traveling for food

[Markw]

In the interest of traveling for food, a friend of mine from Kenya and I used to share a lunch break. Frequently he had something he ate with his greens. I thought it might be cassava (yucca root) and I asked him one day. It looked like a boiled potato on his plate.

It was Ugali (ooh golly) he said. Corn meal and water.

I made it according to his directions. If I recall it was 1 part water 1 part cornmeal. Salt to taste if desired.

As best I recall you boiled the 1 part water and a splash of salt if desired in a saucepan. Then stirred in 1 part corn meal stir stir stir stir stir until you have a ball. Then stir until you get a tight lump. That's the Ugali. I was afraid I'd have a huge cleanup with corn meal everywhere. It just makes a lump of meal. Very little cleanup and it tastes like hominy.

You dont need to travel to western Africa for it.

  In South Africa they call that Pap (pronounced like pop, not cap).  The attached pic is Pap and an absolutely awesome sausage called Borevors...man there are some things I miss from my time in South Africa.  You can get Borevors here...but you have to special order it and it's about $15/pound or more because it's imported.

 

[Cammalu]

I so want to try a pawpaw! I tried to grow a pawpaw tree once, but it didn't grow sooooo. Your preserves sound yummy. Now that is something to travel for. One of the things I like about making homemade jam is the flavors that ya just can not ever buy.

Where are you? Come on over now or come to Quartzsite this winter. I’ll have some with me. Well, I won’t have a pawpaw - no shelf life - but plenty of jam

 

[bullfrog]

^^^ Think ripe banana if done well or if not ripe you will be puckered for a day! Lol!!! Deer love them.

 

[vanbrat]

I forgot until someone just reminded me. I was going to add things I find here.
So last fall I found a tiny little cheese factory in Crescent City CA.. They make really yummy cheeses. Now if I could just remember their name!

 

[vanbrat]

I guess I don't eat that many carbs. Can't imagine travelling for flour. There are some excellent flours available online, try that & save the gas.

Flathead cherries. None better. (Cherries grown on the lands surrounding Flathead Lake, Montana.)

-crofter

We are headed there, but I don't think the cherries will be ripe yet... We will be there just for a weekish at the end of May...I'm trying for a longer time but too much to do this spring.

 

[vanbrat]

We are headed there, but I don't think the cherries will be ripe yet... We will be there just for a weekish at the end of May...I'm trying for a longer time but too much to do this spring.

I just read/heard about some flour in Montana some high valley stuff that is supposed to be really good for sour dough. Ok, now I know what I will be bringing home from Montana.

 

[WanderingRose]

Wheat Montana, perhaps.

 

[abnorm]

So last fall I found a tiny little cheese factory in Crescent City CA.. They make really yummy cheeses. Now if I could just remember their name!

Rumiano Cheese Co...............near the Safeway market

 

[JDub]

Try the Cougar Gold. It's amazing and it's CANNED!!

https://creamery.wsu.edu

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Well I grew up in Louisiana. So there are number of parts of my culture that relate to food which I can only find within a certain distance of New Orleans.
King Cake is one. I can get a king cake shipped anywhere in the country for an outrageous price. But it will be at least a day old by the time I get it.
Then of course there are also all the Cajun-Creole dishes. I make these myself already. But some dishes like red beans and rice are better with Camelia brand kidney beans.

Due to my experience growing up in New Orleans and then finding the food I loved was highly regional. I always try to seek out whatever regional dishes exist wherever I am at. Food is the most accessible entry point of any culture. Language and religion not so much.

 

[WanderingRose]

I agree that food is a common language among cultures, and the offering of food and drink an automatic response for many to guests coming in your door or into your campsite.

It’s a universal way to nurture and care for others, something around which to gather in good times and bad.

 

[vanbrat]

Well I grew up in Louisiana. So there are number of parts of my culture that relate to food which I can only find within a certain distance of New Orleans.
King Cake is one. I can get a king cake shipped anywhere in the country for an outrageous price. But it will be at least a day old by the time I get it.
Then of course there are also all the Cajun-Creole dishes. I make these myself already. But some dishes like red beans and rice are better with Camelia brand kidney beans.

Due to my experience growing up in New Orleans and then finding the food I loved was highly regional. I always try to seek out whatever regional dishes exist wherever I am at. Food is the most accessible entry point of any culture. Language and religion n

I also didn't understand that the foods I could find as a kid just didn't happen everywhere I got fresh veggies and it was normal all year around. They didn't have to fly across any oceans. And yes, there is a difference.
After I moved way north (in my opinion) I saw my first snowstorm and had to see veggies that where tiny hard and again in my opinion yukky. After being told my food was not as good as real Alabama stuff by my in-laws I decided time to study more about regional foods. And I found that the In-laws mostly just ate hillbilly stuff as they called themselves (Fried everything and grits and more fried stuff.) And really healthy fresh stuff was not part of that. BIL had heart issues so I was cooking heart healthy stuff. Still looking for the southern flour and not looking forward to okra nope not doing that!
What is in Kings cake? Another thing to find there in New Orleans. Crawdad dinner, alligator meat, red beans and rice. and those dough nutty things with powdered sugar. Oh yea sausage stuff and and and and .....
And no matter where I go there is something that can only be found there...

 

[vanbrat]

So far list is ….

Bacon from Colorado
Figs from S. Oregon
Green chilis from NM
Artichokes from Moss Landing CA
Cherries from Flat Head Lake
Strawberries from Or
Lobsters from Maine
Sandwiches from Detroit
And Amish goods from Pa
Filberts from OR
Blue Berries from Eugene OR
Crabs from Or Coast
Salmon from Whidbey Island
Mussels and clams from WA
Flour from The south
peaches from Georgia
Nordic stuff from Ballard in Seattle
Cheese from WI
Sugar Pineapple from Kauai
Sour dough from San Francisco
Alligator meat in New Orlins
Gumbo From New Orlins
Dates from Palm Springs CA
Pistachios from Central Valley CA
Potatoes from Idaho
Oranges from Florida
BBQ from Texas
I'm sure I am missing a few but it's a start..
I better make sure I have my van kitchen well stocked with all the needed pots, pans and tools.

Things to add to my list
High valley flour from Montana
Huckleberry everything from Montana
Brother says there is a Texmex place I HAVE to try in Tyler Texas
Seafood (shrimp) on the Texas coast.