Foreign Food Frenzy

One day during lunch with my husband and his coworkers, Brian's boss (a native Singaporean) relayed to me her food trials and tribulations during her extended stay in the US. While Brian and I salivate over just the mention of good Tex-Mex, April had difficulty finding good Singaporean food while in the Bay Area. (Let's just say the 1 Singaporean restaurant saw her family's faces on a weekly basis.) April's son also found it weird that the chicken came without heads and feet, and I'm sure Curry Fish Head (which I am told is excellent) would require a search party to find, if it even exists at all, in San Francisco.

The lack of "home" cooking and the appropriate ingredients is one of the major disadvantages of living away from home. No matter who you are or where you go, the comfort foods you've learned to love are often hard to come by. But whether you are Singaporean in the US or vice versa, to get the food that tantalizes your taste buds is often a matter of creativity, research, money, or all three.

Creativity: Often local goods may be substituted for specialized ingredients not found in your country of residence. Jalapenos are scarce in Singapore, but I have (cautiously) tried an array of local peppers which offer similar flavor and spice. Ground chicken is hard to find but ground pork is plentiful and adds a bit more flavor to our Tex-Mex taco plates. And Brian's cousin on his 25th year in the Philippines has wisely invested in a tortilla press.

Research: Sometimes products you think are not available actually are marketed under different names. In Singapore, Chinese parsley is cilantro and ladyfingers is okra. A quick glance and a whiff confirm the synonymous produce names. And when nomenclature is not the hindrance, sometimes just making connections and asking around will yield the goods you crave. In Nigeria, people will often trade or sell goods carried in from the US and will have pantry sales when their stint is over. One friend had a connection with a local who obtained the unused goods from Air France flights. An impromptu trunk sale would yield such things as smoked salmon, champagne, and of course excellent cheese.

Price: More often than not, the products are available but at a hefty price. Celery at $10 a bunch makes you think twice about making gumbo in Nigeria. $1 per tortilla makes taco salad a little more appealing in Singapore.

And when creativity, research, and money fail there is always the local cuisine to explore, try, and learn to love. Fried plantains are a new favorite of mine, and pork fried rice is now the evening meal when I need something quick (move over spaghetti, there is a new flavor in town)! But no matter where you go, rest assured there will be something for you...it may just take a bit more effort.