CULTURES OF CAPSICUM

DURING MY STAY in New York, last address: 736 W 186 St.
in Manhattan, off Broadway, I was able to improve my notions
of gastronomy. If you like to taste anything to drink or ingest
from ANY place on earth, this city is the place to visit. Wine,
beer, hard liquor, including Jamaican ginger beer. That is the only
city one may find anything from almost anywhere, to satisfy the crude or sophisticated palate.

In the mentioned borough foods of Cuba, Puerto Rico, China and
that of SPAIN, perhaps the best, is found. I remind the reader that
the Iberian Peninsula was our original mother country, there fore
some inclination as to their superior gastronomy and
the reputation of EL BULLI, may show. You do not have to travel any further.

All the above have one thing in common, RICE, as the essence
of the offer. In all, CAPSICUM, or hot sauce, pique is part of the
equation, except the last. Even if you like noodles/pasta as in the most populated country on earth, the hot, is an option. I do not know of any
cuisine with this variety in that regard.

The Mexican offer for this type of food is better, wider in Brooklyn, particularly in Park Slope. One can enjoy all that is eaten in the country with authenticity, including Mole Rojo/Verde. These are based in corn or maize. The travels of this grain started shortly after the encounter of two cultures or Discovery, take your pick, I do not care. Maize, tomatoes, peppers, and beans are the foundation of these foods that have conquered America the country, far beyond the impact of the twelve million immigrants legals or else in USA. Their beers: Modelo, Dos Equis or XX, are wonderful.

If you are in the Indian, Pakistani mood, really hot and original style,
you have to take the 7 train, also known as the Orient Express
for the fragrance of CURRY that many passengers carry within,
and the huge amount of Koreans, Chinese and else traveling
back and forth. 37th Avenue is your stop. You will be pleasantly
surprised to the incredible wide offer of restaurants and
vegetable shops in that neighborhood.

However, if your mood is into somewhat bland/dull Peruvian, and other
South American cooking styles, (except that of Colombia), get
off in 82nd St. in Queens, in my opinion the ugliest borough.
Besides their recipes, bringing memories of
Puerco Rico, their coffee, pastries, music, wise use of the Spanish,
language, is a pleasant, warm experience. Viva Cali, Chipi Chape y Yumbo.

But if you are REALLY into comparative gastronomy you will have
to travel to LOUISIANA. Their most known dishes GUMBO, JAMBALAYA,
have their connection to SPAIN. Paella, for example, is a similar dish to the second in texture, ingredients, recipes but not in the HOT levels thanks to the JALAPENHO peppers, that will certainly make you cry and else, as I did, as soon as these wonderful ingredients hit your palate.

And that is that. I could get into the HOT peppers, cooking competitions
in the USA, as dry rubs, wet, marinated or not, with tomato sauce or not,
vinegar, pepper, curry, cummin for barbecuing meats.. But you dear reader got my drift. Gastronomy/coooking is closely related to horticulture since the ingredients come from a garden or farm. It does not matter if the other fundamental parts of the dish are from fresh water, salty or ground as in meat, two/four legged, hair or feathers.

Another thing very important in both Gastronomy and Horticulture is
patience. One can not rush either one...Time to go...Keep planting
and cooking both are fun...but horticultural results last longer, are
more pleasant than that over estimated activity, sex.....in my intercontinental humble opinion. Time to go...