Question Mark: A Memorable Endive Salad
Plus: New foods for Mark and what to do when your grill is on fire
You asked, and we answered. We love hearing from our community, and there’s nothing better than sparking real conversations around your questions. Got something on your mind? Let us know: members@bittmanproject.com. You might just be featured in an upcoming “Question Mark” email. Let’s keep the dialogue going—we’re listening.
Also, remember that we’re seeking out recipes that you're hoping to find. Is there a squash dish you had at a hole in the wall in Cincinnati that you're dying to recreate at home? Pasta in Pittsburgh? Let us know, and we'll do the digging. (See below for today’s request.)
Q: When was the last time you ate a food you’d never eaten before? – Mike
A: That’s such a great question.
We were just in Italy for a few weeks, and I can’t think of a thing I ate there that I hadn’t eaten before.
So I’ll tell you the best story of the last time I ate something I’d never eaten before. Two years ago, Kathleen and I were in this northeast part of India called Meghalaya, and we were visiting villages, traditional villages where things have not changed all that much. We were with a couple who are kind of celebrities; that is, celebrities in the sense that they’ve done a lot to help the villagers in preserving their (the villagers’) foodways.
We went to a lunch in one place that had about 60 dishes. (That was unusual, but often there were lunches that had 10 or 15 dishes.) And there was this plate with this stuff, and it was about the size of a finger, and it looked sort of like a spear of asparagus but it had a husk on it, like it was corn. It was very different looking—but familiar at the same time. And delicious, although I can’t describe what it tasted like.
I asked the villagers, “where do you get this?” And they’re like, “from those trees over there.”
