Tasting Travel - One Bite at a Time
There are many, many ways to travel that don't involve hopping on a plane, train, boat or car. I am a big fan of taking a 'vacation' in my home town. Finding hidden neighborhoods, visiting small local shops that I take for granted, or dining in restaurants I never really knew were there. Travel shouldn't require you to pack bags and take time off from work.
This week, I did my favorite kind of local 'traveling' - something I like to call Tasting Travel. Visiting small ethnic restaurants that serve 'exotic' food from around the world, allows you, even if for just one meal, to travel the world by taste. Who would have thought that my town would offer such a rich variety of international dining options: Thai, Polish, Nepalese, Japanese, Czech, Mexican, German, Tibetan, Italian, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Korean and so much more. A visit to adjacent towns expands this list to United Nations proportions.
The Travel Gal and I do have one favorite international cuisine, to which we return at least once per month: Ethiopian. We are very fortunate to have ten or so Ethiopian restaurants within a 30 minute drive, and with our good friends, we have visted them all at least once (and returned to some several times), and have recently started to grade them and compile our favorites. It has even got to the point that we now buy raw Ethiopian coffee, and roast it ourselves at home.
Visiting an Ethiopian Restaurant is almost a religious experience for us. Large communal platters that contain small, neaty arranged piles of richly spiced lentils and a full array of vegetables (when dining Ethiopian, we always go veg!). Baskets of injera - the round, somewhat sour, hoppy, spongy bread. A crowd of local Ethiopians dining nearby or sitting at the bar, wondering why we are so excited.
When eating Ethiopian food, silverware is untensa-non-grata. Grab a small piece of injera and use it to pick up your food. Tradition holds that you only use your right hand to eat. Our favorite dish has to be Mesir Wat, which is red lentils cooked with the very traditional Berbere spice mixture. We have lovingly come to refer to it as 'red shit', as in "That red shit rocks!". Green lentils, garbanzo beans, collard greens, cabbage and potatoes, and slices of jalapeno all sit in small piles on the platter, atop one piece of injera. While we so appreciate the communal nature of this type of dining, we do often become very petty and provincial, wanting to protect our little piles of food from each other. And, after finishing our own small piles of spicy goodness, we are left with the injera at the bottom of the platter, which has almost lovingly absorbed all of the wonderful flavours of the rich stews onto which they were placed. After dinner, an Ethiopian coffee ceremony that brings us both a taste of their culture, and a taste of the finest coffee we have ever enjoyed.
Last night, we arranged to take our friends to an Ethiopian cooking class at a locally owned cafe. There, we learned the secrets behind some of those dishes that bring us so much joy. Going in, we had a vision of complex recipes, with loads of exotic ingredients, requiring a lot of skill, technique, and patience. Sitting at the communal table, enjoying a glass of wine, we were handed our aprons and our menus/recipes. Aha! Menu items that we were hoping to find. But what is this? I know these ingredients! And, these instructions are, dare I say, easy!
Less than ninety minutes after cutting into my first onion, I sat down to an Ethiopian feast, prepared from scratch. And, had we not spent so much time talking and debating our favorite dishes and local restaurants, it would have been ready much sooner. For a few hours, on a Tuesday afternoon, we were transported to a different world, one with exotic spices, ancient flavours, and rich cooking traditions. While learning these recipes may have taken a small bit of the mystique out of them, we know that when we make these dishes in the future, we will do so with the care and love they deserve.
(This is what we made in class) (This is from one of our favorite restaurants)
While Ethiopia remains near the top of our "Next to be Visited" list, we can take solace that, for at least a couple of hours, we can visit one of our nearby favorite restaurants and immerse ourselves in the sounds, smells, tastes, and 'feel' of Ethiopia. The culture and history of a place and its people can so often be found in its food. For food tells stories. And, this food and these stories truly do take us away.
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