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Ethnic Eating Is Exciting
PRISCILLA LISTER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
hinese, Italian and Mex-
ican cuisines remain the
most popular ethnic
foods in the United
States, according to the National
Restaurant Association.
Also according to a recent NRA
survey, about 90 percent of Amer-
ican consumers have tried those
three cuisines and one-third are
eating more of them than they
were two or three years ago.
But there are many more eth-
nic cuisines vying for a place on our
plates today, according to the sur-
vey, including subsets of those top
three ethnic cuisines, such as Tex-
Mex and Hunan, Mandarin and
Sichuan Chinese (as opposed to the
standard Cantonese), as well as
French, Scandinavian, German,
Greek, Japanese and Cajun/Cre-
ole.
Emerging ethnic cuisines in-
clude Caribbean, Korean, Middle
Eastern, Thai and Vietnamese, "al-
though as many as 40 percent of
consumers are still reported to be
unfamiliar with these cuisines,"
C
Priscilla Lister is a writer with
Copley News Service.
says Gail Bellamy in Restaurant
Hospitality, a trade publication.
Consumers seek ethnic cuisines
for three reasons, according to The
Food Channel, a trend publication
for the food industry.
"Culture-oriented consumers en-
joy ethnic foods as a way to learn
about and participate in other cul-
tures," it says. 'They also see new
foods as a challenge."
Restaurant-oriented consumers
view ethnic restaurants as alter-
native choices for dining out, while
preparation-oriented consumers
focus on the actual cooking of, and
ingredients in, ethnic foods.
You can probably explore all
three reasons in your own city
through growing numbers of eth-
nic eateries as well as markets.
Here's a short primer on educat-
ing your palate.
CHINESE
"Chinese food is probably the
world's most well-traveled cuisine,"
says Burt Wolf, host of the popu-
lar public television show and book
of the same name, Burt Wolfs
Table (Doubleday). Chinese restau-
rants are virtually all over Amer-
ica, in big and small towns, and "to-
day there is a constant and ever-
increasing curiosity about Chinese
cooking in the home kitchens of the
West."
You can find most Chinese in-
gredients in your supermarket.
`There is an influx of Asian in-
gredients in stores across the coun-
try not only because of a large
Asian population, but because the
American palate has changed and
expanded," Martin Yan, master
chef and host of the PBS cooking
show, "Yan Can Cook," and author
of 10 cookbooks, told Showcase, the
publication of the National Asso-
ciation for the Specialty Food
Trade.
Wolf suggests seeking just sev-
en different ingredients "that
should be able to give most home-
cooked dishes their Chinese fla-
vor": oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy
sauce, chili sauce, hoisin sauce,
sesame paste and star anise.
Cantonese Chinese is the most
familiar to Americans among Chi-
nese cuisines, and includes such
favorites as spring rolls, fried rice,
stir-fry dishes of meats and veg-
etables or barbecued pork.
"Beijing (Chinese) cooking uses
garlic, sesame and miso," says Bel-
lamy. "Sichuan flavors feature
chilies, sweet-and-sour combina-
tions and hot flavorings. Shanghai
cooking has a sweeter taste that
draws on soy and sugar flavorings."
JAPANESE
"Most Japanese meals are made
up of many dishes, which are
served in small portions," say Hal
and Marilyn Weiner, authors of
The World of Cooking (Macmillan),
which also accompanied their PBS
series of the same name. "Of all the
zensai (hors d'oeuvres) the Japan-
ese eat, none is so popular or so
much savored as the fish dishes,
sashimi and sushi."
Sashimi and sushi are primar-
ily centered on slices of raw fish.
Sashimi is nothing more, while
sushi frequently features the fish
with tiny bits of cucumber or avo-
cado surrounded by white, sticky
rice and gathered in a piece of
cured seaweed.
Sushi bars have proliferated
throughout the country and are
theatrical dining destinations as
you watch chefs masterfully pre-
pare these delicacies.
Japanese noodle restaurants are
also gaining ground nationwide as
patrons line up to try various forms
of noodle soup (udon), Japanese
style. Tempura, batter-fried food,
is delicious, and don't overlook that
old Japanese standby, sukiyaki, a
one-pot dish of meats and vegeta-
bles served with rice.
APPETIZING BEGINNINGS
One of the best ways to sample
a new cuisine is through its hors
d'oeuvres or appetizers. In Italian
cuisine, they're called antipasto. In
Spanish cuisine, they're called
tapas. In Greek and Turkish cui-
sine, meze; in Russian, zakuski.
"These delicious small plates
are, from my point of view, the best
way to eat," says Sheila Lukins in
her All Around the World Cook-
book (Workman).
While they may be intended as
a first course, Lukins said she
rarely makes it to the entree; you
can fill up on several small plates
and sample a great variety if you
share them among your table-
mates.
In Spain, a typical tapa is called
a tortilla, but it's not what the tor-
tilla is to Mexican cuisine. The
Spanish tortilla tapa is a rather
omeletlike baked potato and egg
dish.
Other tapas might include
shrimp sauteed in olive oil and gar-
lic, or grilled eggplant, red peppers,
onions and tomatoes.
"Tapas are delicious morsels of
hot or cold, spicy or salty, crisp or
sauced foods," say the Weiners.