# Foreign food habits you've imported **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041 "2020-04-18T10:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/21 "2020-04-18T20:41:09Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I make a variation of bibimbap at home, usually for lunch – white rice, grated raw veggies, a fried egg, and Korean chili sauce. I always expect that dish to be a sandwich. UK dopers will know exactly why, but I’m sort of curious who else will… ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/22 "2020-04-18T20:45:58Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I dislike the taste. Perhaps cilantro. > … I’m not wild about oregano, but I hate cilantro. Usually, if I don’t like a spice in a food I’m cooking, can I just leave it out. Most things work fine that way. But if you feel a dish needs -something- that oregano might have given it, maybe try dill, or mint, or basil, or celery, depending on what role the oregano served. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/23 "2020-04-18T21:22:54Z")
Another couple of imports to _Casa Silenus_ are [migas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migas) and [chilaquiles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilaquiles). So many delicious way to use up leftovers from last night’s party. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/24 "2020-04-18T21:23:49Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Ever since I first traveled to Guatemala in the 1970s one of my favorite breakfasts has been black beans and rice with a fried egg on top and a little hot sauce. I remember that being served at the hotel our team stayed at in Guatemala City in 1976. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/25 "2020-04-18T21:26:50Z")
My parents were immigrants, so a lot of the stuff I do that’s “foreign” is stuff I’ve grown up with, but I do pick up things occasionally— Milky tea with biscuits (cookies) in the afternoon—the best cookies for these are ones that are relatively dry, crisp, and a lot less sweet than most American cookies, so something like Marie biscuits — [Marie biscuit - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_biscuit) — usually it’s without the biscuits these days anyway Indian-style French toast — this is a savory dish, nothing sweet goes in it — bread dipped in a mixture of eggs, chopped chilis, salt, onions — garnished with fresh cilantro leaves and served with ketchup. It’s also completely pan fried; it never goes into the oven. Japanese-style cold-washed buckwheat noodles — [Soba - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soba) — I was making these regularly for a while Marmite —I keep a jar around usually and occasionally spread on toast, but I don’t eat much bread these days Cheese and charcuterie plate —our at-home special occasion dinners are often bits of imported cheese and preserved meats (bresaola, prosciutto, mortadella), terrines, pâtés, with olives, cornichons, nuts, dried fruit, etc. We assemble these ourselves. We usually keep bits of imported Italian, French, German, and English cheeses at home. If we had more reliable sources of fresh fish, we would make more sashimi and ceviche at home ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/26 "2020-04-18T22:46:34Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > Grew up with a Brit mom and Canadian Dad. I don’t know where my food tastes come from honestly but I Love spices! My killer dishes are Chicken Tikka Masala, Chile con Carne, General Tso chicken, scratch Alfredo and Carbonara sauces, Tomatillo salsa with smoke and roasted Habaneros. I can also make a great Pad Thai, and Pho. There hasn’t been too many foods or food cultures I haven’t stolen something from. Right now I have a serious addiction issue with shichimi togareshi spice blend. It is amaze balls on buttered popcorn! > > I love mangoes as well and I can squarely blame Seinfeld for that. I saw the episode where Kramer goes to the fruit stand and bought one later that week. Been hooked ever since. Also, mangosteens and **avocados**. A lot of the foods mentioned here are things I don’t even think of “foreign.” I have friends from the ethnicities the foods come from, so, it’s just everyday food to me and things I’ve eaten all my life. I highlighted the avocados, because that is something that mom never had growing up in Ohio. She moved to California in 1943 or 44, and she wanted to try one. She’d been taught to get fruit and vegetables that were nice and firm. She couldn’t understand why anybody would eat them. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/27 "2020-04-18T23:10:31Z")
