While Hong Kong food is delicious, many of us wanted to have some food from back home. A few of my friends chose to make their traditional dishes from home. Since we come from many cultures, each person had a night where they would cook.
One of my friends from Italy made a recipe that was handed down by his grandmother. It was a simple tomato sauce with penne pasta and basil. We ate it with bread and a simple side dish of salad. On another day, I helped him make a quick pesto dish that we were able to eat with bread and cheese. Both of these dishes were delicious. I thought it was nice to experience the culture of places I have never been to. While the United States has many dishes from different cultures, it is not the same as experiencing the food from the home country.
I thought this was especially true when one of my friends who’s Palestinian made us hummus for the first time. She told me that each family has slightly different recipes, but common ingredients include chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, and lemon juice. Her family also adds ice to smooth the consistency of the hummus. It was quite an ordeal to make the hummus because we did not have a food processor on hand. So in order to make the hummus, we had to borrow a tiny blender from our floor’s RA. However, the blender was tiny and it was difficult to make the hummus without dulling the blades. In the end, while the hummus was chunkier than my friend would’ve liked, it was delicious! We even managed to find a couple pieces of flat bread to eat it with to make the meal that much more authentic.
Taila