My encounters with food have been very interesting. If you happened to read my earlier post about food here: Abstemiousness to gluttonousness, you would know what I am talking about. There was a time when I hated eating and hated trying new food. There were very less number of dishes that I ate. But suddenly my hatredness towards food vanished into thin air. When mom made food was not available and after having eaten the food that I cooked, I think any food on this planet would feel tastier. When I can eat that horrible dish that I made, I can eat anything in any restaurant, as long as it is vegetarian. Why Vegetarian only? No, not because of caste or religion, it’s because I love animals and would not want to hurt them at any cost.
Some of my non-vegetarian friends ask me, aren’t you killing plants and even they are living beings. I usually tell them that I am just picking a fruit from the plant, and the plant still lives. It does not die when people pluck some leaves/fruits from a tree/plant. But when you are eating an animal, you are actually killing it. Of course, this applies to vegetables like beet root, which die since you eat their root. I would rather not hurt animals or plants as much as possible.
Okay, this was not the point of this post. I wanted to list different kinds of food that I have started liking, those food that I never tried tasting before. The credit goes to my friends’ gang which had all types of foodies and since I would accompany them to various restaurants, I became a foodie myself (against my wishes). Here is a list of my favorite food (other than Indian) –
If you have not tasted these, I would recommend you to taste these food at least once.
1. Other than Indian food, my most favorite food is Thai (the most popular Asian cuisine). In Thai food, I like Pineapple fried rice and Thai red curry the most. I like eating the curries with brown rice (more than white rice). Thai is the closest to Indian food. It’s really spicy and most of the dishes have coconut milk in them. I am also fond of Thai Iced Tea (also made of coconut milk). Thai fried Banana is a dessert and when I heard it for the first time, I wondered how they could fry Banana. But it is really too good. | |
Thai red curry |
Brown rice |
Thai Ice tea |
Fried Banana |
2. My next favorite is Mexican. I love their Burritos, Burrito bowls (Chipotle), Tacos, Quesadillas (Chilis’), Chalupas, Gordita (Taco Bell), Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes (Taco Bell), Nachos (most favorite chips of mine with Salsa), Guacamole, hot Artichoke-Spinach Dip – in short, everything Mexican. They use Jalapenos and Avocados which happen to be my favourites 🙂 Usually Mexican food is spicy too. Looks like I like spicy food a lot. | |
Burrito bowl |
Quesadillas |
Chalupa (Baja/Supreme) |
Nachos |
3. My next favorite is Italian (the most popular European cuisine). I just love Pizzas (who doesn’t love them? :D) and Pastas. Favorite being Tomato Basil Pasta. This time when I ate a pizza in India, I did not like it much. I prefer American pizzas than the Indian ones. They are totally different in terms of the crust or the ingredients or the taste. I like all kinds of pastas and pizzas. I like flatbread pizzas and not the thick bread ones. I like Lasagna, Tuscan bread, Cheese Ravioli and Tiramisu dessert toooo 🙂 European reminds me of French Fries, which I would have frequently in the past. But cannot afford to eat it anymore (due to obvious reasons :P). | |
Flatbread pizza |
Tomato Basil pasta |
4. The next favorite is Chinese. I love chinese noodles. Apparently, Gobi-manchurian is NOT chinese 🙂 It is an indo-chinese food, invented in India. I don’t fancy it much and I am glad that it is not chinese after all. Chinese dishes that I like are again Fried rice and Chow-mein noodles. I also love Tofu and anything with tofu in it. Tofu is made of soyabean and hence is much healthier compared to paneer. | |
Chow-mein |
Fried Rice |
5. My next favorite is Mongolian. The Great Khan’s mongolian barbeque noodles are very tasty. The way they prepare the noodles is quite interesting to see. They have a huge stove and they do it in front of us. It is spicy and yummy 🙂 I recently ate noodles at a Malaysian place and it was tasty too. | |
Mongolian BBQ |
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6. Next in the list is Mediterranean. Pita breads, Cous cous (which tastes like Upma), Hummus (it’s like a chutney) and Falafel (which is like a Vada). Love them all. But my most favorite dish is their dessert, Baklava. Pista and Cashew Baklava is something that I just loooove 🙂 I want to learn how to make this sweet badly. | |
Falafel |
Baklava |
7. How can I forget American? Yes I love it too 🙂 Burgers, Pizzas (especially those available in California), Pancakes to name a few. | |
Burger |
Pancakes |
8. Another category that I forgot to mention is Ethiopian. I was apprehensive about trying this but fell in love with it. It looks and tastes like Dosa (called Injera) and the curries are very nice. If you are looking for a veggie dish, this is one of the good veggie options available. | |
Ethiopian |
So here ends the food journey. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I have seen some people who don’t try anything and prefer sticking to Indian food. I would suggest all such people to try out different cuisines. Because unless you try out, how will you know whether it is good or not. I was one of those people who abstained from trying new food. But now I realize the value of eating different kinds of food 🙂 Variety is always good.
