Discovering New Cuisines

Years ago, I went out to eat with a friend of mine. We were both new to the area and didn’t know any of the restaurants. This was back in the days before we could simply turn to the Internet for help. My friend thought he had seen a Chinese restaurant nearby, so off we went.

When we arrived at the restaurant, the host led us to a booth and left a ticket at the edge of our table before walking away. We patiently waited for a waiter to bring us a menu, but none came. After a few minutes, a woman stopped at our table with a cart of . . . well, I’m not sure what was on the cart. There were small plates with a variety of foods on them. Whether they were appetizers or desserts or something else, we didn’t know. The woman didn’t appear to speak English, so we tried to politely dismiss her with a gesture as we continued to wait for our waiter and some menus.

Time passed and still no waiter arrived. And no menus. More time passed and another person stopped by our table with an assortment of small food plates. Frustrated at the lack of proper service and still confronted by a language barrier, we decided to accept some of the cart’s offerings. We pointed at something that vaguely resembled a pastry. The employee seemed to expect something more, so we pointed at something else, too. She then put the two plates in front of us and wrote something on the ticket at the end of our table. When she continued on her way, we grabbed the ticket to see what she had written, eager to find out what unfamiliar food we were about to eat. Alas, she had written in Chinese characters, which we couldn’t read, of course!

We ate the food before us without knowing what it was. We repeated the process with another passing cart or two. The pastry turned out to be a bun stuffed with . . . something. Pork, maybe. We didn’t find anything objectionable in any of the dishes we sampled, but I can’t say we enjoyed them. The whole experience was just too unusual. Eventually, we made our way to the reception kiosk, where we paid our bill before leaving.

We later learned that this dining format is known as Dim Sum. We also learned that the restaurant was a popular one. Yet, we didn’t enjoy our experience at all. What went wrong?

The problem was simply that we were unfamiliar with this type of cuisine and the customs that go along with it. It didn’t help that the restaurant staff didn’t speak much English. If they had, they could have provided us with some instruction or guidance.

More recently, my wife and I went to another restaurant. We had received a recommendation for it from someone who spoke highly of the food and its owner. This was also a Chinese restaurant, and we went with eager anticipation, imagining the great dishes they might prepare for us. What would we order? Mongolian Beef? Moo Shu Pork? Cashew Chicken? Just thinking of the possibilities stoked our appetites.

When we arrived, we found a lengthy menu. Page after page after page, with many color photos. Yet, we didn’t find any Mongolian Beef. No Sweet and Sour Chicken. We didn’t find any of our favorite Chinese dishes. In fact, we hardly found anything that we even recognized. This restaurant seemed to cater to the more authentic Chinese palates, not our Americanized ones. We had no idea what to order. Even the descriptions of the dishes were so far outside our experience that we didn’t know if we would enjoy them or not.

Again, I wished we had a guide with us, perhaps even the person who had recommended the restaurant to us. He could have explained what to expect from the various options. He could have helped bridge the gap between the familiar and the unfamiliar.

There’s a phenomenon that occurs when we eat something unfamiliar. More, when we eat something without even recognizing what it is. Even though it may be great, it’s hard to appreciate without the ability to map it to something we know and understand. We need something to anchor it in our minds.

It’s nice when a trusted friend can introduce us to unfamiliar cuisines and customs. A trusted guide can explain things to us, from the menu options to the ordering protocols to culturally sensitive behaviors and customs. Odd as it may be to say, an experienced companion can help us understand when a food is merely different from our norm, and not just poorly made. Truly, some tastes take time to acquire and appreciate. A guide can also help us appreciate new cuisines by tying them to people, places, and experiences.

Unfortunately, we don’t always have somebody to introduce us to new things in this way. Such was the case when Kathy and I decided to acquaint ourselves with Indian cuisine.

We began by explaining to our waiter that we were new to the cuisine. It really helped that he spoke English. He gave us an overview of several popular dishes. Kathy explained that she didn’t like spicy foods, so the waiter helped us find some options she could enjoy. Then we adventurously took a chance. We enjoyed our meal, but we had to repeat this process over several visits to really get comfortable with it.

At another Indian restaurant, we ordered lunch combos. This helped expose us to a variety of flavors and food types. However, we didn’t just blindly sample the food. When the waiter delivered our plates, we asked him to explain what was on them. I think he actually liked that. He proudly described each different food, including their ingredients and preparations. This was also a process that I think needs a few repetitions to really sink in.

We aren’t Indian food experts as a result of this. However, we are fairly comfortable ordering dinner at Indian restaurants. We’ll often choose something that we remember enjoying before and something new that can help us expand our palettes and experience.

Let’s face it: the world is full of many interesting cuisines, cultures, customs, and people. A guide can introduce us to them and expand our appreciation. Doing so on our own may require brave adventurousness. Either way, the experience is the reward.