Cooking across cultures

COOKING ACROSS CULTURES

Kruger, Vivienne L.. (2014) Balinese food: the traditional cuisine & food culture of Bali. Pg. 13

Your Passport to Eat through World’s Cuisine

Enter the world of International travel through the smells and tastes of other cultures. Be inspired to expand on your cooking skills

through checking out cookbooks from the Funk ACES collection. Located on the 3rd Floor in

section 641. We have an array of different and unique types of cookbooks spanning from

various regions and styles of cooking. Immerse yourself through experimenting with herbs or

diverse methods of cooking.

Greece“To ancient Greece we owe the basic white sauce, invented by the kitchen sage Orion, and the basic brown sauce, formulated by Lampriadas. It was Agres of Rhodes who

discovered how to fillet a fish, and Euthymus who created exquisite dishes of vegetables and salad greens. To the Greeks we owe the discovery of the oyster as an edible mollusk, the popularity of cabbage, the cultivation of the Egyptian onion, and the creation of the

first pastry.”-Women of St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church Hempstead, Long Island, New York. (1963) The Art of Greek Cookery: based on The Grecian gourmet Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 13 & 43.

Medieval Cooking“Some of the recipes cooks created to

titillate the palates of wealthy diners were intriguing and amusing: for instance, the mock hard-boiled eggs made of coloured

almond paste dripped into the blown shells and eaten in Lent. But some of the

arguments and excuses had cruel conclusions: Bustards (large, swift-running birds) and beavers became extinct in early modern England because of men’s greed

for ‘grete fowler’ and the specious reasoning that beavers used their tails for

swimming so they counted as fish!”

-Black, Maggie. (2012) The Medieval Cookbook. 10 & 21.

Traditional Arab Sweets“The greatest influences on the cuisine of al-

Andalus came from the constant influx of Arab immigrants from the Arab East, who brought

their Knowledge to the western peninsula. This occurred especially between the ninth and

twelfth centuries. Baghdad, the cultural and political capital of the Arab/Islamic world,

epitomized the best there was to offer in the east. And it was from al-Andalus that Europe came to meet this fusion, significantly when

Arab culture was defined by those who wished to imitate its luxurious and intellectual life and

exotic atmosphere.” -Salloum, Habeeb,, Salloum, Muna,Elias, Leila Salloum. (2013) Sweet Delights from a Thousand and One Nights: the Story ofTraditional Arab Sweets. 6 & 142.

French “In Europe, tête de veau, calf’s head, is a

highly regarded delicacy, and every good housewife knows how to cook it.

But she doesn’t attempt to do the trimming herself. When you order a

calf’s head, ask the butcher to skin it and remove the bones. Soak the head in a generous quantity of water. This draws out the blood and gives the meat a good

white color. Texture and color are also improved by adding flour and vinegar to the court bouillon in which the head is

cooked.” -Diat, Louis. (1961) Gourmet's basic French cookbook: techniques of French cuisine New York: Gourmet Books. 270, 488, 521-522, & 589.

The American South“Food is the language that ties Southern

communities together. Whenever there is a festival or contest, folks collect around an open-pit fire to take turns flipping quarters of chicken, pork shoulders, or ribs. There

are bags of boiled peanuts, frosted coconut cakes, peanut butter cookies, and sweet

potato pies for sale.” -Agnew, Margaret Chaso. (1994) Southern traditions: a seasonal cookbook New York, N.Y.: Viking Studio Books. 4 & 116-117.

Germany“The Germans never followed the American tradition of three square meals a day. Their tradition is five meals. They start, as we do, with

breakfast, Fruhstuck, and only a few hours later follow it with a second breakfast, Zweites Fruhstuck, that would make a lunch for many an

American. At midday comes dinner, Mittagessen, the main hot meal of the day. Kaffe-a sociable snack that often

includes much more than a cup of coffee-is served in late afternoon. And

finally the day of hearty, frequent eating is closed with a comparatively

light supper called Abendbrot.”

- Hazelton, Nika Standen. (1969) The Cooking of Germany, New York, Time-Life Books. 29 & 82.

Japanese “Preparing fugu cuisine consequently

requires a surgeon like skill, and since 1949 an elaborate system of licensing has been

in force, controlled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (Koseisho). The blowfish cook

rarely prepares anything else, and he invariably performs with the greatest of

skill. The result is that, though numbers of amateur anglers kill themselves by making

fugu cuisine at home, no one in the past forty years has ever been killed in a fugu

restaurant.” -Richie, Donald. (1985) A Taste of Japan /Tokyo; Kodansha International. 16 & 46-47.

Balinese“Tum is usually made from either chicken or

boneless fish like tuna, marlin, or mahi-mahi as these forms of protein are “easier to get”

(expensive pork tum is only for ceremonies). A Balinese wife will prepare tum at home once every

one or two weeks for her family for lunch or dinner, whenever she can afford to buy the chicken (a costly ingredient). Eel tum is a

traditional village dish although the availability of eek is sporadic, seasonal and geographical as it is

sourced from nearby rice fields. Tum requires considerable time to make, an almost obsessive

sense of devotion, craftsmanship-like art work and manual dexterity, but this delicious, visually

adorable dish is well worth it!”

-Kruger, Vivienne L.. (2014)Balinese food: the traditional cuisine & food culture of Bali. 16 & 147.

From more resources check out department of food science and

human nutrition and the healthy cooking classes offer at

Campus Recreation at UIUC

For more books check out Funk ACES Library Cookbook Collection Located on the 3rd Floor