April 10, 2006
If Americans really are too fat--and the consensus seems to be that we are--then that, I assert, results more from our collective exercise deficiency than from the foods we eat. Inventors of the Big Mac? Yes, that's us all right, but come on: Even this overweight American can only recoil in horror from a dessert recipe calling for nine egg yolks and 1-1/2 pounds of sugar.
UPDATE: Furthermore, your average Irish-American potato-lover (yo!) is a total fucking amateur, because to the best of my knowledge, even the Irish haven't figured out a way to put three different varieties of potato into one dish. And they didn't then make it their national dish, either.
UPDATE, AGAIN: I swear on any sacred item you offer me that my professor has this photo posted on her "Sobre Colombia" page:
My boyfriend is now firmly convinced of two things:
1. I have the coolest profesora ever.
2. Someday, somehow, he will visit Colombia.
"Of course you will!" I chirped in response to item 2. "Blindfolded!"
Posted by Ilyka at April 10, 2006 09:27 PM in were you going to finish that?You forgot one crucial thing. Colombian food while it may seem really unhealthy, it is natural. Most US food is full of hormones and other additives.
The ajiaco recipe calls for "strap leaves", I think something was lost in translation, it is "guascas" and there is no equivalent English word. They can be obtained in the US in dehydrated for Kiskas brand. The potatoes cannot be obtained, the criollas can but frozen or in brine, neither good for ajiaco.
Lastly ajiaco isn't the national dish, it is the dish most associated with Bogota. I think bandeja paisa might be more a national dish.
Posted by: Jim at April 15, 2006 08:32 PM