captainbgraves-blog

[captainbgraves-blog]

Yesterday we got to go to the famous Hill of St. Louis. The hill has been the hub of Italians in St Louis. Dating back to the late eighteen hundreds was when the hill started forming. It was first the men from Italy who found huge clay mines in the area. Clay became a hub of the hill and big money maker. After the men were settled and making money the women and children started to migrate over. The Italians who came over were split. The northern Italians were at the hill and the southern Italians moved to another part of St. Louis. A huge part of the Italian culture was religion. When they were their they built a wooden church hall. In the early nineteen hundreds it ended up burning down. After that they built the new church that opened in the nineteen twenties and is the one that stands today. We got to visit it as part of our tour of the hill. The church was pretty big and historic. The church was built by the people of the hill. Next on the tour was a visit to the center of the hill. We learned the history of the hill and about some historic sports players who came from the hill. After learning about the history we went to the local soap shop. All the soap was cool because it was vegan. It didn’t use any animal at all. They had a really cute dog to make it even more fun at the soap shop. We each got a sample and I picked an orange vanilla one. After the soap we went to play some bocce ball. My team lost but it was still fun to enjoy the Italian sport. Next we got food at a local Italian stop. It was Spanish Italian. The owner was from Spain but had a love for Italian food. The mix worked great for our trip. To start they showed us how they made their margarita pizza and a seafood dish. The pizza was made with provolone cheese, mushrooms, onion, and garlic. It looked really good! After that we tried their salad and two pastas. All the food was really good. We learned that the culture was made up of the surroundring countries. It has a big French and Mediterranean influence. The south has a lot of seafood and the north of Italy used lots of pasta. In Italy they use water and oil for most of the cooking. Our guide said he grew up always having bread in one hand. Bread always goes good with pasta. I learned the hill was like a community. They are together as one. They all come together to discuss the better good of the hill. When I see the hill it almost feels like what you would think Italy would be like. Everyone treats you like family and like a friend. There with open arms. It was a really good end for our class this year.

http://www.yourguidetoitaly.com/history-of-italian-food-cuisine.html

#candc italy

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Today was the first day of the end of class. This class had really been an eye opener and great experience. I have really enjoyed seeing many of the places we went to. I really learned how to learn about people through their cuisine. It was new to be able to learn through ones food. I had always just gone and ate the food. This class has brought me the idea of learning while eating. I liked the trips we took. It was cool to travel and learn the new cultures. It was my second time going to New Orleans and I had a blast. When I went last I didn’t eat too much local cuisine it was mostly just Cajun. We got to learn about Cajun, soul, creole, and Ethiopian. We had quite a bit of time to walk around and expierence the city of New Orleans. I liked how we got to track our steps. It kept us active to help from being sick from lack of exercise. I enjoyed the island we went to. We walked around for like an hour and we ended up finding this really good coffee shop. We got to experience two sides of New Orleans. The day side and the night side. The night side was a little crazy all the bars were packed and everyone seemed to be out and about. The day side was more tourism and people walking to all the cool stores. I left with a shirt like most people do when going places. I really enjoyed the beach stop in the Bay of St. Louis. The beach was really nice and worth the stop. It was funny to watch a class mate run and jump into the water when it was like in the fifty’s. The other part of the trip was the many trips cross the river to Missouri. In Missouri we tried German, Irish, Italian, Sader meal, and Bosnian. In Illinois we got to go to a really good Indian stop. All the places we got to go to had really good cuisine and we got good info on the culture. My favorite cuisine was our Grenville local family stop. It was Dominican cuisine. The stop was basically on campus. I really enjoyed it because it was like no spicy food and all the food was rich in flavor. To begin the class we learned that we shouldn’t be ethnocentric. The definition of ethnocentric is evaluating other peoples and cultures according to the standards of one's own culture. While in this class we didn’t guess or assume the culture based on what we have heard. I’ve always been taught to go in with an empty mind. One of the best parts of the class was having good leaders. Our teachers did a good job helping us really dig in and learn a lot about the culture and picked the perfect places to eat at. I had a lot of fun with the classmates too. In the end I am really glad I got to take this class. Eventhough i couldn’t all the food everyone else could I really liked all the cultures I got to learn about. The class was fun and I recommend taking it!!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html

