Monday, September 13, 2010

Aloha is hello AND good-bye. (So is ciao.)

Last night, I saw the word "gullible" on the ceiling. Well, not quite, but what I mean to say is: I was tricked into believing an obvious lie. I was conned. I let myself be convinced *gasp* that the “free dinner” I was promised would be, as advertised, Hawaiian food.

http://www.bambooandtikis.com/files/uploads/1/image/hawaiian_food.jpg 
Aloooooooooha. 

LIES.

Instead, "free food" turned out to be pizza. Pizza. What a let down.

Seriously.

I mean, I'm Italian; I'm from a region heavily influenced by New York City; I enjoy greasy, cheesy goodness... and Stefano's in Santa Monica is actually pretty good...

Okay, maybe I enjoyed the pizza. All right! I admit it!! It was delicious!! Hawaiian or not, I found it utterly tasty. But I couldn't get the promise of Hawaiian food off of my mind.

Which got me thinking...

Hawaii. HI. The Aloha State. That's a state, it's a part of the United States of America. Yet, somehow, Hawaii is exotic. Probably because it's an island and it's far away and its inhabitants use funny words like "howlie" to describe us mainlanders. Maybe possibly even because many of us have never been to Hawaii and we're fascinated by pineapples and Hula Hoops were awesome in kindergarten. [Though I was always awful at those. Hence my A- in kindergarten gym class. Oh, sweet failure.] Regardless of the reason, though, Hawaii is a state with the attitude of its own island nation.

What if all states were like that?

When it comes to food, they are. No? Think about it. Every state -- at least every one I've visited -- has its own food 'tude. Diversity in lovin' for the oven. In the kitchen, states be b...

You get the point.

Think about Maryland and her salty-sweet fresh crabs.
Kentucky's world famous fried chicken.
Vermont's endless supply of sticky maple syrup.
Florida's lip-puckering key lime pie.
Texas, who has the market cornered on Deep Fried Coke.
And have you ever tried to strike up a conversation with someone with Wisconsin about cheese? They are eerily serious about their cheddar.

So I figured, if I'm going to blog about food and culture, why not start at home?

For me, home is California. When California and food come together in my mind, I generally think automatically of Mexican food, bad bagels, and sourdough bread:

From Boudin Bakery in San Francisco

But "California cuisine" is an actual thing. (What? Granola and non-dairy, meat-free, pesticide free organic?? That's food???) No, it's a real movement, led by my fellow Jersey girl, Alice Waters. California cuisine is fusion cuisine, with an emphasis on fresh, locally grown ingredients. Which I think is fantastic, I'll admit, predominantly because I love avocado. (Who doesn't?? Don't lie.) 

California cuisine is a personal favorite of mine because of the wide range of deliciousness that it can inspire. We all know that fusion is the art of putting together two things that don't seem to belong together, like Asian and Cuban food, high heels and knee socks, John and Kate Gosselin (love ya, Kate). So when it comes to food, fusion is a way to get the best of both worlds (well, the best of both hemispheres... I don't know if anyone's infusing Mars cuisine into menus just yet) on a single plate. Sometimes fusion turn out messily, yes, but sometimes the results are amazing. 

Which brings me full circle. Because someone awesome said, "Hey, Hawaiian food is awesome because of its sweet juicy pineapple and spicy, salty pork." Then that guy said, "Hey, Italy has some awesome pizza. Tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese taste awesome on yeasty dough." And then --FLASH--, that guy said "Duuuuuude. I've got it!!"


A star is born. 

And there's your food for thought. 





(But, California, don't forget, some things just don't go together.)

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