international wonders of food and culture
I loved the International day our kids school had this weekend, especially as it was suitably timed close to October 24th to reflect the international United Nation’s Day. The idea was for everyone to share a piece of their culture in the form of food and possibly by dressing in national outfits and by bringing some music too.
Surprisingly for a Chinese bi-lingual school we ended up having food from Finland (ours), Spain, France, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Israel, Russia, Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Japan… and of course from the US too – mainly on the dessert side to reflect all the cookies and pies!
The international day is ready to kick off
Korean and Chinese delicatessen
My Finnish summer soup (Kesäkeitto) with rye sandwiches topped with cheese and cucumber
Japanese sushi and Korean BBQ
Interesting Dutch Hutsput – yummy but not sure what the ingredients were
Leaf-wrapped delicatessen – I think this was from Philippines..?
Pisang Cucur – i.e. Banana Fritters
Typical European treats – olives, bruchetta and quiche
I am not calling myself super gready, but I wanted to try a bit of everything and ended up three plates – two for main courses…
…and one for desserts. I did only try the exotic looking ones as there was so much on offer!
My own offering was a typical vegetarian soup offered in Finland in summertime, hence the name Summer Soup – the ingredients are the kind of that one could grow themselves in that Northern country. One typically eats rye sandwiches with the soup, and the Finnish way of eating a sandwich is to use one slice of bread and to top it off with cheese and cucumber or tomato and lettuce. For those wanting to try this simple, healthy soup here’s the recipe – just adjust the amount based on how watery soup you want and how many portions you need. It takes less than 30 minutes from start to dining table – and most time here is allocated for the boiling of the soup, so no hard labour required!
Finnish Summer Soup (serves 6)
Ingredients:
- 3 carrots, sliced (peeled)
- 6 medium potatoes (peeled, diced)
- 1 pack of frozen peas (10 oz – 300-350 g)
- 1 cauliflower (chop/cut into flowerets)
- 4 cups of water
- 5 cups of milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- some butter for flavour (1-2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley finely chopped
Cooking:
1. Bring water and salt to boil, add potatoes, carrots and cauliflower
2. Reduce heat to simmer for 15-20 minutes
3. Add milk, peas and butter, boil another 5 mins
4. Season for more taste if desired, add parsley and serve