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The Final Party

The last day of class was an interesting day, to say the least. Maggie, Tawnie and I were excited to create our desserts since they were so unique. We got the idea for them from our surroundings. Tawnie and I live with many Chinese students around us, and Maggie and I have an interest in Japanese culture. We felt that it would be best if we went with something that could reflect both of our interests. Thankfully, we got to make both desserts, so it worked out in the end for our team. Our dessert was a sweet soup with tapioca pearls and a matcha coconut ball. The sweet soup was a Chinese based dessert, while the matcha balls were from Japan, and the soup was a Chinese dessert.

              The matcha balls were the easiest dessert to make. Maggie and I basically measured out the ingredients into a blender and blended it until it was a formable consistency. The dessert was primarily coconut based, with the matcha being the flavoring and the maple syrup being the sweetener. I quite enjoyed the texture of it. It reminded me of a coconut cookie, so I was happy. The rice pudding was a little bit different, though. I think if we had found the right ingredients and maybe change some of the processes, it would have turned out a lot better.  We had to substitute many of the ingredients for the recipe to work.  We first couldn’t find the right vegetable for our soup. Then we had to change sizes of the tapioca pearls since the store didn’t have the right size. That mainly affected the texture of the soup, which is what I believe the main problem was the dessert. Despite that, I think it wasn’t bad. I would like to try and make it again at some point with the exact ingredients to get a better experience of the dessert.

              The other desserts were also an experience that I quite enjoyed. My favorite dessert was the tres leches or three milk cake. I enjoyed how moist it was, and how the milk made the cake sweeter. Adding the whipped cream and the strawberries were an added bonus to the cake.  The Jamaican fruit salad, or matrimony, was also different. I was curious to try star fruit, so I was thrilled to see it in the salad. I didn’t eat all of it, but I liked what I ate. The creamy liquid made the grapefruit and the star fruit taste better together.  The bananas were a good touch to the citrus that the other fruits provided. The gelato that the girls made was also good. I’ve never had gelato before, so I didn’t know what exactly to expect. The consistency was a little bit weird for me. The flavor tasted like chocolate custard, but the texture tasted like ice cream. The boy’s banana foster was also delicious. I liked how the sauce complemented the ice cream and the nuts in the dessert. It was an interesting concept, and I'm glad I got to taste these desserts.

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Indian Food

Oh, the curry! I told Deloy that my favorite food was curry from the beginning of the class. I was looking forward to trying Indian curry, especially after my disappointment with Thai curry. I was looking forward to the heat of curry and the possibility of roti bread. And since I love curry so much, I believe that it was perfect that we went to Mr. Curry for my first time having Indian food. Looking at the facts, it’s a surprise to me that I have not had Indian food before this trip. I should have had Indian food beforehand, especially since a good proportion of the population of Bloomington-Normal is from India. There are a few Indian restaurants in town, along with a few Indian groceries stores. Overall, I was happy with my experience and would love to try more Indian food in the future.

Now, to review the food itself. For my meal, I chose to eat nan bread and bathora bread with my Chicken tikka masala. I found that the bread wasn’t what I expected it to be. The bathora bread was meant to be eaten with the curry. I didn’t read the sign beforehand, so I tried it plain the first time. Let’s just say that it was better with the curry. The nan bread was good, though. I quite enjoyed the texture, though it wasn’t like the roti bread that I had hoped it would be. I found that it was more similar to a butter horn roll if it was flattened. I loved the fact though that Bash Annat said that he preferred the Bathora bread. He said to us that many prefer different types of bread over the nan bread because they have more flavor. But to stay in business, he also has to offer nan bread. This is because many Americans would be disappointed if they did not serve nan bread at the buffet. It’s what we expect to see.  Bash also told us about another misconception, which was the fact that Indian food is not as spicy as we think it to be. Some Indian food is spicy, but it’s not as common. I found that the chicken tikka masala was not spicy at all. Even the Japanese curry I’ve had a stronger kick than the masala I had there. But what I loved about the masala was the taste that it did give me. It was well seasoned, along with the rice that I put the curry on. It made me want to try to learn to make it on my own. That was the other concept that Annat discussed with us. India has so many different cultures that use their own seasoning. A curry in one place of Inda will taste completely different than another families’ curry in another part of India. That is probably where the misconception of Indian food being spicy came from. It wasn’t a huge disappointment to find that their food wasn’t spicy. In fact, it makes me want to try more Indian food to taste the different flavors that they use to enhance their food.

