Borsht! Starting with that Poles and Ukrainians fight about it (maybe some Russians or someone else, idk), there are two huge camps of enemies: ones make it with beetroot, others with tomato.
Even within one country you're not safe from variations of an item called the same name!
In Athens, "bougatsa" is a sort of cream in phyllo pastry. Great street food and I liked to get some when I wanted something sweet to go. It's usually baked in a rectangle and then cut in half: [==| |==] so you get one that's open at one end.
The first time ordered a bougatsa in Thessaloniki, they asked me whether I wanted it with cream or cheese. Huh? I thought. Well, with cream, of course! It's a bougatsa! Then they took the cream bougatsa and cut it up into lots of little pieces and sprinkled confectioner's sugar on top. What are they doing to my lovely bougatsa?
Conversely, if I had lived in Thess first, I would probably have thought the Athenians did weird things to their bougatsa....
Everyone knows it were the vikings who invented it. And its true, because its totally logical: They hung the noodles together with the fish to dry. If you had "runny" dough you got Spaghetti, if it was very windy the noddles would curl up to Spirelli, and so on.
Not a food, but I've discovered that the inventors of Salsa (the dance) is whatever nationality the teacher is (or has ancestry in) except for the Dominican Republic. They're fine with creating merengue. So I've been in classes taught by Cubans, Venezuelans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Colombians, and Nuyoricans (Puerto Ricans living in New York). They all invented Salsa. It's amazing.
Next: Hummus.
ReplyDeleteBorsht! Starting with that Poles and Ukrainians fight about it (maybe some Russians or someone else, idk), there are two huge camps of enemies: ones make it with beetroot, others with tomato.
ReplyDeleteА ти наш буряк у свій томатний суп не кидай.
DeleteWait, who makes it with tomato? Tomato is a New World vegetable (or fruit), so it can't possibly be the authentic way.
Delete*Homer Simpson voice*
ReplyDeleteMmmm...baklava
Yes! Seems like all the food in the Balkans are like this! 🤣😂
ReplyDeleteEven within one country you're not safe from variations of an item called the same name!
DeleteIn Athens, "bougatsa" is a sort of cream in phyllo pastry. Great street food and I liked to get some when I wanted something sweet to go. It's usually baked in a rectangle and then cut in half: [==| |==] so you get one that's open at one end.
The first time ordered a bougatsa in Thessaloniki, they asked me whether I wanted it with cream or cheese. Huh? I thought. Well, with cream, of course! It's a bougatsa! Then they took the cream bougatsa and cut it up into lots of little pieces and sprinkled confectioner's sugar on top. What are they doing to my lovely bougatsa?
Conversely, if I had lived in Thess first, I would probably have thought the Athenians did weird things to their bougatsa....
Next: Noodles
ReplyDeleteChina, Middle East and the Mediterranean all claim invention
Everyone knows it were the vikings who invented it. And its true, because its totally logical: They hung the noodles together with the fish to dry. If you had "runny" dough you got Spaghetti, if it was very windy the noddles would curl up to Spirelli, and so on.
DeleteOh, come on! Everyone knows spaghetti grows on trees in Switzerland.
DeleteWhoever created it, it's delicious. ^.^
ReplyDeleteja ja ja like pavlova in NZ and OZ.
ReplyDeleteobviously, it's a NZ thing
DeleteNot a food, but I've discovered that the inventors of Salsa (the dance) is whatever nationality the teacher is (or has ancestry in) except for the Dominican Republic. They're fine with creating merengue. So I've been in classes taught by Cubans, Venezuelans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Colombians, and Nuyoricans (Puerto Ricans living in New York). They all invented Salsa. It's amazing.
ReplyDeleteFascinating
ReplyDelete