One thing is absolutely certain – I love food. If I were to be paid by the hours I spent fantasizing about food, I’d have been a millionaire ages ago.
To me, food is like falling in love over and over again; it is a constant resurgence of excitement knowing I am about to eat something delicious and it amps up like butterfly wings flapping furiously if it is something I haven’t tried or have been curious about for a while.
I know it is because of this intense relationship I have with food, I find myself thinking about the taste of certain meals I have never tried before.
There are certain dishes my soul believes will leave a permanent mark on my taste buds simply by staring at pictures of them or recipes of them, and as a result, my brother suffers the brunt of countless food experiments that turn out edible, but most times inedible.
With the year tapering into my favourite part because of the Harmattan weather, my curiosity about these dishes has been revved up.
BUBBLE TEA (BOBA TEA)
I love tea. One of my fondest memories with my father was trying out his collection of different flavoured teas he kept in a special cabinet in the kitchen.
Because of our shared love for it, I was very proud to be the one to make his select choice of tea for the day where he never let anyone else. Together, we would sit and sip tea without uttering a word to each other as the scent of flavoured tea drifted around us. This is partly why I am curious about Bubble Tea.
Bubble Tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s but is served today in almost every part of the world. The distinctive factor of Bubble tea is the addition of black or white boba pearls which are made from tapioca.
There is a wide variety of Bubble Tea flavours but its main ingredients are tapioca, milk, brewed tea, creamer, and sugar.
TACOS
One show that was gold for me growing up was ‘Victorious’ on Nickelodeon, and in an episode heavy on inference from the movie ‘The Breakfast Club’, Robbie and Cat try out tacos for the first time. This scene added tacos to my curious food list.
Tacos are a very popular Mexican dish and are usually made with corn or wheat tortilla folded around a filling of beef, cheese, spices, and vegetables. I can’t get over the sound of crunch when biting into it; my inner foodie knows I’ll love this dish.
MACARONS
The day I stumbled into the video-making process of Macaron, was also the moment it got bumped high on my curious food list. Macarons are like babies; sensitive, expensive, and need a lot of patience to make.
Macarons originate from Italy. It is a small cake or cookie made from ground almond powder or coconut, sugar, flavouring, and a number of other ingredients to give a crispy yet chewy and melty feeling. Or so it has been described, I can’t wait to find out for myself.
They are small, cute, colourful and simply a delight to stare at.
BUNNY CHOW
I am a bread lover. Growing up, my mother indulged this with the strong stand that over time I would get tired of it and simply give it up. Mornings with my family growing up had bread in it, and on the days it didn’t I longed for it. Decades later, I haven’t still gotten over bread.
Bunny Chow or Bunny is a South African dish made with hollowed-out bread filled with curry. The curry consists mainly of meat chunks, a selection of aromatic curry spices and beans, as well as a number of ingredients.
It is popular street food in South Africa said to have originated from Indian South Africans in Durban. As long as it is paired with bread, I am sure this combination would be orgasmic.
KIMCHI
My curiosity over Kimchi goes beyond the health benefits of this dish of fermented vegetables like cabbage and radish made with various kinds of seasonings to give it a sweet and sour texture.
It is the picture of exploring an entire culture system with this food that has been on the menu for Koreans for ages, and hopefully finally understanding why a Korean meal isn’t complete without Kimchi, especially when that meal is ramen.
Have you tasted any of these foods, and what foods are on your curious food choice list?
Leave a Reply