Is there any particular food that you like a lot (other than mom-made food)? If so, I would love to hear and probably try having it too.
P.S: I have taken these pictures from the net. If anyone would like me to take a pic out, please drop in a comment. I will immediately take it out. I could not click pics myself and hence had to resort to google images.
For me there are 2 types food, Veg and Non-veg. I eat veg only in that 2 types spicy and not spicy. Anything that is spicy is eatable for me.
I am not against anyone eating non-veg. See a tiger has to hunt to live. Consuming one being to survive is the law of nature and so killing animals to consume(i underline consume) is not bad at all. I don’t need cause i don’t need.
The food you shown here look mostly spicy. My mouth is watering right now. Too bad i cant try all of them because i wont get anything in local place here.
I would love to eat Mexican food.
Hey i love to eat vada pav. I know that is Indian food but still have you tried it
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Oh you like spicy too? 🙂 Welcome to the club then! Yeah Vada Pav is one of my favourites too!! 😀 I love all kinds of Chaat. My favourite is Pav Bhaji.
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Me too all for spicy food 😀 and I luvvvv chats 🙂
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Count me in for spicy foods 🙂
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yay! lot of people like spicy food then 🙂
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AND ME!!!!phuchkas(thats the bengali variant of pani puri,soo much better I tell ya!And *bangal* food heh,its all about spice!Come to calcutta and I shall show thee!
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I have been to Calcutta plenty of times when I was a kid (since we stay very close to Cal) but dont remember eating Phuchkas. I really wanna visit bengal again gal! 🙂 I kinda miss it now 😀
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I hate you….meko bhook lag gayi, reading this post….:(
Mummy has already scolded me as I was troubling her while cooking…
anyways…I am against hurting the dumb, mute plants so always prefer non-veg food. its a fair game na? Adapt or perish…
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hehe 😀 That’s why sid.. I wrote this post soon after I finished my lunch else I would have hated my post 🙂 Mom-made food is the best, isnt it?
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Wowie and i thought i was a foodie. Thats a huge list!! And it has made me hungry now. I love italian and momos , just crazy abt these two.
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🙂 I havent tried momos though. I love italian a lot 🙂
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oye ladki, tu itne sare pictures lagayegi amazing food ke, and expect me to praise you? ewwwwwwwww…u r so bad :-S
anyways since I am here, let me comment too 😛
yummazing post to be honest..I love food too; but I can afford to eat french fries too thanks to my high metabolism 😀
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hehe. sorry Neha 😀 LOL. Think of this as a dinner party for celebrating your blog’s anniversary 😉
Yep you can afford to eat anything, I guess 🙂 I seriously have to stop eating outside since I have been gaining weight a lot.
