The thing I enjoy most about learning about different cultures is the food. I believe you can really learn a lot about a different culture by consuming their cuisine. And of course, being the multiculti maven that I am, I constantly search for connections between one country's culinary fare and another.
Here's my favorite, the turnover. I'm talking about a scrap of pastry stuffed with some sort of savory filling. Almost every culture has a version of this dish. Why? Because almost every culture makes dough. And everyone who makes dough knows that there's always some leftover scraps. What do you do with those scraps? You fill them with last night's dinner and tah-dah, a new taste sensation.
So here Meltingpot Readers, "the turnover," translated:
The turnover in:
Jamaica is a beef patty (Tumeric colored dough stuffed with spicy beef)
Spain is an empanada (Favorite fillings include tuna and chorizo. Not to be confused with the empanada from Argentina which uses a different dough and has more variations of fillings)
Puerto Rico is a pastel (So delicious because they are usually deep fried)
Now here's where I'm extrapolating, but tell me if I'm not making real connections...
The turnover in:
China is a dumpling
Poland is a pierogi
In India is a samosa
Where does your favorite turnover come from and what is it stuffed with?
Peace.
