I have had several discussions lately with friends that included the topic of food and what a good meal can do for the soul. Some of these conversations were around favourite cultural cuisine, cooking, travel and the company of good friends and family. I started to reflect on some of my journey with food and what draws me to it outside of the tendency to eat to fill the hunger void. The year is rounding out with only 6 weeks to go before a new one starts and it’s this time of year, when people get together for company parties, or house gatherings around a meal and it’s a fantastic vehicle for eliciting memories of past or for creating new ones. I find the more I think about this, the more meaning I want to bring into my life through relationships that can come from connecting through meal sharing and it will be a priority for me in this next year.
I have always been one to enjoy food and it’s only been recently that I have uncovered I enjoy it more when I’m eating with a group of people. I’m not sure but it could stem from being a part of a large family with five siblings and the only time, we were all together was around the dinner table. I remember in the early days as small children in the mornings, we would be huddled around the open oven door absorbing as much warmth as we could get from it while eating our porridge for breakfast before the school bus arrived – I think this why I’ve always associated food with connecting to others. According to National Geographic, the sharing of a meal has always been part of the human story. From Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv there’s evidence of ancient meals prepared at a 300,000-year-old hearth, the oldest ever found, where diners gathered to eat together. They go on to say, “Retrieved from the ashes of Vesuvius: a circular loaf of bread with scoring marks, baked to be divided. To break bread together, a phrase as old as the Bible, captures the power of a meal to forge relationships, bury anger, provoke laughter.” By sharing a meal, we tap into a source of deep connection…and to eat the same food suggests that the people sharing the meal are willing to bring the same thing into their bodies. People just feel closer to other people who are eating the same food as they do. Some articles I have read, suggest many benefits of strangers eating meals together and many tour companies have built thriving tourism businesses on this theory as promoted on their websites.
Food is often used as a means of retaining one’s cultural identity. Both my mom and dad were raised by parents from the UK, so it was only natural that a lot of meals in our house followed these traditions with dishes such as shepherd’s pie, cream peas on toast, liver and onions, porridge, sausage and eggs and let’s not forget the British favourite of a good Sunday roast. My mom also used to treat us with a sandwich and potato chips, and I find this is the comfort food I seek in times of frustration and stress and it’s not uncommon for most people to reach for the food they were raised with as comfort in these situations. Typically, traditional cuisine is passed down from one generation to the next as it has been in my family. Many traditional recipes have changed over the years as people have moved away from the regions these dishes originated from as ingredients weren’t always available in the new country they moved to – so the taste and flavor can be different from what was prepared in their home countries. Additionally, when immigrants sell food in another country, they have to alter the original dishes to cater to a wider range of customers with distinct tastes and flavour preferences. It’s getting easier to source ingredients from home countries now that importing of goods from faraway places is relatively normal. Although, some countries have export rules that won’t always allow the premium quality of certain ingredients to leave their borders and a lesser quality is shipped out. Other times, companies will dilute the product to make more money before it arrives at the destination, leaving the product quality questionable. An example of this is olive oil from Italy, you can taste the difference while in that country versus what is found here in Canada even in specialty stores that cater to what they claim is the grade ‘A’ Italian olive oil but often it’s not. What does stay the same, is the extent to which each country or community’s unique cuisine can reflect its unique history, lifestyle, values and beliefs.
When I was headed to England last month, some friends asked what I wanted to enjoy for food over there and I couldn’t wait for a good Indian curry. Some found this odd and thought it would be an English breakfast. The curry over there is so good and I find it better then here. If you google this, there are more Indian restaurants in England than in India. It’s become a staple for the English over the years and I have always enjoyed it every trip I have had to the UK. The dish has been altered somewhat to the taste of the English giving it a distinct flavour for that region. Other foods I enjoy when I am there is a Donur Kabob and a Jamaican patty which I have had in Jamaica before but for some reason still prefer the flavour of how it’s made in the UK. I believe it’s due to the traditional UK flavour and taste of food I am used too even thought my mom never prepared any of these dishes I now enjoy when I go there. I was curious to know the history of how these cultural cuisines made their way to becoming so popular in the UK. Indian restaurants first appeared in England in the 19th century, catering for Asian seamen and students and then multiplied in the 1950’s and 60’s to feed the newly arrived south Asian factory workers but their boom time only began in the 70’s when they adapted their menus for the average working-class British resident. Curry has become an integral part of British cuisine, so much so that, since the late 1990’s, chicken tikka masala has be referred to as “a true British national dish” and the UK now celebrates National Curry Week every October. The first Caribbean migrants arrived on the Empire Windrush in the late 1940’s to Britain and now it’s estimated that approximately 800,000 British people of Jamaican origin live in the UK. These patty snacks originated in the neighbourhoods where Caribbean communities had settled, most commonly West Indian takeaways selling traditional home-style dishes. Now these can be found in most UK supermarkets as a great filling snack as well as sold in many restaurants or by street vendors.
