food obsessions

emerson pointed out that about 90% of my blog entries are on the subject of food... i guess that´s pretty accurate, and the other 10% are usually about cats or dogs. i feel that this issue warrants further examination. for those of you who loyally followed g and e´s excellent adventure last year you will notice i was far less food obsessed, preferring to write instead about topics such as culture, landscape, or activities engaged in. why is it so different this time around?

first of all southeast asia, (with the exception of cambodia), has the best food in the world. i don´t care what the french have to say about this, their tastebuds are already nuked from smoking two packs a day. this fact alone should end the debate. second of all, india is the easiest place in the world to travel if you are a vegetarian. everything in india is vegetarian, in fact, much of the indian population probably has a hard time getting enough protein because in many instances even eggs are considered taboo. in the holy cities of varanasi and rishikesh if you want to eat meat you have to take a taxi to the red light district where you will see gaudy signs advertising chicken, and "wine shops" that sell malt liquor, and something called "scotch".
india and s.e. asia are two parts of the world where people rely on a mind-boggling, gorgeous, vast array of fruits and vegetables for the better parts of their diet. now cut to argentina, where one must never forget to order food items "sin jamon", (without ham). ham is a major food group here--on par with the "cereals and grains" part of our food guide pyramid. one time i was in a restaurant in buenos aires and there were tiny bits of pureed ham in the bread. another time i ordered a veggie burger, specifying "no pancetta", because it was topped with bacon on the menu, when it arrived they had put ham instead of bacon on it. we tried to figure out what might have been going through the chef´s mind on that one, "no bacon eh? well that´s just not healthy... i know, i´ll give her ham instead of bacon." what the fuck? this morning we went out for breakfast and attempted to order toast with our coffee. the waitress informed us that we could not have plain toast, the toast all had ham and cheese on it... what is this, an episode of saturday night live?
when you (rarely) do encounter "vegetarian" food it seems like the chef is trying to create a whole new food genre. never is asian or middle-eastern or mediterranean food referenced, it´s like: mashed potatoes mixed with corn, carrots, and diced hard-boiled egg--sure, why not? or how about eggplant in pancake batter with a side of roasted apples, sundried tomatoes, onion, and potato slathered in a mushroom cream sauce. i tried it and let me tell you--the mushroom cream sauce really did nothing for the roasted apples. some people are thinking waaaay too hard. i guess i just find it remarkably hilarious and odd.
i took it for granted last year that all of the food was amazing. it´s hard to subsist mostly on pizza and ice-cream even though my little sister mani would probably disagree. it makes me crabby. it makes me fantasize about beans and brown rice and tofu--stuff that my little sister would hate.
now that i have explained this to you all, i promise to devote more of the writing to culture, landscape and activities, although at least 10% of my entries will still focus largely on cats and dogs.
peace