When it comes to food, are you more the adventurous type or the type that gets the same order at the same restaurant each visit?
Arguments can be made for both. Some people know what they like and they stick with it, but others are like me and would rather try something new, even at the risk of not being happy with it. After all, how can you know if something is good if you don’t try it?
I learned to like trying new foods from my wife, who is a talented cook with a sense of adventure. It is not uncommon in our household to randomly pull a cookbook featuring foods from around the world and let the pages fall open where they may and then try to replicate the dish. Or, at least adapt it. She never follows a recipe exactly and also never makes the same thing exactly the same way.
Recently, for example, we attempted to make pupusas, the Salvadoran staple that are essentially a large tortilla stuffed with things like cheese, meat, rice, beans or spinach and lightly fried. She took up the challenge after hearing me rave about Pupuseria Marelyn on Dodds Avenue. It was recommended to me by a fellow food adventurer who loves finding the best places to eat, no matter their location. We are not chain restaurant people. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with chains if, like I said, you know what you are going to get. It’s just that we’d rather find the gas station selling tamales or hot dogs or potato logs, or a cow tongue taco out of a food truck. Or, maybe a pho place with a really confusing name, or a Thai place in a strip center in a non-trendy part of town.
Ethnic foods seem to frighten some people, but I find that except for the truly exotic dishes, which is of course relative, the dishes are made with ingredients familiar to most of us. They are just prepared and flavored differently. Things like steak, rice, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and even many herbs are found in many foods around the world, but the way they are combined in El Salvador is quite different than in Mexico or Greece.