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Chinese food

I technically lied when I said that I have never had Chinese food before.  When I was younger, we went to China star each Sunday after church. I never liked the food because it didn’t look appealing to me. I was an already picky eater, so I didn’t want to try it beforehand. Now that I have gotten older, I have started to like Asian cuisine. As I was watching videos on YouTube, I ran across a video that talked about hot pots. Since I had had one in Japan, I was really excited to see what the difference would be. There were some similarities to what I had in Japan, but I found both versions to be delicious and an experience.

Both hot pots had some form of stock in the pot. Our group chose to go with a spicy broth and a non-spicy broth. We were given a plate with a variety of options to boil in the broth. Some of the options were rice noodles, calamari, tofu, and more. They also gave us different types of meat to boil the water. They were lamb, beef, and pork. I don’t typically see meat sliced that thinly, but it helped cook the meat at a faster rate. The way the hot pot worked was by boiling the broth on the table. You were to put the item of your choice in the hot pot and let it cook in the pot. After a while, you would pull it out of the broth and dip it in some sauces. Many fo my Chinese friends told me that the sauce is what made it important and special. The buffet had a lot of sauces to choose from, but I chose not to really try any. I found it to be too complicated, so I threw it out altogether. You would put anything in any pot, and it really created a sense of community, as we each had to reach across from each other. Some of the pots had different broths so it would flavor the items differently.

What I liked about it was that it created a sense of community, unlike any other cuisine we have had. Yes, we had to pass around pots when we had the Italian meal, but this was different. We had to experiment, and discuss with each other what was good and what wasn’t good. I personally loved the calamari, while together at our table did not. Tawnie convinced me to try the rice noodles. They were really good. I found the texture to be chewy, but not too overwhelming. I loved eating the calamari and would love to have it again with a different broth. There were so many other options I could have tired or did try. That is what makes a hot pot a special meal. Not only does it feed people, but it brings them closer together. It’s fun, adventurous, and risky for some. But I would say that this was the best cuisine we have had.

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Dominican

Someone in our class commented that this meal was the closest we were going to get as a reflection of what a meal is actually like. Our meal was served by the wonderful Esteves family. The main course was rice and chicken, with a side of beans and salad. The rice was made with a short grain rice and seasoned with Goya. Goya is a popular seasoning in the Dominican, or at least I assume so. The beans were soaking in a bowl with this flavored juice. I don’t know what the liquid was, which is why I am calling it a juice. In addition to the rice and beans, we were offered both potato salad and a vegetable salad with our meal. They apologized to us because they would usually serve planatnas with the meal, but they could not find any. The Esteves said that that potato salad had less mayonnaise than a typical American potato salad normally does. The family was welcoming and friendly, so I felt comfortable digging into their food.

The food was better than I thought I would be. I started with the rice and beans. You already know from the review of the homeless shelter that I do not like beans and rice together. This was true until I had the Dominican rice and beans. I don’t know what makes up the Goya seasoning, but I sure did love it. It reminded me of Mexican rice. This shouldn’t be a surprise since the Dominican food was partially influenced by the Spanish travelers that came through the Dominican. I was told to add the beans to the rice. What surprised me was that the juice actually added to the rice, and took away from the texture of the beans. I don’t normally like the mushy texture fo the beans, so this is why I was so enthralled with this discovery. I also had a potato salad with my meal. Whatever else they put in beside the mayo made it one of the best potato salads I’ve had. It was still creamy, and I found it to be enjoyable.

This meal reflected the most culture I have seen in a while, though. Because we were not sitting in a restaurant, we had to be close to one another and spend time with each other. All of us could hear different conversations going on in the same room, which made it seem like we were growing closer as a class. I also enjoyed the conversations we had with the Esteves family about their culture. I found that they had a lot of similar values to the Italians. The Italians and the Dominican culture both place a heavy value on eating meals together as a family. Food is a tool that is used to bring people together and for celebration. Sometimes this can be for Quinceanera or big holidays like Christmas. This meal was more common for an everyday meal, but they talked about most of their memories came from eating food with their family. Our culture tends to lose sight of this, so it was great to have this experience again.