#candc final

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Wednesday night was a super fun night. It was our dessert night. Our dessert was crepes. We all had to pick a different cuisine to get our dessert from. We chose France. France was a country that was big into the idea of taking flour and making many things out of it. Crepes are a good example of French cuisine. They were made in the mid 1900s. Crepes came from a waiter who was messing around and created this dessert. It was made of flour, eggs, milk and salt. When all was combined we used a pan over the stove to create the crepes. It cooked like thirty seconds on each side. Once we made the crepes we headed to add the toppings inside. The combinations we had were Nutella and strawberries also we had whipped cream and strawberries. To top them off we added chocolate syrup and then a dollop or whipped cream. Overall they were a hit. Historically they would of had powdered sugar on top but we chose to opt out of that aspect. It was a fun night. We ended up not being the only French dessert. The other dessert from France was macaroons. They were made of lemons and a cream middle like a sandwich. Their was also a Spanish cake and a Chinese ball dessert. It was a fun night trying many different cultures and desserts.

https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-crepes-xanthan-gum-free/

#candc dessert

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Yesterday was a lot of fun learning about a different part of the world. We got to touch on Asia. We started the day with China and we got to end the day with India. I will start with a little history about India. India is the third largest country in the world. It is estimated to have around 1,324,171,354 people. I learned that India is divided into states like the United States. It has 29 states. India is known for many things like food and inventions and scenery. India was home to Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was a big activists in history he heavily influenced Martin Luther here in America. Gandhi led India to its independence from Britain. India is not only known for the people but the rich cuisine. Indian cuisine is got a huge influence from the religions that occupy the country. The cuisine has been shaped and formed for over 8000 years. The original diet consisted of dairy, honey, grains, vegetables and fruits. The original religion of Hinduism stated the cow was a scared animal and could not be consumed in the human body. One of the cool facts I learned was that each state had a different view on food. Technically Indian food could get as specific as each state. Indian food is widely known for its spices. Spices became a huge deal throughout the history of this old cuisine. The place we got to adventure to was Mr. Currys Gourmet Indian Restaurant the Edwardsville location. It was cool to hear the man who runs the restaurant did this as a hobby. He said he does it to help people learn about the Indian cuisine. It was really fun that it was only our class there to dine. We started with some of the history of the man who ran the restaurant. He explained where he was from and what he did for a living. Next was the buffett. The buffett was big. It started with the drinks. I chose to drink the chai tea. It is more along the idea of a latte than a tea. It had a strong sweet flavor. After the drinks we grabbed our plates and made it to the food. It started with the choice of bread or rice. I chose the rice and moved onto the meats. I saw the tandoori chicken and picked up a few of those then I chose the beef. Then we made our  way to our tables. I first tried the tandoori chicken. It reminded me of American chicken wings. But once I dug into it my mouth was filled with strong good flavor. Next was the beef. The beef had what seemed like potatoes in it. The texture was like taco beef but the flavor was stronger with a spiciness in it. Our table had three different spices on it. One they called the international sauce. It had spices from around the world and was a popular one. Next was a white sauce which was a yogurt more sweet sauce. Last was the green sauce. It was more on the spicy side with green chillies in it. Overall I really enjoyed getting to eat and enjoy some local Indian cuisine and learn about the rich history of the culture. Now that I have the knowledge I will defiantly revisit the Indian culture and cuisine and hopefully one day take a visit to India to really experience the full culture and cuisine.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Indian_cuisine

#candc indian

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Today we got to experience the culture and cuisine of Asia. We stopped in St. Louis at a place called JoyLuck. JoyLuck is a Chinese hotpot and Buffett joint. Going into the place I was curious on what hot pot is. I learned that it is a bowl that is split into two different water flavors. One is more mild just some veggies and the other was filled with spices. I looked up the history and it originated from China back during the Han dynasty in the 1500s. It was made famous by a ruler who loved to enjoy the hotpot. The water it cooks in consists of salt and spices. We had tons of different elements to put in to cook. We had beef, pork, lamb, fish, shrimp, and octopus. After the beef is in you add noodles or these bread pieces. After you cook you can create your own sauce bowl. The sauce area had like 12 different liquids to mix together to create your perfect sauce. The side I chose was the less spicy not containing many spices in it. In China it is very common to be used to spices and normal to use more spices in the dish. After enjoying all of the meats we got to go to the Buffett. The Buffett consisted of the normal American Chinese cuisine. Like the rice and the spicy chicken and the rolls and the veggies. Anything you can imagine was there. We also had a bunch of desserts. That consisted of jello, many types of cookies, pudding both rice and chocolate, also my favorite which was ice cream. In China there is normally a lot of pastries for dessert. One of the cool things was we got to use chop sticks. Chop sticks have been in the history of Chinese cuisine for a long time making it normal to use. I sadlu could not figure them out so I used a fork. Culture in China is very historic. China has always been promanate in the world. The foods of China have made its way all around the world influencing so many countries and cultures. For example in America we have many “China towns” which have many spectacular spots to hit to get as close to China as we can. It was a good experience in St. Louis to see what Chinese cuisine is like.