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Yum!!! my mouth is watering… 😀 😀
I’m a foodie so i can completely understand…
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🙂 You too love food! 🙂 Awesome girl
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I already had dinner else I’d have been tempted to have Pasta right-away(So you know my favourite now). I also love Mexican (all the ones you’ve listed). Yumm yumm..Have heard a lot of encouraging feedback about Thai..I shall try! Delicious post Ash;-)
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Hehe 😀 Smart girl, reading after dinner eh? 🙂 I wrote this after lunch for the same reason 😛 Pasta is your favorite too? cool. Yeah do try Thai sometime. It’s very very much like Indian.
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Hmm interesting read.
Thai tops your list eh?. So you must like the Lemon grass and chilly flavors?. I like Green Curry more than Red curry, as red is pretty close(not exact or anything :D) to Indian curries. Oh I have tried Thai curries in Aussie, Singa, India and Thailand itself :D. Pad Thai another dish I liked it a lot. Did you try Papaya salad(nothing to do with the Papaya fruit :D). Not sure if you get that in US of A, but I got that in Aussie and Thai(not tried in India).
Italian Pizzas and Pastas. Hmm not bad. Too much calories though. Plain Pastas are not bad though with some Olives and Tomatoes :D.
Mexican – Nachos are the worst of lot to me. Maybe my bad experiences throughout. Don’t you get bored after eating those beans and bitter cream xdoh. I like the burritos though. Best one I had was in Gold coast.
Chinese – Too much of those. So no comments.
Middle East more than Mediterranean. As I don’t think falafel are native to Spain/Italy. It’s more to do with the Jordan, Syria, Iran thing. Anyway, Falafel you get bored after eating for a day or two. Not good for your tummy too. I will avoid it if I am backpacking. I like the Middle East sweets. The Iranian ones are the best. Baklava you are planning to cook in home eh? 24 layers with multiple players of fry fruits, honey, sweet :D. God bless you.
Mangol – The noodles are like earth worms. I don’t like em one bit.
Vietnamese – hate to say, but non-veggies will love it. We got very limited options :(.
Try Tibetian. Starters are simple and goes easy on your tummy. Or Malay – curry and rice or thick noodle(koithai). Ooh lala.
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Hmm Thai green curry is good too but I somehow like red curry more. How was it like in Thailand? Different from other places? I have just tried Americanized Thai which will be different from authentic I think. Pad Thai is good too, missed out in the list. Havent tried Papaya salad though. Yeah Italian is always full of cheese and hence more calories 😦
Nachos here are really good. Maybe the place where you tasted did not have good ones. I like Mexican a lot because their food is very tasty 😀
Here they call all those dishes Mediterranean. I dont know how to prepare Baklava 😛 If I had read the menu, probably I wouldnt have mentioned about preparing. Hmm but I really love it.
Vietnamese havent tried. But have tried Ethiopian and it was pretty good. Have you tried that?
Malay noodles have tried them but not the curry. Tibetian – havent tried. Should try sometime.
Btw what is your most favourite among all these?
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100% different. Original Pad-Thai I quite liked it. Aussie one was ok-ok at the best. Indian was some how very nice. Papaya salad I have to go Thai again :(. Awesome it was, opposite to MBK shopping complex, you can see that place sitting in McD. Very spicy though, not sure I can enjoy that like before.
You just order them with less cheese :D. Simple. Or run for 2 hours before you touch those. Clean pastas are good for your diet though. I like the salads they make. Very fresh and healthy.
I am not against Nachos or anything. It’s just that you get bored after a while. Same nachos, same sour cream and the damn same beans *yucks*. I had Nacho in Taco Bill *xdoh*. You have better options if you ask me.
Lol, it’s a very famous Lebanese sweet, you will runaway if you had read the recipe. I have seen it prepared in TV and it takes lots and lots of patience. Lots and lots of flour, honey, dry fruits and more dry fruits. Tastes really nice though. I am Ok with it, as it tastes like sweet puff with dry fruits. There are other Iranian/Middle Eastern sweets which tastes even better. Give it a try. Forgot the names.
