I am a cook at a treatment center for teenage girls. We have girls come from all over the US, but they often come from the east coast and west coast states. I have noticed that there are some differences in food knowledge and preference.
For instance:
1. Lox: Almost no one from the west coast has any clue what this is. (I didn't until about a year ago.) It happens to be smoked salmon. It's often eaten for breakfast or brunch with bagels and cream cheese. Some like to add red onions and tomatoes. I"m not a fan, but that's mostly because I have yet to really accustom myself to sea food.
2. Burritos, fajitas, taquitos, enchiladas etc., mole: I've only had one girl from the east coast who knew the difference between these heavenly staples in my diet upon arrival to New Haven. I have heard from an inside source (originally a west coaster) that after years of living in NY he's only eaten 2 Mexican meals that measured up to southwest standards.
3. Falafel: This delicious Mediterranean dish is made out of mashed chickpeas (I made it today for lunch...yum) and can be eaten on a pita with a yogurt cucumber-dill sauce. I've actually found that it doesn't matter if the girls are east or west coast on this one; rather, it depends on if they live near a large Jewish community.
4. Cheese steaks: Quality cheese steaks just don't exist in the west...People try and pass things off as cheese steaks, but more often than not the bread, cheese and meat just don't measure up.
5. Pizza: There are very few non-chain pizza places in the west. There, however, are a few, and the west coast is not completely devoid of all good pizza. It does appear, though, that east coasters have found the way to really do the crust and toppings properly.
6. Beans: this kind of goes along with #2, but most of my east coast girls know no beans beyond Rosarita refried.
7. Fish: Both coasts seem to eat fish pretty well, but inlanders are quite a bit pickier when it comes to seafood. I have to say I fit in the pickier category. I'm working on it.
Anyway, those are my observations. I could be totally wrong since I'm working with a limited sample group. =) Were there any on the list that you weren't acquainted with?
5 comments:
Quick comments from a transplanted westerner who's now lived almost half my life as an easterner:
1. One of our favorite breakfasts, especially on weekends. We like them with cream cheese, lox, red onion, tomato, salt and pepper, and capers. Especially good on pumpernickel or rye bagels. I heard someone in a deli specify that he wanted 1/4 of lox and lemon squeezed over the top.
2. Good Mexican is hard to find out here. We had one really good restaurant in Boston. Thanks to a really fun NY food blogger who happens to live in the same building I do, I've found a good tamale/taco place near my office.
3. We have an abundance of falafel shops around Washington Square where I work. It's nice to have cheap eats that taste so good. Pour on the tahini and hot sauce!
4. Best cheese steaks are in the mid-Atlantic. I liked them in Jersey, but Philly's are the best, of course. I can't eat them now, though: too much fat.
5. NY pizza is the best. I can no longer eat pizza from chains. It just isn't the same. We also have had a lot of fun lately buying rounds of pizza dough from the corner pizza shop and making our own at home. My high school pizza making skills have come in handy! In the last couple years I've really acquired a taste for anchovies too, esp. on pizza. Yum!
6. Hmm. Maybe it's because we're so Moosewoody at our house, but we've always been big on every kind of bean imaginable. Maybe it's an age thing for your girls. Certainly, though, growing up in the southwest gives you a taste for pintos. Our kids prefer frijoles negros.
7. I hated fish until I was in college and started cooking for myself. All the Moosewood fish recipes are great. Now I relish the cooked and the raw: in fact, my biggest craving when we've been in the west for too long is sushi. Lucily we have plenty of that around here.
Fun post. I like food, obviously. I like your blog, too.
bw
6.
oops. in #1 i meant that he asked for 1/4 POUND of lox.
Yay! thanks for commenting. I feel like my life has been food, food, food for two and a half years now. It's been really good for me and I've come a very long way.
I haven't yet tried hot sauce on falafel. We had a girl from Isreal at work and she liked to eat it with French Fries inside the pita with the falafel.
From Mom--
Do the words "cultural experience" ring a bell?
HA!
I can't tell you how many times a week I think that phrase!!!
For instance my menu this week:
Monday: Chicken Cacciatore, French dip sandwiches
Tuesday: Enchiladas, Chicken Bakes
Wednesday: Falafel, Potato Soup
Thursday: French toast, Chicken parmesan and paella
Friday: Chinese lettuce wraps, leftovers
The meal I had planned but didn't use was Thai peanut noodles. How many countries did I hit this week?
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