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04-07-2008, 04:16 PM
Re: (...)
This may be a silly question, but I will ask it anyway since it is food related.
Just wondering if other countries use salt and pepper as commonly as we do in the USA.
Perhaps some of our folks from abroad can help answer this. Is salt and pepper a common, universal condiment? What condiments do you find on tables in other countries?
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
Laura
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Good Question, Laura - since I was so busy working and raising those kids, I sure haven't been able to travel much. Mexico and Canada are about it!
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You know my hubby uses pepper like crazy, so does his father, so does MY father. This question started when I made Chow Mein and my hubby put a ton of black pepper on it. It just looked odd to me. Certainly he can put any condiments he prefers on his food. But it sparked a conversation about pepper and we all sort of wondered if we went to China (not in tourist areas) but in general, if we would find salt and pepper on the tables in a restaurant or peoples homes. Then we wondered about other areas of the world.
Just a curious question.
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Laura
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Not in Italy. It's not on the tables like it is here.
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I know a couple of Chefs that would be offended if you put salt and/or pepper on THEIR food. I don't know about much but have to agree with Denise on Italy and the same is true in most of Greece and the parts of North Africa I have been to. The people I have "traveled" with were the "classic" American tourist (a former Vice President and a Secretary of State) that everyone hated and HAD to have things their way...that was my job, make it like it was in Washington.
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In the ancient world, salt was a form of currency it was so loved. It is also necessery for normal body function--too much is like overdoing anything else. Pepper is grown all over the world--somebody else must like it--just remember many foods--parmesan cheese, feta, et al are full of salt--you can cook shrimp with feta for a long time--more than other ways--probably because of the salt. We get our salt and pepper in many guises--not always in shakers. If you eat enough pepper you won't have worms.
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Quote:
Just wondering if other countries use salt and pepper as commonly as we do in the USA.
Yes, but sometimes differently. Here, in Honduras, they don't usually keep salt and pepper on the table, but have bottles of tabasco-style sauce, instead, which they just call "chile" for short. Some of the street vendors use salt and pepper, but what they do is use a device kind of like the thing used to make curly fries, and peel oranges with it. They don't go all the way through to the pulp - just enough to make it all white, and with a ridged appearance. Next, they use a machete to cut about 1/2" off the top of the orange, leaving it just attached, as a lid. Finally, they sprinkle the top of the inside (cut) part of the orange with salt and pepper, and sell them like that. They're surprisingly tasty. Lastly, a combination that is more common here (common enough to be sold as a mixture) is that of black pepper with cumin. YUM!
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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I don't care if salt & pepper (or chile)are on every table in the world, the only thing that ticks me off is if someone uses it BEFORE tasting the food! (a little off topice, sorry... )
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Quote:
I don't care if salt & pepper (or chile)are on every table in the world, the only thing that ticks me off is if someone uses it BEFORE tasting the food!
(a little off topice, sorry... )
Not that far off. I agree 100%. Two of the greatest insulters of cooks are the guests who apply condiments immediately before tasting anything, and those who light up a smoke immediately after. How rude! (or, as the Spanish equivalent would say, "¡Qué maleducado!")
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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Jean and Labs,
I agree with this totally. My hubby is a pepperer! Drives me nuts and I have been training him to taste. Now he tastes most of the time, but sometimes he doesn't. I have given up on 'reminding' him, after all, he has to eat it.
I, personally, don't like everything to taste the same... like pepper.
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
Laura
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