http://www.newcastlediggers.com.au/short-history-chinese-cuisine/

#candc asian

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Last night was a really fun and tasty night. We got to experience our first Hispanic cuisine and culture. I heard it was local and walking distance. I got super excited because I love Hispanic cuisine and culture. We went to a local teachers house. When we got there I quickly learned that we were focusing on the Hispanic country of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is a costal Hispanic country. The Dominican Republic is on an island shared with the country of Haiti. One of the things I first learned was how time traditionally works there. Time is turned into an estimate not an exact. The Dominican is mostly a warmer country. Sports are a huge deal in the Dominican. The main sports are baseball and basketball. They are used as a way to make it big and come to America. People in the Dominican are known for being friendly. They want to learn about you and know you. I learned music is huge in the Dominican which is really cool being a music person. Music here is fun and upbeat and easy to dance to. Now we move on to the tasty cuisine. Back in 1412 was when people began to populate the land. The food and taste comes from the Spanish, Arabs and the Africans. Creating a new combination of flavor. We learned that lunch and dinner are ment to be the main meals of the day. They always make time for it to be a big meal. They even take time of work to enjoy food. When you think of Hispanic food you mainly think about how spicy can you get. In the Dominican you focus your food more on the flavor than the spicy. For example we had rice and beans with chicken in it. We had something very similar in New Orleans with Cajun food. So I was going to expect spicy but I was wrong. It consisted of so much flavor that melted in your mouth. I learned that one of the most popularly used items in the Dominican is the plantain. The plantain looked almost identical to a banana so I expected it to be a fruit but ended up being a starch. They said the best way to prepare was frying in a pan and adding salt over top. It reminded me of round French fries. Next I will move on to the potato salad. I thought that I was an expert in the field of potato salad with my mom making it constantly. But I learned it dosnt always have to be based with mayo but it can have way more flavor without it. After the salad was the avacado dish. The avacado dish had tons of sweet flavor in it. Then comes the beans. The beans were looking like baked beans but tasted way better. After all that came dessert. The dessert was flan. It had the texture of custard. They had regular and coconut. Both tasted extremely good and a creamy texture. My thought on Hispanic culture has been changed after enjoying some Dominican food. I used to think all were very similar in their cuisine. Some of the biggest things I got were flavor over spices, the plantain and friendship. When all of those are combined into one you get the great cuisine and culture of the Dominican Republic. Now I really want to take time out of my life to visit this great country and experience it in person.

https://www.visitdominicanrepublic.org/cuisine-in-dominican-republic

#candc hispanic

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One of my favorite spots we hit in the trip was our stop at an Ethiopian restaurant. To be honest I had never had or experienced the culture and cuisine of Ethiopia. It didn’t take long for me to dive in to the rich culture of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is an African country. The country it’s self is over 3 million years old. Ethiopia is home to 105 million people and still has a very traditional way to life espically the cuisine. In New Orleans we got to hit the perfect restraint to showcase the food of its tradition. We went to a place called Cafe Abyssinia. We got to meet a man who explained the cuisine that his country has. One of the first things I learned was that the food it’s self is mainly based on spices. Everything on the menu seemed to have a decent amount of spicieness to it. Flavor was another idea they believed heavy in. Everything is cooked to perfection and the flavor is big with rich spices that might have a kick but full of flavor. Another cool thing about this culture was the eating method. In the culture they use their hands. To get more spiciric they used only their right hand. we asked why and they said they use it becuse before they used toilet paper they wiped with their left hand. The idea of that was kinda different but cool. They ate with bread to help pick up the food. I ordered beef tips. The beef tips were cooked with onions and tomatoes and a little bit of spices. The side of it was a pea based mash and it was extremely good. In Ethiopia the food is based off of three meats. It is lamb, beef and chicken. The other option not as original was the seafood. In New Orleans it was common to get seafood being right by water. Overall Ethiopian food ended up being really cool and fun to learn about the culture and a perfect way to end our trip down to New Orleans.

