[Sca-cooks] Ethnic market epiphanies

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Back when i was not much more than a sprout, originally from the bland Midwest, but living in Manhattan, 1967-69, i'd go into ethnic stores and buy things i had no idea what to do with, such as yuba/tofu skin, and all manner of odd spices. The very first cookbooks i bought were Greek, Turkish, Persian, Indian, Indonesian, Chinese, and Japanese. It was a few years before i bought any that had "normal" American recipes - and i hardly ever used them.

I could walk dozens of blocks in any direction and make an expedition of discovery. I lived in a loft one block north of Union Square, back when there was almost nothing there besides Andy Warhol's Factory (which i never entered) and Max's Kansas City (where we could cash checks and see many of the Factory denizens). Manhattan was (and still is) an amazing place to explore the world through food.

Not quite as much variety here in the East San Francisco Bay, but certainly more than many other places in the US.

With certain items, it's sometimes good to buy different brands and try them, because preparations and flavors vary, and you might dislike one brand of some foodstuff and find you love another.

Someone sometimes called Urtatim