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Etheopian

Eating at an Ethiopian restaurant was an interesting experience. I was curious about this style of cuisine beforehand when I saw the documentary in class. This is because I never considered trying an African American cuisine before. Sure, I’ve heard of Thai food or Mongolian food, but those are Asian. I’m literally surrounded by Asian food. So I was glad that we were trying something that is not Americanized just yet. The restaurant was very basic, with white walls and few decorations on the wall. This also made it feel very open at the same time. Though that may be due to the fact that we had a big group, and that there were not a lot of people in the restaurant. We also ordered our food in a different way than we normally would. I liked the fact that we had to share our meals together because it gave me a chance to try new types of food. For example, I’ve not really had lamb before this class. But Matt ordered a lamb dish that I had wanted to try as well as my dish. It was unique.

Another aspect of the meal that was unique was the way the meal was served. Our food was served in groups. There wasn’t just one plate per person. It was a plate for three or four people. I liked this because it caused us to have to plan out what we were going to eat with each other. We had to take into consideration what others would want to eat. For example, Baylen chose to get the veggie combo since someone else on his table had chosen to get fish and meat. It added variety to their plate.

Our group chooses to focus on eating meat. I chose to get Doro wot, which was a spicy sauce that covered a chicken and a boiled egg. Matt got the lamb tips, and I do not remember what joseph ordered, except for the fact that it was beef. It may have been beef tips. Our food was each served on its own roll of bread. That’s the other thing that was unique about Ethiopian food. Instead of eating with utensils, we had to eat it with injera. Injera bread is sourdough based bread that is rolled up. You have to peel back the bread to eat your meal. It is soft but had a hint of lemon to it. I quite enjoyed eating it by itself. My favorite though was the lamb tips. They reminded me of one of my favorite Mexican dishes and tasted very similar to it. I loved the spicy peppers and how the lamb was cooked. On my friend's platter, I quite enjoyed the fried fish they had. The batter was delicious, and the fish was flavored well. I can see why this was Maggie's favorite dish, and I would love it if we went back.

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Creole food

Many have mentioned that they can’t tell the difference between Cajun food and Creole food. This is because they are very similar, and they came from the same place. After this meal, I am still unsure what the difference would be, since both the Cajun meal and the Creole meal was very similar in taste and presentation. I will have to look at research to help expand what I ate and to help understand where the difference is.

              We ate at Maison in New Orleans for our experience of creole food. My research basically told me that creole food does not put any tomatoes in their food. But I still have not found out why they do not put tomatoes in their gumbo. Speaking of gumbo that was one of the dishes that was offered to us at the Masion. This was the third time I have had gumbo in two days, so I was getting tired of it. I ate it, but it wasn’t that spicy. I believe it had chicken in it, and it had rice as well. At the buffet, they also offered alligator jambalaya. I didn’t eat it because I have a fear of eating jambalaya. I had a lot of jambalaya growing up, so I am burned out on jambalaya. They offered us basic southern food such as potato salad and a regular salad. They food I was most excited for though was the Po’Boy. This time we could make our own Po’Boy. It had chicken, mayonnaise, mustard, and a variety of vegetables. There was a spicy sauce that reminded me of barbecue that I put on the chicken, and I found that this was my favorite Po’Boy. This may be because I could make it myself, and put on whatever I like, After all, New Orleans is known for its creativity in cooking, so I’m glad I got to make my own version of it.

              The experience of the restaurant was slightly different than Mother’s or Dooky Chases. For the first time, there was live jazz playing in the background. I enjoyed watching the players perform while others were talking. We had the freedom to eat and move around. It was more relaxed than the other meals. However, I did not like the buffet style. I felt like it took away from the experience of a family style meal. That is not to say that we didn’t really chat with each other. This style of cooking still allowed us to hang out with each other. It was fun to chat, but I was done. I think if I were to eat here again, I would want to come with a local who is more aware of what makes Creole cooking what it is. I would want to know more about the history, besides the fact that it is considered to be city food. I wanted to know more, and I felt that it was missing. The food was good, but I missed the culture aspect, and I wish that wasn’t the case.

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French Quaters

It was muggy when our group arrived at café Duemonde. But our group was excited to eat our French breakfast.  The café was packed with people, which is a good sign of good food. The café didn’t have a variety of options, but it didn’t matter to the customers. Looking at the tables of all the customers, I could see that the majority of the customers had the beignets and coffee. That is what this café is known for. We also decided to try them as well. We got in line, and order our food. It didn’t take very long for us to get our food. The beignets were covered in powdered in powdered sugar and in a paper bag.  It was to the point that there were small chunks of powdered sugar within the bag. I also got café au latte, which was a latte, or coffee with half and half. We got our food at a fast rate, which was good for us. We needed to get out of the café since it was crowded.