Viet-nam-ese, hmm you should try. For sure there would be tons of Vietnamese restaurants in US of A. Aussie we used to get really nice South East Asian/Vietnamese food. One restaurant was this – http://www.redspiceroad.com/ . Awesome food and loved the ambience. Was too scared to venture into Indonesian restaurants. The smell of pork chops was too evident and drew me away.
Nope. No Ethiopian. What type is it?. Not sure we get in India.
Tibetian – Ya, give it a go. Very easy on your tummy and very nice :D.
Pashtun I would like to try and it’s easily available in Bangalore.
Most fav?. Very tough to single out one. Close tie between Thai and Malay. Thai, as I have tried it first hand in Thai itself. Most of the veggie Thai ones we had tried. Malay as I just love those Koi-Thais :D. Pity that I didn’t get my visa to visit Malay-land(didn’t had 15 days waiting time to process the visas :P).
Oh totally forgot about Korean and Japs. very limited options, but loved the Korean I got in Kiwi-land(maybe I was just very hungry and the only option at 10:30 in the night was to eat the sticky rice :D). It was quite funny explaining him that I am a veggie lol.
Need to travel more alva :P.
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Then I really want to go to Thailand and taste that curry there 😀 Yeah that is the problem. The authentic will be too spicy I guess. I cant handle the americanized version itself. I usually dont like authentic ones e.g chinese authentic is terrible but americanized chinese is awesome. Oh Taco Bell nachos arent that great. But I like them in authentic mexican places. They are damn spicy and full of cheese on top 😛 I like cheese.. hehe
oh I havent tried other middle eastern sweets. Should check them out then.
Vietnamese restaurants are there here. But I somehow havent visited them. Should try sometime. Indonesian might not be that good. Not sure though. Havent tried that too.
Malaysian noodles rock. Yeah even I have tried them.
Ethiopian is like dosa. A very huge dosa and on top they put lot of curries. Somewhat like that. It was tasty.
Oh Korean and Japs havent tried. I dont like salads and Japs dont have anything veg other than salads I guess. They specialize in sushi (fish). Korean havent tried. More non-veg stuff I think.
Yeah these are the perks for travelling abroad right? I love travelling. Wish I was a millionaire and could travel all around the world 😛
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See the pic of Ethiopian food that I have put in the post now 🙂
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That was a perfect treat for a foodie like me. I am a big fan of eating variety of foods and at the same time trying my hand at cooking them 🙂
Enjoy the spectrum of these yummy flavors and keep serving spicy stories 🙂
Cheers 😀
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😀 oh you are a foodie too! 🙂 awesome girl. I havent tried cooking any of them, other than Indian. I need to try a hand at them sometime 🙂
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an award for you here
http://destinychildosheen.blogspot.com/2010/03/avalanche-of-awards-ii.html
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Thanks girlie 😀
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Food is such a interesting subject … n i simply love it esp. the Italian (non spicy with lots of cream n cheese … Awesome !!)n Mexican (spicy n colorful)…other than that i love Bengali or South Indian food 🙂
But the sad part is that now u will start gaining weight as u have started loving food … so be little careful !!
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Oh you like italian too? cool! 😀 Yeah they have like loaded with cheese.. hehe. Yeah that is the saddest part of liking food 😦 Once you start liking them, you start bloating like hell. I gained so much of weight after I started eating out 😦
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Yummy is the word!! And seeing so many tempting dishes early in the morning…I am hungry. Gosh…I am fasting today… Pls forgive me Lord!! 😀
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Oh sorry for making you read this on a day when you were fasting! Must have been so difficult for us to restrain from eating after seeing so many pics. 🙂
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Mouth Watering…!!!
….n now i feel so hungry!
