he enjoyed hearing me discuss my son’s homework with him. When he was a little older than my son and he’d come home with a 97 on a test, the highest grade in the class, his parents rapped his knuckles with a ruler. He also whipped us in ping pong. And my son and I played well.
Lots of unobserved, unintentional cross cultural interactions with our boarders. Good vacations too.
I was fortunate to try curried chicken the first time in Singapore, on the Navy's dime. I had to watch the locals (maybe locals), to see how they combined the white rice and chicken with sauce. I thought, how have I never had this?! Totally a fan!
Props to you for hosting these young geniuses. Our place is too small to do the same. It's definitely fascinating to consider the origins and rituals around food.
I will stick my neck out a little and say that, while macaroni and cheese might be Italian in origin, it's probably the most "American" of foods.
We had a third floor for people from other countries also. They would stay for a month, a year or several years. They ate the meals my grandfather cooked nightly. Mostly they stayed to teach my grandparents their home languages and to fix up the house. It made growing up in Seagate quite interesting.
I don't know. I'm tempted to classify American Cheese food, anything called yogurt that has pectin in it, breakfast cereal (that isn't muesli)), and cola "American food."
Any other country would deport you for accusing it of inventing them.
I just can't wait for a new piece of string. This one tickled my nose. I can smell the indian spices and the rice cooking (rice does smell, you know). Mmmmmmmm. Thank you.
I remember all of them well!
I’m laughing about FG and the Criminal Minds theory!
Yet our Japanese FG traveled to Iceland and other places without blinking!
The croissant memory is hilarious!
I left in the morning to a full Costco box of croissants and returned to next to nothing!
I’m dying laughing at these memories!
When I moved to London in my early 20s, I could make spaghetti, pizza, sloppy joes and not much else. My first cookbook was Claudia Roden's Book of Middle Eastern Food. I needed home cooking. My friends would ask about American Food. I had no idea since what my US based relatives ate pretty much the same food as the English. I finally settled on a menu of New England clam chowder subbing mussels for the clams, cornbread, and salad.
Loved the humor and everyday-ness of this piece, though it represents something much bigger. I can hear you advising them😀.
We used to finance our summer vacations by renting the former maid’s room to Columbia University students. I preferred males because they didn’t cook and the stayed in the lab or library most the time. But when they did cook, the odors of Chinese food, not always pleasant, filled the apartment.
One evening, our boarder said to me how much he enjoyed hearing me discuss my son’s homework with him. When he was a little older than my son and he’d come home with a 97 on a test, the highest grade in the class, his parents rapped his knuckles with a ruler. He also whipped us in ping pong. And my son and I played well.
Lots of unobserved, unintentional cross cultural interactions with our boarders. Good vacations too.
I was fortunate to try curried chicken the first time in Singapore, on the Navy's dime. I had to watch the locals (maybe locals), to see how they combined the white rice and chicken with sauce. I thought, how have I never had this?! Totally a fan!
Props to you for hosting these young geniuses. Our place is too small to do the same. It's definitely fascinating to consider the origins and rituals around food.
I will stick my neck out a little and say that, while macaroni and cheese might be Italian in origin, it's probably the most "American" of foods.
This was fun!
We had a third floor for people from other countries also. They would stay for a month, a year or several years. They ate the meals my grandfather cooked nightly. Mostly they stayed to teach my grandparents their home languages and to fix up the house. It made growing up in Seagate quite interesting.
I don't know. I'm tempted to classify American Cheese food, anything called yogurt that has pectin in it, breakfast cereal (that isn't muesli)), and cola "American food."
Any other country would deport you for accusing it of inventing them.
I just can't wait for a new piece of string. This one tickled my nose. I can smell the indian spices and the rice cooking (rice does smell, you know). Mmmmmmmm. Thank you.
Fabulous, Marjie!!!!!
"He turned to his onions, silent...." Love this! Another great one.