Deee-licious!

What’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?

The ironic thing is, the one thing I once found most delicious is now one of the most abhorred items.

I grew up with Pennsylvania Dutch (i.e., German) cooking. Pretty much everything was boiled. Put a large beef roast in a roasting pan, fill it 2/3 with water, and cook it until the flavor has drained completely. Or, in the case of pot pie, boil everything into a watery, mostly tasteless soup.

In Audio Chimera podcast Episode 8 I talk about a trip to Fort Wayne, IN to see a young woman, and how that went awry. But while there we went out to Taco Bell, and I had a taco. A new flavor sensation! Well, that is to say, flavor! When I came home I bought taco shells and the taco seasoning packet and made it for myself.

Now I find Taco Bell, along with most other “fast” “food” establishments utterly repellent. The quotation marks suggest it is neither fast nor food. At one nocturnal visit to a Taco Bell one night in Hazleton, PA, the speaker said, “Before you order, I have to tell you we’re out of cheese, we’re out of chicken, and we’re out of meat.” Not beef, mind you. Meat.

But that (and subsequent) tacos started my exploration of all things spicy and flavorful: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, my favorites being Indian and Thai. At a Washington DC restaurant called Thai Tanic, I had a bowl of incredibly spicy soup. There were tears, accompanied by sweating out the top of my head, which indicates a high spicy level. Then I went to the bathroom, cleared out my sinuses, and prepared myself for my just-as-spicy entree.

As for Indian, put a bowl of chicken korma in front of me, and I’m a happy man. Pair it with garlic naan and I am in Devaloka. And please, make that a spicy level 5 (maybe 6) out of 10.

If you listen to podcasts and like tales of Indian food, please check out Audio Chimera Episode 18.

And let me know what your favorite foods are, and please like and follow with a swirl of the tongue and a chef’s kiss.