Do you buy foods that you aren't familiar with?
I do. If there's a vegetable I've never seen, it's a sure bet I'll buy it, bring it home, look it up, and then find a way to use it. And I love ethnic markets.
The other day I was at a small local hispanic market that I go to for their homemade tortillas. When they have something that I don't recognize, and I'll ask about it...last time it was some sort of white substance in a ceramic crock that was in the dairy case. The guy who's always there didn't know the English word and the label was in Spanish, so we were at a standstill. I asked him what you do with the stuff, and he said it was something like crema, you put it on things...So of course, I did the logical thing, I bought it. I got home with my mystery crock, and then I noticed some small print on the tag that said, "Billones de bacterias probioticas..."
Yes, it may be yogurt. It may not be. I tasted it, then I looked up some other stuff on the label online, and some sources said it was like sour cream, while others described it as a sort of cheese product. Whatever it is, this stuff is pretty darned tasty. I'm glad I bought it. I'll buy it again.
So, what about you? Do you buy stuff, just to see what it is, or do you stick to the stuff that you already know?
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16 Comments:
What a great question dbcurrie. It really depends for me. Like in the case of your billones de bacterias, I would have been a little concerned if it wasn't pasteurized. I've gotten plenty sick in Mexico. If it was packaged safely, I totally would have bought it. I LOVE going to Asian and Mexican markets and trying out sauces, veggies, and especially snack foods. It's so much fun to see what is all the rage in Indonesean seasoned dried fruit, say. I often ask the proprietor if they have something they recommend. Often, I don't necessarily buy something, as window shop. I may look up some things, make up my mind and then go back to make a meal out of it. Whenever I'm at the farmers market, I'm on the lookout for some unusual produce I've never had. Like paw paws over the summer
http://figswithbri.com/?p=44
I was just thinking today that it had been a while since I perused the Asian market near me. Now I need to go. :)
FigswithBri at 1:47AM on 02/23/08
Great question! Every weekly shopping trip we buy at least one item we have never tried. Living in an ethnically diverse area (West Central Florida) gives us some wonderful opportunities to try new and varied menu items. We also live about a quarter mile away from the largest Asian market in this part of the state (Oceanic Market), we can spend hours in there looking at all of the strange and wonderful things they have to offer. Every trip includes at least 3-4 bags of garlic & onion shrimp chips to further feed our addiction too.
Christian Smith at 2:35AM on 02/23/08
I guess I'm not as cautious as FigswithBri. I figure if it has made it to market in the States, someone has screened it for a modicum of safety. I've learned that food doesn't always taste as bad as it smells either so that is not a limiter. Yes, if I can imagine any way to put it to use, I'll give it at least one try. Moreover, I thrive on the idea of ordering something off a menu that I don't recognize. Many of my favorite new dishes have come to me in this manner. My rule of thumb is that if it is offered for consumption, someone else has already tried it and survived. Yes, wisdom in surveying basic hygiene in the environs is applied...
czken at 4:31AM on 02/23/08
I love buying unfamiliar or new things, even if I'm fairly certain that it will be a bit of a flop (most new mass-market candy offerings are, but it's still fun). A lot of it I bring back to Denmark, since the selection is relatively limited here, and my boyfriend does the same. The most pleasant recent surprise was Crimean 'champagne', which honestly was quite decent; some dragonfruit I picked up in the local supermarket was a recent let-down, since it was nearly flavourless, although it really did look quite spectacular.
mongoose at 9:47AM on 02/23/08
i'll try almost anything at least once (i'm more likely to give new plant-based foods a try than meats). The preparation of said item affects it a lot, too. I agree with mongoose, the dragon fruit is a little of a let-down, as is the Kiwano Horned Melon (had to try it, was disappointed. had a weird texture, and little flavor).
beth1 at 1:58PM on 02/23/08
I've learned along the way to not purchase some really off the wall ingredient or completely unknown food for a new recipe that sounds really "interesting". That can and has been a complete disaster.
We have so many gourmet and ethnic markets where we live now that is is just a blast to have so many new foods to try. Just this morning was new fruit day. We had a cocktail grapefruit, lemon plum, uli pear and some kind of tangerine I'd never seen before. (They were all really good, not like the durian out-of-body experience that I had when my husband drug one home to try to kill me. No psychotropic effects, just pure nasty. ) Granted, they were not a huge investment, but it is my opportunity to get fruit into my husband's diet.
One of our favorite adventures is to try new cheeses, and with so many artisanal cheeses available now, that certainly is not difficult on a weekly basis. And lots of spices that I'm not familiar with, also. I'll try just about anything new, as long as it's not a million $, and I'd really be out a bundle if it turned out to be horrid.
frederika at 2:37PM on 02/23/08
I'd forgotten about horned melons. I love the way it looks--like the egg of a sea-monster or something--and enthusiastically scooped one up, and it tasted like... cucumber. Only not as exciting.
