I. WESTERN FOOD
Whilst it is impossible to categorize Western food generically I guess the staple food items would be:
1. Milk (and related products such as cream, yoghurt and cheese)
2. Bread & Cereals
3. Potatoes
4. Vegetables & Fruit
5. Meat (predominantly beef, pork and chicken) & Fish
Let’s take a closer look at each of them:
1. Milk is……well, guess I don’t need to go into details on this!
2. Bread is to the Western people what rice is to the Asian people. Western people consume a huge amount and variety of bread daily, from croissants (mainly for breakfast) to baguette to bagels to “whole-wheat sun kernel multi-grain flower loaf”! Bread is eaten virtually with or during every meal. Cereals, if not used in breads, are readily consumed in a variety of forms: as snacks or cookies, with milk for breakfast etc. And surely you all know the Western equivalent to Congee called “Porridge”!
3. Potatoes must be one of the most versatile vegetable around, used to accompany any type of main dish (except pasta). The four main categories of potato preparation are: baked, mashed, fried or roast. From there, the options / variations are virtually endless……
4. Vegetables & fruits are an essential part of any Western meal. People like to eat vegetables cooked in soups (like “Minestrone”) or raw as salads, and in a variety of preparations – yet usually not for breakfast. It is also common to find people eating nothing but a salad for lunch – albeit a salad that may contain anything from beef cubes to fish fillets to cheese. Besides that, a hot vegetable is usually served with any main meat- or fish dish. Fruits are usually served for dessert (especially for lunch) but are also very frequent at the breakfast table in a variety of forms: as juice, as fruit salads or dried & served with cereals etc.
5. Meat – of which the most popular items are:
a) Beef – used in a variety of ways. Most famous of course is the steak or the hamburger. Talking of steak – here are the most popular “cuts” (meaning types) of steak you’ll find in Bangkok:
i. Sirloin – a flat oval-shaped piece, usually with a stripe of fat on one side; cut from the short loin of the beef.
ii. Tenderloin – a round thick piece, cut from the tenderloin of the beef (the most delicate part)
iii. T-bone – a cut from the beef’s short loin consisting of the sirloin and a small piece of tenderloin served together “on the (back) bone” (has a T-shape)
iv. Porterhouse – actually 2 steaks in one; the sirloin and tenderloin “on the (back) bone”
Steaks are usually measured in weight ounces: 1 oz is equal to approx. 28 grams – so a standard 8 oz steak is approx. 224g of meat. Beef is farmed on large scales in the USA, Australia, Argentina and Brazil. Famous breeds of beef are “Angus”, a breed originally from Scotland, or the most exclusive one called “Kobe”, from the county in Japan with the same name. Kobe beef is specially farmed - word has it that Kobe beef are massaged with sake (rice wine), are fed beer and listen to classical music. Kobe beef contains a very high percent of fat (around 25% as opposed to 6 – 8% for regular beef), making it extremely tender and fragrant when cooked – not to mention expensive!