What has happened, presumably in the interest of more consistent nourishment, is that individual tastes and local flavours have taken a terrible beating at the hands of mass-producers. A Third Avenue hamburger tastes exactly like Champs Elysées hamburger. Chicken, once a bird, has been turned into a commodity along with pork,beef and lamb. And as for vegetables — when was the last time you ate a tomato, a potato or a salad that you didn't have to smother with sauce or dressing before there was any hint of flavour?
Bread like plastic, apples like wet socks, cheese with delicate complexity of a bar of cheap soap, onions with no bite, spinach that would make Popeye choke. It all looks genuine because everything from the lamb chop to the string bean is bred for appearance, but its resemblance to real food stops the moment you start to chew.
Peter Mayle. Expensive habits.
I took liberty of starting with such a long quotation because I couldn't have said it better. And mind it, this was written 20 years ago and the things did not exactly improve since.
After having spent so many contracts in States we were longing to stay for 6 month in Europe not only because of its undoubted cultural, historical and architectural treasures but also because our mouths we already watering in anticipation of fresh, unique and creative European food.
And even though we have visited quite a few places that made even traditional Russian Olivier Salad — here called ensladilla russa — look like a sophisticated dish...
...we never lost the edge for trying simple "hole in the wall" places and simple foods. And so far — we are surprised ourselves! — – we liked pretty much everything we tasted.
In States people appreciate predictability in food: most restaurants are a part of huge franchises. So be it a burger place, seafood restaurant, Italian trattoria or Mexican cantina, one can be sure to find exactly same menu from Washington to Florida, from Maine to California. You know exactly what you are paying for and your dish will look, taste and cost exactly same, be it Alaska or Hawaii.
Europeans, on the other hand, take pride in being different. There is always a “secret ingredient” – different kind of salt, an herb, a spice, maybe sauce, method of cooking or presentation that will make difference between two same dishes served in that specific restaurant or the one next door, let alone on the other side of the country.
But there are very simple foods with only one secret ingredient: freshness.
Trundling around Teguise we were not anymore hungry after a good lunch, but wanted to extend the pleasure of being in this cute little sun-bleached town. So we landed for a snack at La Cantina.
We ordered simplest dishes: white bait and pimientos padrón – small green peppers (originally from municipality of Padrón) fried in olive oil. The food came on wooden planks and was accompanied by freshly baked bread and coarse salt.
Another simple dish we discovered in Canaries is papas arrugadas — wrinked potatoes. Being from Belarus and Estonia we thought we knew all possible ways of cooking potatoes but the Canareños proved us wrong. They are small potatoes (they say the yellow-fleshed Tenerife variety are best) boiled in their skins in salty water. They are then dried over a low heat untill the skins become wrinkly and is covered by salty crust. It can be a side dish served with meat or fish or simply as tapas . The dish is said to have been invented by fishermen who boiled potatoes in seawater.
Despite its seeming simplicity it is a delight to your senses and we are excited to try it when at home: we will be there in time of "young potatoes".
Traditionally it is served with two sauces: mojo rojo, whose basic ingredients are tomatoes, peppers and paprika (mojo picón is its spicy version and contains hot chili as well) and mojo verde — a green sauce made with oil, vinegar, garlic, coriander and parsley. The sauces come in small bowls so you can use as much or as little as you like.
But we found another perfect addition: garlic shrimp served in sizzling oil with crunchy garlic chips.
And coming back to where we started, if you have a chance — look for one of Peter Mayle books. He is British who got fed up with fish and chips, fog and rain and moved to Provence. He lives a busy life sharing his time between wine tastings, frog tastings, escargot tastings, pastis tastings and whatever else the French are prod of. He then describes his impressions in his books and even though he covers more or less the same topic — life in Provence with all its tastes and flavours — he manages to keep us interested with his witty style, ironic observations and eagerness to learn, smell and taste more.
More about food and travel - here!
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