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🙂 🙂 Yeah even looking at food makes us hungry
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Hi Ashwini
Great collections.
i am hungry now……..hahahaha
Food is perhaps the most important reason for my existence apart from travel..lol
Mexican food was interesting……
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Thanks IP 🙂 🙂 Yeah that’s true. Even I cant live without tasty food!
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You posting about food-my respect for you just went up a notch….or 1000! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
EMh…I’m a slave to gluttony!Just LOVE pizzas and pastas and mughlai!And chinese!phew Lamb and tofu? *WIN*!!
I haven’t tasted janese yet,have you?hmm
oh and a little Amoretti 😛 for you here
http://disapearingcaravan.blogspot.com/2010/03/pocket-full-of-appreciation.html
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😀 😀 thanks sweetie 😀 Even I havent tasted japanese. But they are good at sushi food (fish). I dont eat fish but they have veggie stuff like salads I guess. I dont like salads too 😦 But I heard they eat most of the food raw, even meat. And thanks sooo much for the awards 🙂 🙂
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I meant japanese.sigh lol
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I like all kinda food! Living, non living, I don’t care!
Nothing gives me the pleasure that I get while enjoying food!
Anyways so therez no name for the Ethiopian stuff?
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🙂 Me toooo! 🙂
Ethiopian dosa like thingy is called Injera, I guess!
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nice pics
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Thanks sm 🙂 🙂
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thats a lot of varieties AK… 🙂 🙂 I never tasted foods other than Indian and Chinese… actually I am afraid of taking different varieties as I have a thought that indian chefs will change taste according to ours…
so nothing much to add as you would have had Indian items…
and I am not able to turn as vegetarian… st times I am killing some chicken or fish.. hope someday I will get out of that habit….
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Yeah usually all these food will be indianized I guess. I want to travel more and taste more food 🙂 🙂 It’s interesting na, there are so many varieties of food available everywhere.
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Naice 🙂
Foodies rule :p
Bt now um feeling hungry in middle of the night 😦
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😀 Thanks vipul. Hehe yeah foodies rule 😀 Hungry kya? That’s why I open my blog these days only after having lunch/dinner.. hehe
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I am a vegetarian too… and i love few of the dishes you have mentioned :).
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Hey thanks for visiting my blog 🙂 I had read few of your posts too but couldnt comment. Love your stories a lot girl 🙂
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Loved this post. Good to know of so many variety in food across countries.!
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Thanks Nishant 🙂 And welcome to my blog 🙂 Do you blog too? If so, would love to read yours sometime 🙂
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Your Blog gave me an idea to do something similar on my own blog. lece How it goes :).. now I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise just yet.
and yeah do read up on my blog, its on travel and restaurant reviews :).
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cool! would love to read your take on food 🙂 Hey you dint give me a link to your blog. Is it about travel? Cool! I love travelling and reading about travel too!
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ooo my blog link is here: talkreviews.wordpress.com :)..
and oh, while u are at it. check my photoblog too: photoinspire.wordpress.com
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Thanks for the link. Will drop in 🙂
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I made a mistake reading this post Grrrrrrrrr am damn hungry now and want spicy food 😛
I love spicy veg dishes! Yummmmy! Going to have something 😀
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hehe 😀 I should have put a warning at the beginning – “Read only just after finishing your lunch or dinner” 🙂 😀
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Hey..That sounds totally like me, Except that I lost my apetite for Italian, esp Pizzas…(One wrong pizza accident and I am tending towards avoiding them totally).
Havent tried ethiopian yet..But have heard the crepes..Looks tasty…
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oh…yes..and I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee fried Banana with icecream..
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Oh Dil.. what happened? Actually these days even I have reduced eating pizzas. Have got bored of eating them too often. Yeah Ethiopian is tasty but not many like it. Oh you like fried banana too? cool. It’s a pretty nice dessert na
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Nice list and pics. I would say the traditional Indian diet is the best in the world.
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That is true. Nothing can beat Indian food. No matter what we have, we end up craving for Indian food all the time 🙂
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