A glass of _limoncello_ after an Italian-oid dinner. _Maize_ corn tortilla to scoop food against a utensil and sop-up a plate. Cheating - substitute pineapple sausage for Spam in a bento meal. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/28 "2020-04-18T23:11:48Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Indian-style French toast — this is a savory dish, nothing sweet goes in it — bread dipped in a mixture of eggs, chopped chilis, salt, onions — garnished with fresh cilantro leaves and served with ketchup. It’s also completely pan fried; it never goes into the oven. > > Marmite —I keep a jar around usually and occasionally spread on toast, but I don’t eat much bread these days. I suggest a simplified combination of the above ideas. I had no idea French Toast ever went in the oven, incidentally: in my experience it goes in a frying pan and in my face. It’s “eggy bread” to me - and numerous compatriots - and is a savoury dish of much simpler construction. Eggs, salt and pepper, soaked into bread, fried. This isn’t something I picked up overseas - my ex in North Wales introduced me to it and really, I can’t swing that as ‘foreign’ for the purposes of this thread - but eggy bread is best served spread with Marmite. Another North Wales acquaintance advocated seasoning the eggs with Marmite prior to bread-immersion. Prior to this, I was in the habit of smearing it with brown sauce - something in which I do still indulge, though less routinely. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/29 "2020-04-18T23:13:36Z")
I got hooked on Marmite when I was living in the UK in 1976–77. I was also introduced to tinned bully beef (yes, I actually call it that) at the same time. I also came to love pub grub (cheese on baps with onion or Branston’s pickle; chicken on baps with mushrooms ; steak and kidney pie; Jock pies; Cornish pasties). There are import shops around Toronto where I go two or three times a year to stock up on stuff like this, including mealy sausages, black and white pudding, non-streaky bacon and the like. I also acquired a taste for those horrid mystery-meat canned “hamburgers” sold from steam carts by street vendors. Not at all _haute cuisine_, but nothing else is available walking home from the pub in the rain after midnight. Vegemite is okay, but I don’t see it around as often as I do Marmite. On my first trip to the USSR in 1975, I was introduced to _okroshka_, a cold soup made with \*kvas \*(near beer made from rye bread), in Latvia (even though it’s a Russian dish). Very refreshing in the summertime, as is the \*kvas \*itself. I always buy a bottle or two when I go shopping, whether in Russia or Canada. In Moscow, my group went for a dinner at the Uzekistan (reservations required) where we had huge lamb dumplings served in deep bowls with a spicy broth. Can’t think of what they were called, though. I sometimes make a version of this using _pelmeni_ (Siberian meat dumplings) that’s almost as good. One reason why I look forward to going back to Moscow twice a year is because I can have deep-fried _pirozhki_ and \*belyashi \*(little meat pies). Greasy as hell, but I prefer them to the baked kind. If I’m not mistaken, the kind of sour cream you get is determined by the bacterial culture used to make it. Which is why Russian \*smetana \* differs from the stuff sold in the US (and Canada). Even though we’re not Jewish, my dad (first generation Hungarian-American) always bought a kosher brand of sour cream that I would swear had horseradish in it. I’ve never been able to find this on my own. (I was born and raised in Minnesota.) In Czechoslovakia (as it was then called), tartar sauce with french fries/chips is a thing. I immediately acquired a taste for it, along with a mug of dark beer from the local brewery (every town there has one). My daughter (born in Moscow) loves french fries and tartar sauce too. When she was little, I’d take her to McDonald’s every Sunday after church for a Filet-O-Fish. Even before she could talk, she would take the sandwich apart and very carefully put a layer of french fries over the fish. Then she’d reassemble the sandwich and eat it. Any tartar sauce left clinging to the wrapper she would scrape off with more french fries. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/30 "2020-04-18T23:38:26Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > I can’t swing that as ‘foreign’ for the purposes of this thread - but eggy bread is best served spread with Marmite. Another North Wales acquaintance advocated seasoning the eggs with Marmite prior to bread-immersion. > > Prior to this, I was in the habit of smearing it with brown sauce - something in which I do still indulge, though less routinely. To an American, “French toast” is fried eggy bread served for breakfast with maple syrup and butter. Like pancakes and waffles, it’s best served with bacon or breakfast sausages (ground pork seasoned with sage and cloves). You can tweak the recipe for the toast a bit by adding nutmeg, cinnamon, or other spices to the egg. You can also serve the toast lightly dusted with powdered sugar and lemon juice instead of syrup. In language school, one of my professors (a Russian) refused to eat French toast sweet. He would always have it with a slice each of ham and cheese on top (no syrup or sugar). (The above reminds me of a Canadian guy who opened a waffle shop in Cambridge (England) when I was living there. He served them with melted cheese and ham, along with other savory toppings. Up to then, I had known waffles only as breakfast food served with maple syrup or (Belgain-style) fruit and whipped cream.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/31 "2020-04-18T23:44:32Z")
