Acquired Ethnic Cuisine & Gardening

[digitS']

Does your gardening reflect a different ethnic cuisine than what was on the table during your childhood?

I didn't know what we were eating at Chinese restaurants when I was young. And, those years continued through the earliest years of my own gardening. Once I knew, I began to wonder why I didn't grow cilantro and bok choy. I'd like them at those restaurants for years and years.

Of course, if it wasn't for Native Americans, we wouldn't have corn, potatoes and more but those figured prominently in what we ate when I was a child. Traditional foods are important.

Cilantro and peppers cross ethnic lines. We didn't grow peppers but did use hot pepper sauce at the family table. I hardly knew how to make use of the first peppers I grew in my twenties. Salsa sauce really, also cross ethnic lines.

How about for your garden –– would you have been able to imagine as a child what you grew in 2024?

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

Of course, if it wasn't for Native Americans, we wouldn't have corn, potatoes and more

I think potatoes were introduced to the US in the 1700's by Irish-Scottish settlers. New Hampshire I believe the first location they were grown. I read they were brought over earlier but were not readily embraced by people until Thomas Jefferson served them at the White House to guests.

 

[digitS']

The adoption of the potato in Europe was somewhat resisted and a  slow process. Jefferson's Monticello gardens now have this one, from the West Coast.

Makah Ozette Potato — Slow Food Seattle

The Makah Ozette, one of the only potatoes that came to the U.S. directly from South America, became a presidium project of Slow Food Seattle and the Makah Nation.

www.slowfoodseattle.org

 

[flowerbug]

hot peppers and large numbers of beans i did not envision when i was a child. the New Mexican cuisine arrived with my sister's bf who became her husband and then ex-husband. before that it was our enjoyment of Chinese food at our favorite place to eat (which is still in business). after i was off on my own in college and afterwards i learned Indian and various Middle East or Mediterrainian styles. our own cooking was midwest American but also full of Italian American adaptations from Grandma who taught Mom how to cook because at first Mom had no idea at all, but by the time i was old enough she was cooking all sorts of things and i was often in the kitchen helping, much like what we're doing today.

unfortunately Mom has little interest in trying new things and i don't want to waste a lot of energy trying if all it gets is a turned up nose or whatever. i'm happy with what we do grow and some day in the future i'll be growing other things that i will eat. eggplant will be on my menu for sure. i really enjoy eating that from time to time and there are a lot of ways to use it plus a lot of spices and curries that i used to have going all the time. i'll be back into that for sure. more leafy greens too, cilantro yes, fennel... more hot peppers.

 

[AMKuska]

Cilantro tastes really metallic to me. As long as it's not a huge leaf or something I can eat the food these days, but as a child one particle of cilantro in the food ruined the whole dish. One of the reasons I knew my husband was The One was that when we were dating he'd scoop all the huge leaves of cilantro out of the salsa on his chips so I could have less gross salsa on mine. :3

My mom liked to pretend she was a celebrity chef and cook all kinds of crazy dishes from all sorts of different cuisines. I think we tried every single cuisine in the world. Some were delicious, some were just plain horrifying. These days the broad number of cuisines are still there.

My climate refuses to grow much of the things we love to eat though, so we just grow what ever we can.

 

[digitS']

metallic

I hadn't thought of that about cilantro. Soapy flavor, I understand but when you grow up with an older brother, learn unacceptable words out in the corral, carry those words back indoors –— there's a chance Mom will provide you with a Soap Experience !

You know, @flowerbug , you might mention your appreciation for other cuisines and cultures often to mother and family. Give them points to consider, with you at the center of it all . Be sure to broaden and connect it some culturally. For example, mentioning the borrowing of vegetables from Asia and the importance of the spice trade to Italy and, ultimately, that grandmother's kitchen.

I experienced some small part of what Italian immigrants brought to North America and can still remember the first pizza restaurant visit when one showed up in my Oregon home town. I wonder what the numbers for tomato sauce and pasta sales were in the US market pre-1950 and later. Mom was a spaghetti maker but, I doubt if she had any experience with pasta as a young person. What happened with the sale of tomato seeds from those companies that have such a long history of supplying American gardeners and farmers?

Steve

 

[Dahlia]

Does your gardening reflect a different ethnic cuisine than what was on the table during your childhood?

I didn't know what we were eating at Chinese restaurants when I was young. And, those years continued through the earliest years of my own gardening. Once I knew, I began to wonder why I didn't grow cilantro and bok choy. I'd like them at those restaurants for years and years.

Of course, if it wasn't for Native Americans, we wouldn't have corn, potatoes and more but those figured prominently in what we ate when I was a child. Traditional foods are important.

Cilantro and peppers cross ethnic lines. We didn't grow peppers but did use hot pepper sauce at the family table. I hardly knew how to make use of the first peppers I grew in my twenties. Salsa sauce really, also cross ethnic lines.

How about for your garden –– would you have been able to imagine as a child what you grew in 2024?

Steve

We were a meat and potatoes family. The only veggie I remember eating was broccoli smothered in cheese sauce!

 

[digitS']

Chicken soup was yesterday's dinner.

Rice is a good match. Carrots ... start off with sautéing some garlic. What else?

Lemongrass! Might have used some ginger but both lemongrass and ginger starts off with a store purchase in early Spring. Ginger roots go in pots to be treated as the most tender things, except that they can take some heat. Lemongrass goes in some prime garden soil. They grow!

Lemongrass can be cleaned up and frozen after harvest. Ginger stays around forever in a basket on the kitchen counter.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

... Ginger stays around forever in a basket on the kitchen counter.

haha! i wish. i thought this had been thrown away but Mom had put it in a teapot. found quite a while later...

 

[Zeedman]

Does your gardening reflect a different ethnic cuisine than what was on the table during your childhood?

Much different. I started gardening very young (my first beans when I was 5 YO) but only grew beans, cukes, carrots, and beets. My grandparents (who started my interest in gardening) grew mostly root vegetables, beans, cabbage, and some tomatoes. When I started gardening as an adult, I added chard & lettuce to that list; but still grew mostly the common veggies from the seed rack.

But when I joined the Navy & visited eastern Asia & the Pacific, I took a liking to Chinese & Filipino cuisine. Over the years, I have grown almost any Oriental vegetable that will produce seed here, or can be brought indoors over winter (like lemon grass). Even a few things that won't produce seed here, like Moringa and water spinach. My DW was a great cook, and strongly influenced my vegetable garden... never grew my own garlic until I realized how much of it she used in her cooking.

And when I started saving & exchanging seeds, I took a liking to runner beans (as shellies) and eastern European peppers.