Obscure food and bevs

[paralleljalebi]

I've been looking around grocery stores trying to find really oddball stuff. Some more out-there flavours, cool packaging. Trying to merge art and food together in my mind, making the experience of grocery shopping less of a chore and akin to a trip to an art gallery where you can take the works home and chow down.

[paralleljalebi]

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In Bellingham, WA over New Year's weekend, we went to an olive oil/cheese tasting room. The experience was lovely and they had a little section in the back with pastas, beers, hot sauces, and sodas. I picked up a bottle of Baladin's "Mela Zen" and it seemed so interesting to me. An 'Old World' packaging that made me instantly reminiscent of global-village-coffeehouse (GVC) looks from the 1990s. It had a unique flavour, similar to ginger ale, but more citric.

Ever since I've been trying to find out where to get more. Elephants Delicatessen doesn't have any at their NW 22nd location, haven't found any at the Orenco or Slabtown New Seasons, and I won't bother with any of the big-boy stores like Safeway. I was out on SE Division, the "Div" if I might start calling it, and while waiting for the westbound bus I walked around an upscale grocer on the corner. A little shop that was playing Caroline Polachek when I walked in. They had an assortment of everything in its most upscale, niche packaging. The cold bev fridge had two flavours of Baladin sodas. I asked the cashier if he knew where to find more of these, and he didn't, but he did say he made a shirley temple out of it before. Anyway, this one isn't as good as Mela Zen, but I relish in the packaging and the relief of finding these niche Italian sodas somewhere else in America.

[wallflowermolly]

birch beer is a scrumptious beverage - its a new england classic. most people ik either love it or hate it …. i loveee it !! i recomend

[paralleljalebi]

birch beer is a scrumptious beverage - its a new england classic. most people ik either love it or hate it …. i loveee it !! i recomend

looking into this on Wikipedia, id definitely try it as an ice cream float. root beer grew on me recently. welcome to the forum by the way!

[geminiworkshops]

OK, here's one. i bought this at a middle eastern mart like 3 weeks ago. it's a levantine sheep's cheese that varies in aging and flavor depending on the region it's made in. the brand i got is the one pictured exactly as above, it's a lebanese/syrian style take on it. it was aged longer and is crumbly, pickled in sunflower oil and covered in a load of herbs. it's very similar to blue cheese, it's SUPER pungent in smell. like way more than your average blue cheese. you can chop up tomatoes and onions, crumble the cheese and mix it, squeeze some lemon juice and drizzle olive oil to make a really tasty salad. that's how i ate it.

*you can spell it shanklish, shinklish, chanklish, shanklesh,chancliche, sorke, etc... basically the name is as versatile as the cheese itself

[paralleljalebi]

OK, here's one. i bought this at a middle eastern mart like 3 weeks ago. it's a levantine sheep's cheese that varies in aging and flavor depending on the region it's made in. the brand i got is the one pictured exactly as above, it's a lebanese/syrian style take on it. it was aged longer and is crumbly, pickled in sunflower oil and covered in a load of herbs. it's very similar to blue cheese, it's SUPER pungent in smell. like way more than your average blue cheese. you can chop up tomatoes and onions, crumble the cheese and mix it, squeeze some lemon juice and drizzle olive oil to make a really tasty salad. that's how i ate it.

*you can spell it shanklish, shinklish, chanklish, shanklesh,chancliche, sorke, etc... basically the name is as versatile as the cheese itself

This sounds awesome (I'm always looking for easy-to-implement salad ingredients) but I don't know if the smell will upset me. . . I was waiting to see what the cheese man had to say for the obscure foods thread!!

[paralleljalebi]

I really wanna deep dive into middle eastern cooking. I just don't know anything about any of it. I'm mostly versed in Mexican cuisine and some other Hispanic foods but i want to broaden my horizons (both in culinary skill and in tastes) this year.

[geminiworkshops]

I really wanna deep dive into middle eastern cooking. I just don't know anything about any of it. I'm mostly versed in Mexican cuisine and some other Hispanic foods but i want to broaden my horizons (both in culinary skill and in tastes) this year.

it's very versatile, anything from general levantine food to west asian food and north african food is all technically under the same umbrella. i really love lamb/goat gyros (and shawarma is also great), start there and with turkish & egyptian food. more accessible IMO

[paralleljalebi]

I really wanna deep dive into middle eastern cooking. I just don't know anything about any of it. I'm mostly versed in Mexican cuisine and some other Hispanic foods but i want to broaden my horizons (both in culinary skill and in tastes) this year.

it's very versatile, anything from general levantine food to west asian food and north african food is all technically under the same umbrella. i really love lamb/goat gyros (and shawarma is also great), start there and with turkish & egyptian food. more accessible IMO

I haven't had a gyro that I particularly liked yet.. . ..there's a good lebanese place just down the street from where I live, and every time we get food there I feel bad because I just can't bring myself to finish it. Especially the beef kafta...

[geminiworkshops]

please behold the kenyan beef sambusa...



now this food item is VERY similar to an indian samosa, uses the same spices and everything but the frying technique is different and the dough is a little thinner. the beef/veg ratio is also much different (and meat is more commonly used in these, unlike indian samosas which are usually thought of as a great vegan snack for their common lack of meat), this thing is almost all meat. i bought this at an african market in houston called "asante african market" and it was absolutely delicious. will go there again sometime if i can find it to get more.

(many cultures in north africa and west asia also call this a sambusa as opposed to east and south(east) asia, where "samosa" is the preferred term)