Sounds like they were making half-assed Monte Cristos. **YP** - HP or Daddies? I have both in the fridge. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/32 "2020-04-18T23:45:20Z")
**Belgian** -style, not “Belgain,” dammit! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/33 "2020-04-19T00:02:47Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > To an American, “French toast” is fried eggy bread served for breakfast with maple syrup and butter. Like pancakes and waffles, it’s best served with bacon or breakfast sausages (ground pork seasoned with sage and cloves). > > You can tweak the recipe for the toast a bit by adding nutmeg, cinnamon, or other spices to the egg. You can also serve the toast lightly dusted with powdered sugar and lemon juice instead of syrup. > > In language school, one of my professors (a Russian) refused to eat French toast sweet. He would always have it with a slice each of ham and cheese on top (no syrup or sugar). > > (The above reminds me of a Canadian guy who opened a waffle shop in Cambridge (England) when I was living there. He served them with melted cheese and ham, along with other savory toppings. Up to then, I had known waffles only as breakfast food served with maple syrup or (Belgain-style) fruit and whipped cream.) I’m pretty au fait with the American format nowadays, but growing up I knew it exclusively as a savoury thing. A friend at university (Australian family, English childhood, German teens) knew it as something to have with honey, which was the first I’d heard of its possibly being sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/34 "2020-04-19T00:19:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > To an American, “French toast” is fried eggy bread served for breakfast with maple syrup and butter. Like pancakes and waffles, it’s best served with bacon or breakfast sausages (ground pork seasoned with sage and cloves). > > You can tweak the recipe for the toast a bit by adding nutmeg, cinnamon, or other spices to the egg. You can also serve the toast lightly dusted with powdered sugar and lemon juice instead of syrup. It also often is made with some kind of dairy component, and often is finished in the oven rather than on the stovetop. This is Martha Stewart’s “classic French toast” recipe, for example — [Classic French Toast Recipe (With Video and Step by Step)](https://www.marthastewart.com/333918/classic-french-toast) It’s made with cream or milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and it’s finished in the oven. > [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > I’m pretty au fait with the American format nowadays, but growing up I knew it exclusively as a savoury thing. A friend at university (Australian family, English childhood, German teens) knew it as something to have with honey, which was the first I’d heard of its possibly being sweet. If I’m forced to eat sweetened French toast, I’ll dip it in ketchup. I refuse to let any syrup or powdered sugar near it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/35 "2020-04-19T00:32:37Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It also often is made with some kind of dairy component, and often is finished in the oven rather than on the stovetop. > > This is Martha Stewart’s “classic French toast” recipe, for example — [Classic French Toast Recipe (With Video and Step by Step)](https://www.marthastewart.com/333918/classic-french-toast) > > It’s made with cream or milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and it’s finished in the oven. Yes, with milk or cream beaten in with the eggs. I’ll have to try it in the oven sometime. I’ve always just fried mine in a little butter. Some fast-food places deep-fry the toast. Not bad at all. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/36 "2020-04-19T00:44:28Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **YP** - HP or Daddies? I have both in the fridge. HP, HP and thrice HP. Mine lives in a cupboard, but let’s not fall out over that… ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/37 "2020-04-19T01:17:41Z")
Mayo with fries, too, or vinegar with fries. Or vinegar on potato chips. And malt vinegar on fish, although this might already be American, I first learnt it in Ontario. I’ve lived in a lot of places, so I’m not sure what I’ve acquired from them versus what I’ve already done. One tends to lose track. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/38 "2020-04-19T01:21:56Z")
I learned about vinegar on french fries from my Canadian cousins. I now love salt and vinegar potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/39 "2020-04-19T01:54:49Z")
In the UK, asking if you want salt and vinegar on your chips is as common as asking if you want milk and sugar in your coffee. I’ve spent a lot of time in Canada and never noticed it was a thing there…but then again, if it’s normal it’s normal. Why would I notice? ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041/40 "2020-04-19T02:03:21Z")
My body is 60% steamed noodles in pho-style broth with mixed veggies. This is all I make anymore. I’m an addict with a problem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-food-habits-youve-imported/852041.md?page=3)