I’m a fan of the CIA. The Culinary Institute of America has always made great cookbooks, and Street Foods is no exception. They offer popular recipes from all over the world. And lists of “typical ingredients” for many regions. No doubt they know their stuff, but a few ingredients they consider typical just might not be that typical. For example, goat is a prominent thing in Jamaica or India… they list it as typical of Mexican cuisine - when in fact it is not particularly common from what I’ve seen. You can get it, sure, but I’d bet most people don’t.
It made me wonder about some of their other lists. Unless asked, I won’t write out every item, just the ones which surprised me even if they may be so. Those include:
Chinese kitchen: water lily buds, gluten, water chestnut starch, bean starch sheets
Japanese: ginkgo nuts, sansho, kinome, persimmons
Korean: mugwort, millet
Vietnam: lotus root
Greek: quince, pomegranates
Mideast: camel
North Africa: pigeon
Spanish: salt cod
French: harissa
Italy: chickpea flour
Europe: juniper
Midwest US: grapes
NorthEast US: cranberries
South US: dark roux, cooking greens, file
SouthWest US: jicama, cactus, organ meats
NorthWest US: fiddlehead ferns
Mexico: squash blossoms, goat
Again, I’m not saying I’ve never seen these things. Just surprised to see them on a short 25 item list of “most typical” foods.
But the CIA is prob’ly usually right. Your thoughts?
As far as I can tell, those are sort of like ‘signature’ ingredients not “typical” ingredients.
In the US South/Southwest, most of the ingredients listed are ones that are more or less unique to those cuisines, but they’re not what I’d call “typical” either. I mean, dark roux and file are kind of signature Cajun/Creole ingredients, with file being primarily known for being a gumbo thickener. Greens are definitely Southern, but it’s more of a specific dish than an ingredient. And I’m a little perplexed by the SW US list- organ meats? Jicama? Cactus I can see in the form of nopalitos, but unless you’re Mexican/Mexican-American, they’re not common at all, and are even hard to find in restaurants.
Remember that this list has been pared down — it only includes ingredients the OP found puzzling/odd! That threw me for a good minute as I examined it. It should look pretty weird!
On goat in Mexican food: I’d guess it’s way more common in (parts of?) Mexico than in US Mexican restaurants?
I keep looking for a place that serves goat birria (kind of a stewy, slow-cooked meat used for all the things you put meat in in Mexican food), which is the way you’re “supposed” to make it, but everybody around here uses beef. Which is fine and delicious. One place in Torrance apparently used to have it, but not during Covid — pared down menus and all that.
Oh well — my wife would never stop making little baby goat noises at me if she knew I’d had a goat birria taco.
Goat cheese is much more popular than goat in the many areas of Mexico I have seen. Not really seen it much at Mexican grocery stores or restaurants. I’m sure some taquerias and butcher shops have it. I doubt most kitchens do.
Any list you want me to expand, I will. Most of them are pretty commonplace items. I can’t think of any Chinese dish I’ve made calling for water lily. Lots of regional cuisines there, to be sure. The only list I did not have any odd items on was the Caribbean list, whose ingredients I saw everywhere in Jamaica despite being less popular elsewhere.
I learned of pomegranates by way of Greek mythology long before I ever tasted a pomegranate so that one doesn’t seem wrong. I do more closely associate them with Levant and Persia and areas we’d call Middle Eastern today, though.
I’ve heard it said that the further north in the US you get, the Mexican population is from further south. It’s not perfect but it does seem there’s something to it. Mexican Americans from Texas and California tend to have roots in areas closer to the border. Here in Chicago, Michoacan (especially), Guerrero & Jalisco are heavily represented with some other people from DF, Veracruz, Yucatan/QR, Oaxaca & Puebla. Goat (or chiva) is readily available here.
water lily buds: My wife uses lily root occasionally (as a typical root vegetable) and lily bulbs less frequently (in soups). If lily buds is referring to something else, I’m not familiar with it gluten: This is kind of a vague term (wheat gluten? rice gluten?). My wife regularly uses glutinous rice for congee, glutinous rice flour is used in a lot of desserts, and “gluten balls” are one of my favourite ingredients in hot pot. water chestnut starch: I’ve only ever heard this referred to as water chestnut flour. I don’t think my wife uses it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we had some sitting in a cupboard somewhere. bean starch sheets: My wife uses these regularly (e.g. cut into strips as pseudo-noodles in hot pot).
With regards to Japanese persimmons, fuyu persimmons are very popular in Asian grocery stores when they’re in season.
Yeah, as said above, here in Chicago goat is reasonably common. I could buy it at my local grocery store (which is in a Hispanic neighborhood), and there is a restaurant down the straight that serves goat in Jaliscan style birria (they pretty much only sell two things: goat and quesadillas made from their handmade corn tortillas). You generally do need to go to a restaurant that specializes in goat to find it, though. It’s not at most tacquerias or anything like that.
Squash blossoms are very commonly seen in the (Hispanic-targeted) grocery store around here, as well – both fresh and canned. Any place specializing in quesadillas will generally have a squash blossom variant on the menu.
Those are some of the typical ingredients in a region, for some rather loose definition of typical. I don’t know if ‘typical’ can be modified by ‘more’ or ‘less’, but I would call these less typical than some other ingredients in a region.
Also, the large list should have had bullets for each sublist. The sublists should have used a dash or other separator instead of a colon. I would have used initial capitalization for the names of the ingredients, or highlighted them in some other way. Perhaps the OP did not include all the formatting used in the book.
You haven’t seen the whole list. I have seen squash and cactus at Mexican markets and grocers. It’s just that there are dozens of foods that seem more popular there. A brief list of more popular ingredients would include chicharrones, corn, salsas (verde, Valentina, etc), beans, fresh cheese, flan, crema, churros, oregano, tripe, eggs, tequila, michelada, arrachera, etc.
Cabrito is not terribly uncommon here (Texas), although it’s primarily found in places catering to Mexican/Mexican-American clientele. It’s basically grilled/barbecued goat kid.
I don’t know… the whole “typical” vs. “common” vs. “signature” is what’s hanging me up. I mean “typical” would be things that are defining, “common” would be things found in many if not most dishes, and “signature” would be things that are unique either overall, or in the way they’re used.
For example, a “common” ingredient in Mexican cooking would be onions or beef, a “typical” ingredient would be serrano chiles or dried ancho chiles, and a “signature” ingredient might be huitlacoche or cabrito.
I’ve had them before; they are also popular in Maritime Canadian cuisine. You can cook them up as a side vegetable, just like you’d do with peas; or you could use them in salads. They’re rather tasty.