To get away from the crowd, we decided to move to the French court to eat our breakfast. It wasn’t a far walk from the café, so our food was still hot when we reached the park. I decided to eat the beignets first. Honestly, the concept of the beignets is not that profound. The beignet was basically a fried piece of dough covered with powder sugar. This is not to say that it wasn’t good. Not to say that it wasn’t good. I quite enjoyed it. The simplicity is what made it taste good.  The coffee was also alright. I’m not a huge fan of coffee, so I wasn’t very excited to have it. It was what I expected it to be like, which was hot and bitter. I found that adding the chunks of powder sugar added to the coffee, as it got rid of the hot bitter taste from the coffee.

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Soul Food Questions

How much did the Chinese food influence soul food?

How is red a flavor?

Does “Soul” still have a negative connotation today as it did back then?

http://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/real-history-of-soul-food-article

http://firstwefeast.com/eat/2015/08/an-illustrated-history-of-soul-food

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Mother’s Cajun Food

After a long day of traveling, we arrived at New Orleans to eat at Mothers. Mother’s is well known by the whole community because of the food. Their food is the best example of cajun food. We first went back into a room that was secluded from the main dining hall. The line for the register was elongated with customers who were looking at menus. Many of the customers had a variety of types of food. Some had the catfish, while others had a po’boy. And since I wasn’t able to do research beforehand, I wasn’t aware of what we were going to have. Boy was I going to be in for a surprise.

This meal was one of the best meals I have eaten, and I was stuffed since I ate so much food. They first served us two types of gumbo. I received the chicken gumbo, while my friend Maggie received the seafood gumbo. It also had rice in it, and the taste reminded me of the curry that I dearly love. We then were brought out fried pieces of fish. Some of them were shrimp, while others were oysters and catfish. They also brought out crawfish etouffee with rice. I found the crawfish etouffee to be very similar to the gumbo that was served to us. And as for the fish, it was some of the best-fried fish I’ve had. Because New Orleans is right on the Ocean, it is easier to get a better quality of seafood. That is part of the reason for the great tasting fish. I believe the sea food was also good since the breading was really delicious. I was told by Mr. Pizzo that we should put tabasco on our food. Apparently, many locals will put hot sauce on everything. I have been slowly getting into spicy food, so I figured I would try the tabasco. Let’s just say that I started using it whenever I can now because hot sauces can make food delicious. I loved having it on the seafood.

By far, though, my favorite part of the meal was the Po’Boy. HOLY SMOKES!!!! It’s not that the Po’boy concept is revolutionary. Any Po’boy sandwich is made up of bread, some form of meat and a sauce. Very basic, but can be twisted into many forms. Mothers Po’boy was made up of ham, roast beef, and what reminded me of beef pot roast, and a type of mayonnaise. The bread that held the meat was a simple white bread. It reminded me of a French loaf, with it’s crunchy outside and soft inside. I believe the best part of the sandwich was the debrief and the juice that emitted from it. Mr. Pizzo told us that when they first started selling Po’boys a customer asked to put the leftover roast beef that fell into the pot onto the sandwich. From then on, it grew in popularity and is served on the sandwich normally.

New Orleans is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Many people left for a while, including Mr. Pizzo. Mr. Pizzo was the Public Relations Director of Mothers. He went on to tell us that the reason he came back to New Orleans was because he missed the food and the city. Even the waiters told us that the food was one of the reasons why they came back to New Orleans. The community values food, unlike any other city I have ever seen. Food makes up a huge part of New Orleans culture, which is why it is important to taste their food. It helps to understand who they are.

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Jewish Food

The Jewish meal used food in a unique way. They used food to tell and celebrate an important part of their history.  The teacher asked us to be present with each other as we join together to eat this meal. The Passover is an eight-day long holiday that celebrates the Israelites freedom from slavery from the Egyptian pharaoh. They were to take babies goat and sacrifice it to God.  The Jews then were to take the blood from the goat and then pair it on their door frame. This spared them from the angle that God would send over Egypt to kill the first born sons. That is why the Passover is so important to the Jews.

