I took a visiting Pakistani friend to an upscalish seafood and steak restaurant. The waiter looked extremely pained, but somehow found a bottle of some hot sauce in the kitchen (a 3-4 ounce bottle). My friend emptied the entire thing onto his grilled swordfish.
He said the fish as served was tasteless. This is a guy who travels extensively as a high ranking executive of a multinational bank (or did at the time). He says unless he is dining out with business associates, he refuses to eat “tasteless western food”.
My grocery store has both crème fraîche and sour cream (Sauerrahm). Crème fraîche has twice the fat content as sour cream. When we first moved here (more than 2 decades ago), there was no sour cream, just crème fraîche.
Not quite the same thing. Applestroop is more syrupy than applesauce, and I believe there is no recognizeable apple bits, so it might even be strained, or it’s made from juice. I can find apple sauce here in Switzerland, both at the grocery store and at the farmer’s marked, but I’ve never seen apple butter. I think in the U.S., I only bought apple butter at a farmer’s market or made it from scratch.
I’ve never heard the term grass whip, but they are used by farmers here, especially when the grass is growing on the side of a mountain.
Dried mushrooms are with the herbs and spices or with near the gravy mixes.
Also, when we first moved here it was very difficult to find bar soap. It still is, but we’ve converted to shower gel, so we don’t spend much time looking for bar soap.
Passata is sieved tomatoes, according to the bottle I have in my kitchen. I’ve seen this brand on sale, but I currently only have the store brand.
I made the mistake of asking for vinegar at a restaurant which had fish and chips on the menu. They brought me balsamic vinegar. They use the name of a famous place in London (Ace Cafe), but are a bit confused by some of the the food.
The reference is to hot dogs, and there is at least one place that simply does not have ketchup on its premises, an old-school joint named Gene & Jude’s (which is technically in River Grove, just outside Chicago, but is almost always one of the top 3 on the “best Chicago hot dogs” lists. And they don’t even do what is popularly thought of as the fully dressed “Chicago dog.”) If you ask for ketchup there, they’ll direct you to the McDonald’s down the street. So no ketchup even for the fries. There’s also a place called 35th Street Dogs near Sox Park where they “make” you ring the bell of shame if you ask for ketchup on a hot dog. But at least they have some:
If he doesn’t like any western food, he may have a poor sense of smell. Or maybe he just REALLY likes “hot spicy”.
But swordfish is one of the blandest foods I can think of. My dad used to like to serve it, but I haven’t eaten it since I learned it can have a mercury problem. (mostly just because the animal is a predator perched atop a very long food chain). I didn’t dislike it, and I’d eat it if you served it to me. But there are so many cheaper, tastier, safer foods to eat.
He likes western desserts just fine. He seems to enjoy (based on his WhatsApp posts) Turkish and Iranian dishes that are definitely not “hot spicy”.
But yes, if you are used to eating really spicy foods, I think your sense of smell adjusts what you consider normal, and more subtle flavors don’t come through. I know when I spent a summer in the UK as a teenager I found things like fish and chips or savory hand pies to be impossibly bland.
He’s not some yokel. He’s attended meetings with the White House Council of Economic advisers and met with Finance Ministers of several G7 countries. But he’s also an arrogant sod, and extremely class conscious. So the idea that a waiter is looking down on him annoys the hell out of him.
I remember his comment 30 years ago when he first went to London as a junior banker. He said he needed to get acclimated to wait staff and taxi drivers treating him as a social equal!
I feel this is true about a lot of flavorings. In addition to “spicy/hot”, some people seem to get immune to salt, garlic/onion, sugar, etc., and any food that isn’t loaded with the flavor is considered by them to be “bland”. I also feel one can re-set their tongue over time by dialing back on the offending ingredient, if they so desire and have the discipline, to appreciate more subtle flavors.
IOW, “tastebuds totally burned out by ultrahot Indian food”
But that’s the appeal of a lot of good seafood – the beautiful texture, and mild flavour that a good chef can match with the perfect condiment. Shrimp and lobster, for instance. Lobster just needs tons of melted butter, IMO, but I spice up shrimp with a tangy Japanese marinade before grilling. And a lot of the fish used for sushi is quite mild, but just perfect in the hands of a good chef who dresses it in the appropriate combination of wasabi and gently brushed with soy sauce, or else anointed with an appropriate specialty sauce and/or herb.
I don’t remember when I last had swordfish, and I don’t think I’ve ever cooked it myself. But I do like sea bass, which is also quite mild, and I prepare it simply by brushing it with olive oil and sprinkling a particular seafood spice on it that I get from a little specialty store, and then throwing it on the barbecue. Not sure what all is in it but it’s vaguely similar to vegetable seasoning. Anyway it comes out nicely seared and golden brown and doesn’t need any sauce.
I remember once being on vacation on the West Coast with my brother and his family and asking for Russian dressing in a restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf. The waiter had no clue what I was referring to.
Not necessarily ultrahot, I would think (though that would be a reasonable inference given the request for hot sauce), but also much of the food is just more heavily spiced and fragrant beyond the Western norms of salt & pepper and maybe an herb here and there.
I’m starting to feel more and more sympathy for my friend.
The idea that the heavily spiced cuisines of much of Asia and Africa are like monkeys banging drums while the subtle flavors of Provence and Tuscany are the culinary equivalent of refined classical music must be pretty annoying after a while.
Yeah, there seems to be an East Coast / West Coast divide regarding what salad dressings are commonly available at restaurants. I don’t eat Russian dressing, but I used to always ask for Italian dressing when I first moved to California, and I would always get “We don’t have Italian. We do have a vinaigrette…” So I started just asking for vinaigrette. No when I go to the East Coast I’ll ask for vinaigrette out of habit, and I get “Sorry, we don’t have vinaigrette…” Although they do generally know what it is.
I like spicy food, in moderation, though only occasionally. I enjoy curry dishes, both in the context of Indian food and its derivatives (like the Singapore Noodles I rave about). Spicy lamb curry is one of my favourite occasional treats.
But to use your analogy, if you spend much of your life listening to monkeys banging drums very very loudly all the time, you do tend to lose your hearing and can’t appreciate classical music if indeed you are still able to hear it at all.
Your friend’s own comment seems to bear this out. I’m not criticizing the spicy food of the regions you mention, or Mexico, for that matter. I’m just saying that once you’ve become acclimatized to that sort of diet on a daily basis, your taste perceptions obviously change. And if your perceptions are acclimatized to BIG AND BOLD, then your appreciation of the subtle will suffer accordingly.
So … I have an excellent sense of smell, and i tend to prefer more gently seasoned food. This is less true as an adult. As a child there were all kinds of common seasonings that i simply couldn’t abide, such as mustard, raw onions, sage, and lots of others. As an adult, i have a lot more tolerance for boldly flavored foods, and i eat things like shredded ginger and wasabi on a regular basis.
But i ADORE the flavor of a good, fresh, north Atlantic lobster. And fresh crab is to die for. (I live too far north to get it, but i routinely buy it when I’m visiting the Pacific northwest.) And shrimp is very pleasantly flavored, though not as good as lobster or crab. And none of those require any seasoning.
In fact, my favorite way to eat lobster is steamed, with no condiments at all. (It it’s previously frozen, or worse, South African lobster tail, it does need to be seasoned.)