The problem with trying something new is that it is often impossible to know how they're supposed to taste, ideally; I'm still kind of hoping that if I try some of these apparently flavourless fruits again, they'll turn out to be delicious, and discover that the previous ones I had were had been force-ripened, or a specific hybrid raised for export.
mongoose at 3:19PM on 02/23/08
I love trying new things. It's my one and only cooking strategy - had I never attempted anything new, I'd never have eaten eggplant, lentils, kohlrabi, sweet potatoes, dark winter greens, or any ethnic cuisine/ingredients, since I grew up in a chicken-or-chops-with-frozen-vegetables household.
I agree. Dragonfruit's no fun.
KarynMC at 4:26PM on 02/23/08
We have a great Asian Supermarket in the area (it really is a supermarket, not just a small grocery), and while I have my "regular" shopping list when I go there, I often pick something I am entirely unfamiliar with. Sometimes it's a hit, sometimes it's a miss (this is how I found out that pickled mango is definitely not my cup of tea:-)), but I certainly enjoy trying new stuff! Same goes to the farmer's market nearby (it's actually some kind of a hybrid between an Asian grocery and a farmer's market) - whenever I see something new and interesting there, I give it a try.
Life would be really dull if we never tried anything new:-)
brooke29 at 5:27PM on 02/23/08
The farmer's market is a lot of fun, for sure. I love finding odd veggies to try. Nothing makes me happier than when I find some new veggie that I've never seen. Second best is a new variety of something familiar. The purple green beans were a disappointment -- they turned green when I cooked them.
Recently I went with a friend to a big Asian supermarket, and we spent a LOT of time browsing, and I came home with all sorts of things. And before we shopped, we had dim sum. My friend pretty much knew what most of the stuff was, but I had no idea. It was all good, though.
There's a large Mexican supermarket that I've been to a few times since I discovered it -- it's a bit of a drive, so I have to plan for it. They've got a great selection of dried peppers and the produce section is interesting. It's the only place I've found fresh banana leaves. Huge variety of meats and cheeses and spices and sauces. Not all Mexican, either. They've got a section that seems to be more Carribbean, which is great, too.
And there's a huge cheese store in the area. They've got some olive oils and crackers and other things, but mainly it's a big, cold warehouse full of cheese. The owner took me on a personal tasting tour of the place when I was writing an article about them, and it was fantastic. I have to keep myself in check when I go there, or I can go way overbudget.
MMmmmmmm...cheeeeeese!
dbcurrie at 7:50PM on 02/23/08
I won't buy any produce I can't identify, just for safety reasons (wouldn't want to make a mistake on par with cooking with rhubarb leaves), but I will happily try clearly-labelled products I've never seen before. Drinks, snacks, canned goods... all fair game. Ethnic supermarkets are immensely fun.
thebasilqueen at 8:29PM on 02/23/08
I do that a lot more now with the advent of the internet and having access to just about every instruction on the planet.
chiff0nade at 7:43AM on 02/24/08
We don't go out of our way to buy stuff we don't recognize, but we often search for recipes that we don't have a lot of ingredients for or have never heard of, for a change of pace. It's similar to what you do...but the reverse.
Growing up with Japanese markets, and then going to Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean grocery stores as an adult, I don't typically find too many surprises there. Going to Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European grocers on the other hand, are always fun. I keep telling myself to go to the Gaelic grocer nearby, but cannot find the time. It's partly due to their store hours - they're business hours are weekdays (8:00 - 18:00) and they're closed on weekends.
Cassaendra at 8:40AM on 02/24/08
Yay, you've discovered the wonder that is crema! It's basically sour cream, us Mexicans put it on just about anything you'd put sour cream on, but there's no need to use as much. It's much more rich and thick than regular sour cream.
I too buy foods I'm not familiar with, especially when it comes to vegetables. If I come across something at an ethnic market, I'll buy it and then come home and read online about what I can do with it. There's a little India near me and I've bought some pretty strange looking things from Indian bakeries that I quickly grew to love. It's one of the best parts about being open when it comes to food and loving to cook; you find everything worth trying at least once and you come to embrace things you wouldn't have otherwise.
PumpkinBear at 9:33AM on 02/24/08
@pumpkinbear, I've bought crema before, but this is more yogurt-like. I'd say it's about halfway between yogurt and sour cream in flavor and texture.
The label says it's Jocoque and the brand is La Vaquita.
I don't know what it is, but I like it. :-)
If something isn't too expensive, I'll usually buy first, then look it up online later. For one thing, the better finds are usually not close to home, so I'd rather buy it and be disappointed than to decide later that I want it and have to drive back to get it. And with my luck, whatever new treasure I've found is something with a short growing season, and when I go back in a month or two, it's not going to be available.
At the worst, I might end up planting the seeds, if it's a fruit or veggie, just to see what the plant looks like.
dbcurrie at 2:40PM on 02/24/08
I like to try new things, but don't like to spend a lot of money. So I do it in small doses. My cheese shop keeps a basket of tiny cheese pieces, and I like to see what they have to offer. I also like the Asian market. Even if I'm really not in love with something I've purchased, I'll try to make the best out of it, and work the ingredient into a recipe I already know I like.
Kerosena at 3:42PM on 02/25/08