This dish originated from Spain and made its way to Cuba and most of the Caribbean region. Ropa vieja is Spanish for “Old Clothes.”

Moros y Cristianos is Spanish for “Moors and Christians”—a reference to the black beans against the white rice.

A popular Cuban appetizer, Sopa de Frijoles Negros is a soup with Black Beans.

The traditional cuban pressed sandwich, also known as cubano, is made out of ham, roasted pork, cheese, pickles, mustard on Cuban bread.

Miso soup, the simply delicious soup that is consumed every day by the Japanese is composed of dashi, soy bean paste, and cubes of tofu (bean curd).

Miscellaneous Japanese Food ingredients like sesame seeds, udon noodles, wasabi, & shitake mushrooms.

Dashi is made from two key ingredients which are key to Japanese cuisine: kombu and bonito flakes. Kombu is dried seaweed. It is interesting to note that kombu was the reason for the discovery of man’s fifth “taste.” Much like the apple is to the discovery of gravity.

Central to the Japanese cuisine is rice. One of the most convenient rice snack I’ve ever had is the Onigiri. These are rice balls wrapped in seaweed. It’s in convenience stores all over Japan.

The soya bean rules Asian cuisine. No other food ingredient comes close to beating this bean’s hold on the title: THE Asian Bean.

Tempura is readily identified as Japanese food. You’ll be surprised that it has its roots from the Portuguese.

In this article, we will be talking about what makes Japanese food taste like Japanese food.

Japanese cuisine is often described as delicate, subtle, highly visual, meticulous, refined, and small. It’s all of these things and more.

This big citrus fruit, rich in vitamin c and potassium, is a native of Malaysia and is regarded as the ancestor of the grapefruit.

While there are different types of rice, and a lot of world cuisines employ rice, it is unquestionably associated with asian food more than anything else.

A biryani is an all-in-one North Indian dish which combines basmati rice, meat or vegetables, spices, and yogurt.

I have always been interested in world food flavours. For example, what makes Italian food Italian or Indonesian food Indonesian?

Couscous (kuskusu in Arabic) is coarsely grained semolina pasta. The grain is a staple in many North African countries like Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. It is probably Berber in origin. Over the past decade, it has become more popular in North American menus & dinner table.

According to The Ethnic Food Lover’s Companion, fortune cookies definitely originated from the United States. It was invented in 1916 by a California noodle maker named David Jung.

I attended a cooking class a while back in the attempt to learn food styling. We ended up not really learning about food styling but the food we prepared was simply good. Here’s a sample of the food that we prepared—mostly Italian and New American I would say.

Probably the most popular Botswana food, seswaa is a slowly cooked meat served with boiled greens like African spinach or cabbage.

Who doesn’t love noodles? There a numerous asian noodles that one could buy.

Pine Nuts, also known as Indian nut, pinon, pignoli or pignolia is the key ingredient in the Italian pesto.

These beans resemble kidneys and so are known as kidney beans. Others refer to them as red beans.

Coming from the seeds of the almond-tree fruit, almonds are yellowish and have a subtle flavor.

Thyme is a key ingredient in European cuisine especially in France.

Palm sugar comes from the sap of the coconut palm. It has a rich caramel-like flavor.

Cumin seeds and powder is a key ingredient in Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine primarily Thai and Vietnamese.

Tofu is a dietary staple in Asian cookery specially Chinese, Japanese, and Thai.

A look at Japanese plastic food displays. Very helpful when you can’t speak the language.

What is (or was?) an Indian Breakfast like. Here’s one take on it.

Chicken Panang shows all the hallmarks of Thai cooking. Thai flavours usually combine fish sauce (nam bla), lemon grass, shrimp paste, and ginger root to create this amazing complex flavour.

A simple tofu dish from the Philippines.