Food

I was just reading the leisure section of the local newspaper this Sunday morning and I came across an interview with a Starbucks manager. She was born in Hong Kong, studied in the US, and is now working in Singapore. She says despite the intervening years spent in the West, she thinks that Chinese food is "real" food.

I think so too! My palate is decidedly Asian; I think Asian food are truly hearty food, except Japanese cuisine. Food that are presented too exquisitely and elaborately dampens my appetite. Food are supposed to look delicious, gloriously messy, ready to be tucked in! Those that look like art are "cold", unsensual, structured. Japanese food is a bit like that; same for French. Besides, the Japanese like their food raw, which is something I cannot abide by. This is not to say I don't enjoy the occasional sushi and don dishes.

There are certain Western food that I like; I crave for McMuffins, breads (especially sandwiches and burgers), and cakes (generous slices of butter cake, moist and fluffy coffee swiss rolls, rich chocolate mousse cake--you name it, I like it!) often and especially for breakfast, but come dinner my preferred meal would be Asian.

It may be because my favourite flavours are savoury and spicy. Western cuisine lack these flavours. Cream, cheese, olive oli, tomato puree: These are all quite incompatible with my tastebuds. I also don't eat beef so that rules out steaks, the mainstay of Western food.

On the other hand, I really like rice and noodles, the carbo stuff. Noodles are more versatile and have more variety. Yum!