I was having a conversation with my sister the other day about the amazing food we've eaten in other countries. I have no idea how we got on this topic, but I have to admit it is one of the more intelligent conversations we've had in a while.
Anyway, she asked me if I liked Indian food, and I said 'yes, actually there hasn't been an ethnic food I've tried and not liked- ever!' One of the things our food (in America) is really lacking is spice. I'm not talking about hot pepper spicy, I'm talking about using different spices. That is one of the great things about eating different ethnicity's foods. A lot of other countries still use their traditional spices for cooking. And they still cook with traditional methods... i.e. everything is not deep fried.
We were both marveling at the fact that the food we've eaten in other countries is different too...it's real. Most of the food we eat here is heavily processed and either sweet, salty, or sour in taste. There are 3 other tastes that most American's don't even know about- bitter, pungent, and astringent.
When I was in the Bahamas I ate conch at least twice a day- prepared in all different ways. When I was in Puerto Rico I ate rice, beans, beef, and tropical fruit. Even the prepared foods were more homemade than the homemade foods most people eat here.
I encourage you all to start experimenting with different spices when you cook (hopefully you are cooking at least something :) I recently started buying all sorts of random spices as I came across them, and have come up with some very tasty combinations along the way. Spices are sooo very healthy for us all.
Here's a list of some common (and some not so common) spices.
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