Closer to home here in Canada, you can find donairs all across the country but the best ones are found where they originated in Halifax Nova Scotia. Donairs have a Turkish origin (doner) which refers to the rotation of the meat being prepared. The Greek name is gyros for round movement or spinning as is the similar shawarma originating from Arab countries. I have sampled the Canadian version of the donair in Halifax, Montreal and here in Calgary and can tell you that, there’s a difference. This is a great example of what I previously mentioned earlier where each region has adapted to take on it’s own flavour and taste. Donairs arrived in Canada in the 1970’s by Greek immigrant Peter Gamoulakos who owned a pizza shop in Halifax. He started out selling the Greek gyros but it didn’t jive with the East Coast’s “meat and potatoes” palate. Swapping out the Lamb for the beef and created a “sweet donair sauce” and voila, the signature dish was born.
In the last decade, the more I’ve travelled, the more I find myself gravitating towards the hole in the wall type restaurants that only the locals appreciate, and I find more pleasurable delight buying food from the street vendors as well. Whether it’s grabbing a falafel or shawarma and rice from a Halal cart on the street across from Central Park in New York or a crepe from a sidewalk vendor in Paris or a Doner Kabob in a kiosk in Manchester, the excitement that comes from not only for the anticipation of the food I’ve ordered but the conversation that goes on with others in the line-up. This type of connection isn’t made in a fancy restaurant where you are shown to a table and basically don’t talk to anyone but the staff. When you are in a grab and go type venue where you know you are about to have some cultural cuisine, and sometimes it’s in the wee hours after a night out with friends after a sporting event or concert, always adventure awaits!! I have the best conversations, laughs creating lasting memories than I do anywhere else. It’s more than just the food it’s the experience of it all. It’s like going out with a large group of friends and being able to share a meal and have awesome conversation, the effect seems to be the same but only with strangers!
A few months ago, I had a friend invite me to a dinner party at a Turkish Restaurant here in Calgary with the enticement of a show with a belly dancer. I had not been to a Turkish restaurant before and do have a trip to Turkey on my bucket list so was very intrigued for a night out in this restaurant. Around the same time, new Covid lockdown restrictions came into effect that didn’t allow groups of people to dine in. As disappointed as I was about the restaurant, my friend was able to have her birthday party in her backyard to accommodate us. Months later, this restaurant was still on my mind. Then, another friend’s birthday came up and the vaccine passport program came out to allow groups back in restaurants and he decided that we would go to a Moroccan restaurant called Casbah. When the big night arrived, it turned out that only 3 of us could attend, and needless to say we had a fabulous evening out. The three of us had not gone out as a trio before, which added unique conversation to the mix getting to know each other better. Two of us had not experienced this place before and I can tell you, the ambiance had us feeling like we were in the exotic country of Morocco. The food was excellent, and I did not know what to expect having not had Moroccan food before. It was very flavourful and fabulous. The conversation was great, and the atmosphere matched our spirits. We enjoyed ourselves so much, that we decided to make this dinner group a monthly event and try different cultural food than what we expose ourselves to at home. We will invite others into our “dinner club” each month allowing for more new connections and interesting conversation. People seem to be starving for culture and opportunity to go out again and try new things. Surprisingly, there have been some new cocktail bars and restaurants that have opened up since the pandemic and I’m looking forward to checking them out. Our dinner group has decided that we will try a different ethnicity and rotate it around each month. I will get the chance to add the Turkish restaurant in there, in the near future. As the world becomes more globalized, it is easier to access cuisines from different cultures and I think it expands our expereinces to try new things.
I can’t fully explain the excitement I feel when I think about meeting up with people experiencing new food, conversation and decor every month, but I have a skip in my step that was not there before that decision was made! I’m off to Toronto in a few weeks and am on the hunt for some unique cultural dining and street food vendor experiences. I find now food has become part of the planning for my trips.