Food Questions Challenge

(a.k.a. “all we need is a little love and lots of food” 😄)

This challenge was put out there by James from the always awesome Homebrew Website Club. I’m responding to it because… well, who doesn’t like food? 😆 And sharing tidbits of yourself through something as personal and at the same time as universal as your relationship with food is going to be interesting for sure. So, without further ado, here it goes.

• What was your favourite food growing up?

Now is the time when I completely blank out on my childhood memories 😆, but digging a little I can remember a couple dishes that are my favourites and have been for as long as I can remember: those would be causa rellena, this sort of pie (Wikipedia says it is “best described as a casserole”? no idea about that) made with a dough made from crushed potatoes and a bit of chili peppers and stuffed with all sorts of things, like avocado or tuna mayo; and also sopa a la minuta, a hearty soup made with ground beef, potatoes and these thin noodles called “angel’s hair”.
(And let’s not forget all the desserts my mom made for us when we were kids: cakes, cookies, arroz con leche, crema volteada, etc.)

• What is your favourite food that is made locally? (In your region/country.)

Since I’m a Peruvian living in Spain, I’ll bend the rules a little and name one for Perú and one for Spain.

In Perú: chifa, the food made by Chinese immigrants with local ingredients that ended up being its own thing, a wonderful mixture that is decidedly Chinese in origin, but also not quite Chinese anymore… which makes it so difficult to find abroad because you can go to any Chinese restaurant but it’s just not the same 🥲.

In Spain: tortilla de patata, the simplest of dishes: a potato and onion omelette (although the inclusion of onion is a matter of personal taste and fierce debates 😆). I’ve gotten some weird looks from Spanish people when I mention this instead of paella, for example (which is also good! don’t get me wrong), but maybe it’s the simplicity, or maybe it’s because it was the first thing I ate when I landed in Spain and was very hungry 😅.

• What is your favourite food generally?

oof, that’s a hard one… I don’t consider myself much of a picky eater, but I think fish would be one of my favourites… Maybe because I grew up in a coastal town, where ceviche is eaten on the regular, and the coolness of raw fish meat plus the stinginess of lime juice is something I really like.
(Pasta is a close second, if only because of the occasional overabundance of cheese, which I don’t like 😅)

• What is one food you have had in the last year that you remember warmly?

Since food is better in good company, I remember most warmly a dinner I had with my brother and his girlfriend for his birthday: we went to a fancy barbecue restaurant and had loads of barbecued beef 😆 and had a nice evening celebrating him.

• What food do you really want to try?

I’ve heard about Korean-style barbecue and I’m curious as to what is the difference with a regular barbecue, so I’d like to try that someday in the near future.

• Do you take photos of your meals?

Ever since I started cooking for myself, if I really feel proud of the result, I take a picture 😄. (And most of the times I show it to my family). Also, if the presentation is really good and I’m not too hungry and can remember to do it 😄.

• Savoury or sweet?

my sweet tooth will be the death of me (but at least I’ll die happy 😆)

• Spicy or no?

I can tolerate spice but if given the choice, I’ll generally go for mild to no spice, even though some people back home are on the spicy-on-absolutely-everything camp.
(Craziest thing I’ve seen is people adding chili spice to the wonton soup from chifa 😳)

• Tea or coffee? (Both? Neither?)

I won’t say no to a nice warm cup of tea, but nothing gets me going like a nice warm cup of café con leche, especially now that days are getting colder.