In your own words about the flavors of Southeast Asia
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Answer: Growing up in small towns in the Midwest, I have to admit, I had great longing to try exotic foods I read about in magazines and books. Often, in those dark days, a single Chinese restaurant in town represented all of Asia, with its Americanized Chop Suey and brown sauced stir-fries. So it was a big deal for me back in the 1980’s when we made the drive to Chicago for a dose of Museums and culture, and got to try Thai food for the first time.
It was a revelation—it seemed like all the elements of Chinese food, the soy sauce, the noodles, the tofu, had been charged with electrical current in the form of lime, chiles, coconut and fish sauce. Instead of a salty cornstarch gravy, the familiar bean sprouts and veggies were doused in tangy, fresh dressings, or unctuous coconut milk. I fell hard for Pad Thai, a love affair that continues to this day.
From there, branching out to Vietnamese, Malay and Indonesian foods was inevitable for me. It took some time to find authentic restaurants to try, but thanks to some great cookbooks, the flavors invaded my kitchen and found enthusiastic mouths waiting.
While each of these glorious Southeast Asian cuisines is unique, they share many commonalities including a tropical bounty of ingredients, like citrus, coconut, papaya, and endless varieties of vegetables and herbs. The tropical climate also influences the types of dishes that are prepared, with lighter, leaner dishes that won’t weigh you down on a hot day. Because the region is surrounded by oceans, seafood is plentiful, and the particular flavor of fermented fish sauce, shrimp pastes, and endless seafood spiked curry pastes reflects the bounty.
Fish sauce, in particular, is often used in place of salt, and a bottle often sits on the table for seasoning. As odd as it seems to Westerners, it serves a deeper purpose. When fish is fermented and made into a salty liquid, the process breaks down the proteins in the fish, releasing free amino acids. Those amino acids add to the quality of “umami” in the food. Umami is the Japanese word for the fifth taste, which can be described as “meaty” or “mouth-filling.” Because of this, dousing a light bowl of rice noodles and vegetables with fish sauce or soy sauce adds a satisfying mouth-feel that you may not even be aware of. All you might know is that you just want to keep eating!
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