Medit.-style eating
- To:
- Subject: Medit.-style eating
- From: M* &* L* D*
- Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 06:53:30 -0800
I've noticed that even though Medit. food crops are grown in California
(some of these crops in large acreages), Californians don't take full
advantage of them.
For example, figs are a good case. Even though California produces good
quality figs, very few Californians have actually eaten a fresh fig and for
most, the only dried fig they've eaten is in fig newtons (fig bars).
Another case is olives. Whereas in Greece (as I understand it), all sorts of
different olives are available; for California-grown olives, the selection
is limited with the variation seeming to be what is stuffed in the olive.
For almonds, even though California has over 400,000 acres of almonds (if I
remember correctly), Californians only eat roasted almonds (with various
flavors sprinkled on or not). However, I've heard that in parts of the
Medit. people will eat the very young almonds in the early summer (I guess
hull and all). And I've seen in Turkey mature fresh almonds kernels (not
dried, not roasted) sold on street corners on blocks of ice to keep it
fresh.
Another example, roasting peppers are not eaten in California as they are in
the Medit.
Iranians will use fresh pistachios (before drying and roasting) in their
cooking.
Several alcoholic beverages from the Medit. will use Medit. herbs.
Benedictine is supposed to have as many as 75 ingredients, while Chartreuse
has in it over 130 herbs and plants. There are also the bitters and flavored
wines.
Even with wine, although California produces lots of good quality wine (some
reasonably priced), very few Californians drink wine in the manner that
people in Italy or France do.
As far as I know, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and South Africa are
similar in this regard to California. That is, they grow Medit. crops but
don't fully utilize these crops the way that they are in the Medit. region.
I would be interested in reading any other similar observations or any
comments.
--Mark
central San Joaquin Valley
USDA zone 9; Sunset zone 9
