What makes a dish a “national dish”? What is your country’s national dish? Can there be more than one? Can countries share a national dish?
After a pretty long book I’m not sure I’m any closer to knowing the answer to any of these questions. I read about a lot of foods, but I also got a great big helping of sociology, history, and politics. Of course the foods we eat are enjoyed in the shadow of these big issues – but shouldn’t eating be a non-political act? I don’t think that people should be adamant about where the dish comes from or what ingredients are required – if it is delicious and we share it together then it is mission accomplished.
Maybe I am naive but it felt like the author went looking for controversy here, and spent a lot of time, money and effort to visit various countries on what seems like a fool’s errand. Was she hoping to get everyone to agree on something? You can walk around a big city and find people to agree or disagree with whatever facts you’d care to throw out there.
I just would prefer to hear the history of a dish and learn how it came to be, in all its variations and regional differences. I know that some countries have invested political capital in the idea that a dish is unique to that country, but maybe the author would have benefitted from starting from a point before that political statement was made.
I enjoyed the book overall, but some of these points kept coming back to me and it was a little frustrating after a while. However the extremely well-written epilogue on borsch and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia was some of the best writing of the whole book. More like that, please!
Next I am reading Racing the Light by Robert Crais.