http://www.foodbycountry.com/Algeria-to-France/Ethiopia.html

#candc ethopia

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Thursday night was our first night in New Orleans! We had a nice 10ish hour ride from Greenville. Luckly the ride didn’t feel as long as the time showed😅. Our first stop in the city of New Orleans was Mother’s. Mothers was a Cajun restaurant not too far into the city. I had never really had Cajun food until we got to stop here. Right off the bat I noticed a big ingredient in Cajun food was seafood. We got to enjoy 5 different plates at mothers. We had jumbalia, crawfish etouffee, shrimp creole, chicken and sausage gumbo and beans and rice. My favorite plate out of all of these good foods was the jumbalia. The jumbalia had a nice kick of heat to it. Jumbalia was a rice based dish with some spices added in in the process of being cooked. Cajun food has a nice story to it. It came from the Acadia people that were deported from Britain to Canada back a while ago. The people from there managed to make their way probably down the Mississippi to the lower parts of Louisiana which for a while was owned by Napoleon and the French. The people I’m sure fit in good being already part French. Little fact about nee Orleans was it was a popular stop back during the trading times on the Mississippi River. Everything seemed to have either seafood or rice involved in the dish. We learned mothers was a famous place because many famous pictures of people who have visited had been put on the wall. For example former presidents would go there to eat when visiting New Orleans. I learned that Cajun food wasn’t really a big hit until 30 years ago they made it professionally. One of the more older restaurants was founded in 1975. You can tell that Cajun food had a nice European feel with a hint of American to it. The main place you can get it is easily New Orleans. I found that really the biggest food that you can buy in store and make at home is the jumbalia. Also one of the cool things we got to do was go to the famous jazz spot called Preservation Hall. Preservation hall is famous for a ay the time young man named Louis Armstrong. Ever since the times of going Louis they have been kicking out jazz traditional and modern. It’s cool because they have kept the place in almost perfect original shape. We got lucky and they played You are my Sunshine for us. Jazz has been a big influence on my music career so I always enjoy stopping for music on a trip to see where today’s music originated from. After the jazz we got to enjoy some yummy dessert at the Fudgery. Overall it was a perfect filling meal and some killer jazz and not to forget about dessert to kick off our trip to New Orleans!

https://www.nola.com/dining-guide/index.ssf/2010/04/cajun_food_has_long_enjoyed_a.html

#candc cajun

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Part 3 for our second day is Das Bevo a German restraint in St. Louis. Honestly I was just expecting some hole in a wall restaurant when we were headed to this place. Pulling up I saw the place and it looked insane. If you wanna see German building in St. Louis area come to Das Bevo! Has a real working windmill and really fancy interior. They said the building was build by the Budweiser family back during prohibition. They used it as a place for a drink and a meal which wasn’t really normal at the time. Normally it was under cover at bars and saloons. Walking in was like a time travel back to old historic German building. We sat down and awaited our meal. Then out came out food. Our plate consisted of a pretzel(which I couldn’t eat😅), knackeurst, schnitzel, kraut and German potato salad. My fav was easily the knackeurst and kraut. I grew up eating kraut and sausage a lot so it was like home. My first bite of the potatoe salad I was like “is this made of beer?” The waitress said just a warm vinegar but it was new to me. Nothing like I’ve had before. One of the cool things about German culture is the idea of sausage being apart of the meals. It adds a good meat to the food plate. The experience was awesome and the food was good and the tour of the historic building was insane. Overall a good day for cuisine and culture!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.livescience.com/44007-german-culture.html

#candc german

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Day 2 of cuisine and culture was split into 3 parts. Part one was getting a hot and delicious Irish breakfast. Irish breakfast consists of 3 things. You have your eggs. Ours were nice and scrambled. They say the best way to do your eggs is cook it in the bacon grease and once scrambled pour some grease back over top. Next we move on to the veggies. Our veggies were consisting of mushrooms and tomatoes that were finely cooked together. Next was my favorite part the meats! On the back of the plate you have the bacon. Irish bacon is to me a mix of regular bacon and Canadian bacon. It had the perfect cooking done to it. Next would be the 2 sausage links or what they call “bangers”. They told us they make it by grinding the sausage insides 3 times to give it a nice texture. On the left of it is white sausage. That is made out of the left over parts of the pig with some grains added on to hold it. Last is the black sausage of “blood” sausage. This is made by draining the blood of the animal and adding in grains. Overall I would consider this a perfectly done meal to bring out the rich traditions of the Irish breakfast

https://www.discoveringireland.com/the-full-irish-breakfast/

#candc irish

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Day one of cuisine and culture!! We got to start our class with taking some time on the English tradition of tea. We had it during traditional time which was 3. I had the pleasure of trying English breakfast tea. When we had the tea we learned about the rich history of tea. I learned that tea actually originated from China and not Britain. We learned that tea has a common battle that occurs. It’s weather you put milk in before the tea or after. I learned also that there is fake tea. It’s tea leaves that aren’t actually real tea but from the wrong type of tree. Today I picked after because it seemed more logical to me lol. Tea is big in that part of the world and even in the us. The us were the inventors of the tea bag which was crazy to me. They say the best way to make tea is with the tea leaves and not the bag. You have to make sure the water is boiled to the right temperature then it’s good to add in the tea whether u put milk in before or after. Although tea isn’t my favorite drink I still had a good expierence of English tradition with friends and classmates.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/history-and-types-of-british-tea-435180

#candc english