Our meal was a combination of tradition Passover meal and a typical Jewish meal. During the first part of the meal, we went over some of the typical food that has to mean during the holiday. We also discussed the fact that this would be the Last Supper. The first food we had was grape juice or wine. We started the meal by praying over the grape juice. This was supposed to represent the blood of Jesus. We then dipped parsley into salt water to remember the tears of the slaves. The next part of the meal was to break the unleavened bread. Unleavened bread is a cracker-like bread that is eaten during the Passover. It is broken into bits to represent the broken bones of their ancestors. God commanded the Jews to eat this bread during the Passover. If they are any bread that has any yeast in it, then they would be exiled. As we broke the bread, we prayed a blessing over the bread, and then drank some more grape juice. Our table then proceeded to eat a traditional Jewish meal. We had chicken, potato pancakes, and more. The potato pancakes were similar to those we had at the Feasting Fox but worse. The chicken was alright since it was plain. Finally, they also served us challah bread, which is not typically served at a Jewish Passover. This is because the Jews cannot eat yeast during the Passover.  However, our teachers wanted to give us a taste of a popular Jewish food, so they served us anyway. I guess they wanted us to be exiled from the Israelites since that was the punishment people would face if they ate yeast during the Passover.

After eating our meal, we then were passed the pieces of unleavened bread to eat. They were served with an apple pie and a variety of nuts on top of the bread. We ate the bread and moved on. We drank the third sip of the grape juice and prayed a blessing over the entrances of the door. We finished with the last sip of the grape juice and left on our way. I found it weird that food could have such a celebratory meaning. Each part of the meal had a tradition behind it and a meaning for each part of the ceremony. I also found it weird to think that this was the same type of meal Jesus had as the Last Supper. I didn’t really consider the details of Jesus’s story in the last supper, so it was eye-opening to experience it in real life.

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Italian Impression

I was not excited for this meal at all. This cuisine was the one that I was not looking forward to since I do not like pasta. Despite my reservations towards the experience, I was committed to trying everything that they offered, and try I did. I was hoping to have something different than what we actually had, so I was disappointed with the options. If I were to describe this meal to anyone else, I would say that this meal represents the American version of Italian food. This is not to say that I did not learn about Italian food and the culture.  The night was not a complete waste because there were some aspects of Italian cuisine that I actually appreciated tonight. I think the main aspect I gained from Italian cuisine was how it brought people closer together, and how we were shown a sense of community throughout the whole experience. My research showed me this, and I’m glad I got to experience this first hand. But I would like to try something different next time.

When we first arrived at the Hills, we met up with our tour guide Joe. His ancestors were from Southern Italy, or the Sicilian providence. Throughout the tour, you could see that history was important to him. He told stories and had connections everywhere. I remember when he was telling us about how his uncles or cousins came from Italy in 1970 and opened up a grocery store full of Italian food. There were so many unknown cheeses and meats that I had never seen before in my life. But what also stuck out to me was how he was talking about one of the workers at the store. We had the worker earlier that day, but joe felt that it was important to point out where this guy worked. Apparently, this guy worked at the back of the store making Italian sausages.  This seems like a minute detail, but it brought up a concept that we haven’t really discussed in class. The Italians not only care for the food that they eat but also the process of that makes their food Italian. They take pride in the preparation of the food, which is something new to me. Joe was proud of the Italian bakery that we went to. Joe values the connection that happened over food, which is something I have not really seen in any other cuisine before we studied Italian food.

Now on to the food. The first dish we had was fried ravioli. Anyone who knows me knows that I dislike pasta. I do not like the texture of pasta, especially when it is a big chunk. I felt frustrated when I also saw that it was fried. Do not get me, wrong, because I actually found that it tasted better fried that if I had had it plain with the tomato sauce. My frustration came from the fact that it was not authentically Italian. I believe that it was either Joe or the Project Director who told us that it was at this particular restaurant was where fried ravioli gain it’s national popularity. This goes the same for the main course we had, which was pasta covered with alfredo sauce or marinara sauce.  Not only were we served pasta, but meat to go along with the pasta. They served us chicken and meatballs. I quite enjoyed them. The meatballs surprised me the most because they are the best meatballs I have ever had. I never liked meatballs growing up, so that’s why I’m surprised I actually enjoyed them.  But I still have my complaints.  In my research, I was told that meat and pasta are not typically if ever, served together. Pasta and chicken or any other form of meat are supposed to be main dishes and should not be combined together. Meat is meant to be served separately and after the pasta. That is why I asked the chef why they kept the meat separate from the pasta. He did not answer my question in the way I expected him to. It was also disappointing to see that the main chef was not Italian. I may have to do more research into his background, but I believe he is American.

