Do you like what's sometimes described as "ethnic food"? Or do you think you like such food, but what you're eating is really so Europeanised that it bears little resemblance to the food that's really eaten in the country that's said to be the source? I can recall the joy with which "Mrs Happy Valley" cooked us 'true' Chinese food rather than the more usual British food that's normally available at her establishment, and I know full well that Chicken Tikka Massala isn't on the menu anywhere in India.
Lisa and I ate out at a Nigerian restaurant in London on Tuesday night. The value was astonishing, the staff / owner welcoming, and the cooking was superb. I can't fault any of those. But the traditional African fayre - authentic, I have no doubt, was so far from what we're used to that the best I can say is "nice to have tried" rather than "we'll be rushing back". Indeed, I come to describe the food and I'm somewhat lost for words that conjure up both the quality of the cooking and presentation, and at the same time the unusualness of the ingredients and combination - indeed, some I simply couldn't identify.
(written 2006-03-23, updated 2006-06-05)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Z100 - Daily life [19] interesting products and subjects - (2004-08-19)
[20] Not two the same - (2004-08-20)
[26] Matching Cat - (2004-08-24)
[110] Friday, busy week! - (2004-11-05)
[149] Fish stocks - (2004-12-12)
[206] Fox and Python - (2005-02-08)
[228] Beard Justification - (2005-02-26)
[232] Diverse activities - (2005-03-01)
[238] Difficulties with a trolley - (2005-03-07)
[271] Different course every day - (2005-04-07)
[283] Natural or man-made? - (2005-04-18)
[307] Farming yesterday - (2005-05-10)
[330] An O level comes in handy - (2005-05-30)
[363] Greetings from Edinburgh - (2005-06-29)
[446] Up early - (2005-09-16)
[455] A Stengthening day - (2005-10-04)
[473] Looking different in town - (2005-10-22)
[474] Vintage Bus Day - (2005-10-23)
[516] Open source questions? Anyone can ask. - (2005-12-03)
[580] What to do with milk - (2006-01-28)
[584] Loosing breath with Gerald - (2006-01-31)
[605] Design your day with a walk - (2006-02-13)
[612] Coming or going? - (2006-02-18)
[613] Greetings from Dublin - (2006-02-20)
[623] Behind every face is a person and a story - (2006-02-25)
[635] Odd one out. - (2006-03-06)
[645] Lost Camel - (2006-03-14)
[654] Making use of disabled facilities - (2006-03-22)
[692] Healthier eating - (2006-04-20)
[698] Catch up weekend - (2006-04-24)
[706] May day away - (2006-05-01)
[724] Helping mental health through diet, exercise and other lifestyle matters - (2006-05-18)
[752] Over zealous police activity? - (2006-06-09)
[777] On Crosby sands - (2006-06-25)
[817] Working on Weekend in Wiltshire and others - (2006-07-29)
[843] To join an organisation? - (2006-08-23)
[882] Rocks, hard places, trains and funerals. - (2006-09-30)
[897] Too much for the National Trust - (2006-10-18)
[908] And so to Inverness - (2006-10-29)
[911] Letter Home - (2006-11-01)
[921] French Exchange - (2006-11-11)
[978] Wellhouse Manor, Hotel, Melksham - (2006-12-10)
[992] Enthusiastic, but .... - (2006-12-16)
[1056] Another frantic posting! - (2007-01-30)
[1057] Selling by phone and Skype - our policy - (2007-01-30)
[1061] Take vehicles off the road - put all the passengers into one - (2007-02-01)
[1100] Wondering where I have been - (2007-03-06)
[1138] The Holiday - unlikely romantic comedy? - (2007-04-08)
[1151] Gordon Dodge, R.I.P. - (2007-04-16)
[1178] Ducking stool for Melksham? - (2007-05-06)
[1189] Meet, greet and welcome - (2007-05-16)
[1272] Behind closed doors? - (2007-07-22)
[1303] Heading Upstate New York - (2007-08-14)
[1429] Remembrance day - inside a church and inside the day - (2007-11-11)
[1643] A lack of technical content - (2008-05-16)
[1810] Middle aged subsidise young and old - (2008-09-26)
[1953] End of Training, 2008 - (2008-12-20)
[1979] Looking forward, in Melksham, in 2009 - (2009-01-05)
[2000] 2000th article - Remember the background and basics - (2009-01-18)
[2008] The Month Ahead - What is happening in Melksham - (2009-01-25)
[2024] Carry on Training - in spite of the weather - (2009-02-03)
[2027] Who sticks by you in the snow? - (2009-02-05)
[2030] The final step to being British - (2009-02-07)
[2034] Through Snow and Flood to Linux and Tomcat - (2009-02-10)
[2064] East of Melksham Countryside - (2009-03-02)
[2068] Playing Catchup - (2009-03-06)
[2090] Melksham to Georgia - (2009-03-19)
[2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
[2106] Learning to Twitter / what is Twitter? - (2009-03-28)
[2118] Spring Sprung - (2009-04-05)
[2121] Out in the Vale of Pewsey - (2009-04-07)
[2141] Town Crier competiton - (2009-04-25)
[2159] A long day to guess where - (2009-05-06)
[2164] Updating my public profile - Graham Ellis - (2009-05-09)
[2217] Enjoying the summer weather - (2009-06-04)
[2264] Learning about others private lives - (2009-06-30)
[2371] Quiet summer days? I think not! - (2009-08-22)
[2401] Back Tomorrow - (2009-09-10)
[2450] Family Gathering at 404, The Spa - (2009-10-11)
[2580] C course inspires new teaching examples - (2010-01-16)
[2868] A move towards the family - (2010-07-12)
[3125] The family is defunct. Long live the family. - (2011-01-09)
[3316] Twitter Phishing Trips ... and a great new alert service - (2011-06-04)
[3319] Moving on - a task for the hotel staff! - (2011-06-08)
[3463] Busy weekend of contrasts. - (2011-10-03)
[3553] Changes to morning routines - (2011-12-16)
[3743] Sunday - no longer a day of rest - (2012-05-28)
[4222] Five lessons learned or re-learned on my travels - (2013-12-15)
Some other Articles
Web Application ComponentsKeeping the visitors happy and browsingThe ternary operator in PythonThink about your design even if you don't use full UMLCan some food be TOO different?Easy feed!Morning PostPlease Register with Opentalk - but just once!A person of few words