Added: 10/23/2005 |
Latin american restaurants ? preserving traditionIn our contemporary world of Globalization characterized by interconnection and interaction of cultures, the main task is preservation of national identity, one constituent of which is national cuisine. United States of America is a huge aggregation of different nations, but the Latin minority seems to be worthy of attention, due to different reasons. Latin cuisine in the United States is represented by Mexican/Spanish (in the Southwest and Florida) and Cuban and Puerto Rican (South America and Florida) dishes, but certainly one will be able to find any other Latin American restaurants, such as Argentinean, Peruvian, and some others. All of them contain different specialities but meanwhile have very much in common. So the Latin cuisine is represented widely throughout the United Sates by Latin American restaurants.
Visiting Latin American restaurants, one, who comes to taste real Latin food, cannot go away without tripping over a plate of rice and beans, or maize tortillas, or starchy soup. They are the basis of the cuisine of most Latin American countries.
However, one will be really missing out on one of the greatest pleasures of eating in Latin American restaurants if he does not taste the specialities of Latin American countries: from Peruvian ceviche (also spelled seviche), a raw fish salad, all ceviche is "cooked" in lime or lemon juice, lime is better; and Mexican chipotle (a spicy bitter chocolate sauce served with a turkey or chicken) or Argentinean steak (the best in the world) and the Brazilian feijoada (a stew of black beans, beef and sausage), ect.
American food restaurants have one special dish - picadillo savory meat sweetened with spices and dried fruits. It is served with chips as an appetizer or as a filling for tortillas, tacos, and empanadas.
It would be worth mentioning Paella (as the typical dish, cooked at Latin American restaurants), which is traditionally named after the utensil it is cooked in - a two-handled pan that also serves as a casserole. There is no one-way of cooking paella. Every chef has his own way of cooking it and the list of ingredients is different as well. Paella is cooked in a wide and short pan where the sides go up 4 to 5 inches, the more the surface the better. Many of the toppings are added as a last touch at the top of the paella.
The one thing, one should be aware of the fondness of the Latin Americans for particularly spicy food, as it is the origin home of the red-hot chilli pepper. Fortunately for those without fire-eating habit, chilli is usually served in a side dish.
Actually, Latin American cuisine is characterized by the variety of sauces, used in it, for a example: the word "mojo" (moe-hoe) comes from a Spanish word, mojado, which means "wet", mojos are used as sauces or marinades.
Tasting Latin American food there is no way of forgetting about the dessert, just like muesli (which nowadays entered our daily life as a quick, tasty and useful breakfast), or banana pan-cakes and the likes.
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