I would like to go back to that restaurant to try another dish that is possibly different. This meal was by far the most disappointing. I may have set my expectations too high for this culture, but I would like to go back and try a more unique Italian dish,  I would specifically like to go to an Italian family to try the food and see what it is like to dine with an Italian family. 

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Homeless Shelter

I would say that the way the homeless shelter views food was and is vastly differently different than any culture. To the homeless shelter, food is a tool to help people and reach out to them. They use food to help bring people closer to Christ and to help meet nutritional needs. This is important, as there are many homeless people in ST Louis. The way the pantry is set up is that people will grab carts and will have volunteers shop with the customers.  This is when the volunteers get a chance to care for the homeless and meet their needs.  Eve shared with us how there was a time when the volunteers went above and beyond to show Christ love to them. That is why the food pantry is such a powerful way to share the gospel with people.

              Another way the food was used is by trying to bring others out into the shelter. The homeless will often need more than just food. They may need help with a job or with their children. When the homeless shelter provides food, they also offer other services such as haircuts or clothes. This opens up other ways for the campus to provide the homeless people. They can reach other families by providing their children a daycare center and church services. That will also feed them spiritually as well.

I wanted to know how the pantry dealt with the nutritional needs of the homeless. When I was doing research, I noticed that many of the foods that food pantries will receive will contain a lot of sodium and low nutrients that the homeless need to survive. This is a big issue for the food pantry community. The Homeless shelter in St. Louis handled this well by having healthy options as well in their pantry. They had fresh vegetables and eggs in their fridges. They tried to offer fruits as well. Eve, one of the tour guides, told us that they often get donations from restaurants and farms. This is how they get the healthier options for their customers. The main problem is that their customers do not want the healthy options, and would rather go for the brownies or cookies because they taste better. In this case, there is not much the homeless shelter can do but give them what they want.

We had the pleasure of having food provided for us at the shelter. It was a nutritious and basic meal. We were offered beans and rice, with fresh fruit and vegetables. There wasn’t much flavor per say, but that wasn’t the purpose of the meal. The purpose of the meal is to provide a good source of vitamins and minerals and nutrients to the workers and the homeless shelter. The goal of the homeless shelter is to build a stronger community, and the food allows a way to build up a stronger community with those in need.

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Ethiopian

“Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christians do not eat meat and dairy products (i.e. egg, butter, milk, and cheese) on Wednesdays and Fridays.” Why is this? What does Tewahedo mean?

Why do they put salt in their coffee?

What is the relationship between the Christian Ethiopians and the Mulsim Ethiopians? In the documentary from class, we saw that they shared food together. Is that common?

http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Ethiopia.html

http://www.ethiopiantreasures.co.uk/pages/culture.htm

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Creole Food

Why Is creole food more of a city food than a cajun food?

Why Is the tomato the biggest difference between Creole food and Cajun food?

What meat is more common in Creole cooking? 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/travel/cnngo-cajun-creole/

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Cajuin food

Why is Lafayette know for Cajun food rather than New Orleans?

What exactly makes up the holy trinity of Cajun cooking. I thought that it was made up of spices?

How do many of the outsider cooks learn Cajun and Creole cooking if it most often learned from family?

http://www.louisianatravel.com/articles/cajun-vs-creole-food-what-difference

http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2008/11/holy-trinity-of-cooking.html#axzz4W9j5Bod9

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Indian Food

Why is a long grain rice more common there than a short grain rice?

What type of indian food is popular in America, or is it just a combination fo all of the regions in India

http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-food/

Do any of the spices that the Indians use reflet their religions or the God’s they follow?

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/india/articles/indias-most-common-and-flavorful-spices/

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Chinese Hot Pot

What will they do if a person is a vegetarian? What type of broth would be used?

When are Hotpots typically served, especially since they are considered special?

How common are individual Hotpots in China? Are they becoming more common? 

How do you make a Hotpot at home? 

http://www.tabelog.us/articles/10-unique-facts-to-know-about-chinese-hot-pot