Growing up food at home was typically Maharastrian in origin. It always showcased the flavors of the ingredients with marginal use of spices. However, my parents ensured we learnt to appreciate foods from different parts of the world. As an adult I try to find the freshest produce and use spices sparingly. I also routinely cook food from different parts of the world. This is a formal effort to blog those meals.
During this journey I found that our need for comfort through food has always been strong. Migrant populations over the centuries have taken with them recipes from their place of origin. They then modified these recipes using the new local ingredients, when necessary, but always tried to retain the flavors of the old. Rulers have done the same to enforce new regimes and wipe out traces of the old. Today we see the amazing similarities in food between nations separated by vast oceans. Our ability to make our food as flavorful as possible given the natural resources available is indeed a testament to human ingenuity.
During this entire journey I had the support of my family who willingly ate all my experiments. Experiments that were mostly good, sometimes not so good and on rare occasions just plain bad. Then there was a hardest part of all - waiting patiently while the pictures were clicked. But I would have to say a big chunk of the support was from a wonderful group of bloggers who blog under the umbrella, blogging marathon. The motivation to cook and blog meals from different countries while working through the letters of the alphabet came from this group. The event was aptly named 'Around the world in 30 days' and there were 20 participants, including me. On each of the posts above you will find a link to the posts by the other members of this group. To each of them I say 'thank you'.
