COOKERY IN DISGUISE - Towards Clean Meat
Cooking, cook, cookery - disguised, masked, hidden
Some years ago, I was in Bangkok on a Buddhist holiday and was invited to a meal for perhaps a thousand people - to be prepared by the temple's monks.
"Oo! Chinese style pork?" I exclaimed as a monk presented a large platter of red and gray slices that clearly were the pork I was familiar with in China. "No, it's tofu!"
And this happened again and again throughout the meal from appetizers to desserts. "What's that?" "It's tofu."
Years before that, I was doing tourist shows on the island of Guam. We had "The World's Only Micronesian Dance Company" consisting of 13 Palauan students from the University of Guam, 5 sisters from the Philippines, and Miss Tahiti 1975.
The Palauans invited us to a holiday dinner at their new community center. Adorned with star charts and interesting symbols, the architecture first impressed - then came the food.
A long long table (maybe 15 regular tables pressed together) lined the sides of the room. Ladies in long muumuus kept bringing out more items wrapped in plastic or aluminum foil. We were each handed plates and urged to make our way down the buffet line.
Crinkly aluminum foil opened to meats, potatoes, mystery vegetables. "What's that?""It's taro." And this? "Yes, that's taro too."
I think I'm going to research this idea of "food in disguise" further. Many items can be substituted for other things in recipes. How to make things vegetarian or vegan? How to bake a cake or fry a pancake or make almost anything when the familiar basic ingredients are not available?
Really - it's how to be adventurous and wise at the same time.
