Alernative Cusine

If there would have been more turkish immigration to the US Döner Kebap could have become a popular fast food alternative to burgers, especially in its sandwich style pita- or role-style dürüm-version. It has become one of the most popular fast foods in Europe with sales figures overtaking those of hamburgers and sausages in some countries in the last decades in OTL.

Also a different colonial history would have changed popular food in different countries quite significantly, e.g. if the French would have been victorious in the seven years war in India, indian cuisine would have had an important influence on french cuisine. With a surviving roman empire we might be still using garum to spice our food.
 
If there would have been more turkish immigration to the US Döner Kebap could have become a popular fast food alternative to burgers, especially in its sandwich style pita- or role-style dürüm-version. It has become one of the most popular fast foods in Europe with sales figures overtaking those of hamburgers and sausages in some countries in the last decades in OTL.

Burritos pretty much fill the niche of the doner kebap in America.

Has anyone tried Vietnamese sandwiches? Excellent fusion of the baguette and Vietnamese grill. Doesn't sound like it would work, but it tastes great.
 
Burritos pretty much fill the niche of the doner kebap in America.

Has anyone tried Vietnamese sandwiches? Excellent fusion of the baguette and Vietnamese grill. Doesn't sound like it would work, but it tastes great.

That and Gyro's are quite common, though not as ubiquitous or popular as the Doner Kebab is in Europe.

As for the Vietnamese sandwiches, one of my friends in St. Paul raves about them. The upper Midwest has a large hmong population, especially in the twin cities where one can find exceptional Vietnamese food.
 
Banh mi (the Vietnamese baguette sandwich) is interesting. They're usually called Vietnamese hoagies on menus here in southeastern Pennsylvania, and I hear in other parts of the United States they take on the name of the local long roll sandwich - sub, po-boy, etc. They're really good.
 
I excuse myself for bumping this, so to bring this nice change of subjects for once, and focusing on Garum...

When and why it was 'lost'?

Could it had been kept alive?

Would it have changed cuisine(s) of mediteranea, and beyond?
 
According to this, garum may not have died out so much as evolved into other things — anchoiade, tapenade, "gentleman's relish" and so on. The trouble with the pure fish extract was that it was prone to going bad.


On the original topic, I am actually trying to develop the outlines of a new cuisine for British Florida in my own TL. It's South Asian with Native American influences (heavy use of beans, squash and nixtamalized corn) and some Caribbean and Provençal influences. (They'll probably come up with a fermented fish sauce or two.)
 
I would be fascinated to learn about which kind of cuisines would come of alternate colonial states and cultures, like if Chineses colonised Americas....
 
I excuse myself for bumping this, so to bring this nice change of subjects for once, and focusing on Garum...

When and why it was 'lost'?

Could it had been kept alive?

Would it have changed cuisine(s) of mediteranean, and beyond?

It wasn't lost so much as went out of style. You can still buy sauces made by a process very close to that described by ancient authorities in Southern Italy today. And of course, anchovy paste comes remarkably close in terms of flavour.
 
Another aspect - different religious or cultural taboos, and so different cuisines trend maybe...

A world without Jewish kasherout would have maybe some different cuisines indeed - and no Halal in islam, maybe.

What if Rastafarism got serious, and so 'I-tal'?
Pythagorism, and no beans?
India and Asia without vegetarism traditions?
 
More of a speculative then AH question but what would be the ethical ramifications of meat grown in a laboratory for vegetarians ? If it became possible to create whole "synthsteaks" by replicating cells scraped from a still living animal, you wouldn't be able to give the "meat is murder" objection.

Imagine if this caught on, "nature's own" meat might be seen with something approaching the reaction of most westerners when confronted with dog's meat.
 
Well, some more luddistish groups would oppose anyway maybe, on fear of insalubrity or if there is possibilities it is not so healthy... but it's another subject.


Something from a SRC radio show... the Americas, Australia, etc... have native fruits, plants, meats, etc that may have features in cuisines, depending on POD... Fingerlimes, saskatoon berries, etc... they start to be used more, by example.

If by example some cultures had not been smashed, maybe their heirloom crops and stuff would be more popular - qinoa, by example?
 
One thing that has always puzzled me is why kangaroo meat is not more popular in australia. I mean, you can buy it at the supermarket easily enough but its not anywhere on the same level as lamb, an imported animal.

Kangaroo actualy has alot going for it being lean and high in iron & protein. Also, being native, its not destructive to the environment the way some imported feral animals are (like rabbits).

Would be interesting to have an early governor encouraging the farming of kangaroo for pelts and food that might lead to the meat being a staple in pie and on barbecue.
 
On the subject of meat, and also taboo, an old classic, much debated...

Pork, the most known taboo (but one of them only) of both kosherut and halal rules.

If those religion(s) never existed, OR the taboo on it never called, would pork be noneless in culinary traditions of middle east and around?
It is often debated it was actually a taboo based originally on perhaps more ecological OR health sanitary need, but....

Would alt jews, arabs, turks, etc eat pork anyway?


(Heck, does christians and non-jews-muslims of the region to and beyond eat pork? In sinosphere, it is a beloved meat, yeah, but...)
 
On the subject of meat, and also taboo, an old classic, much debated...

Pork, the most known taboo (but one of them only) of both kosherut and halal rules.

If those religion(s) never existed, OR the taboo on it never called, would pork be noneless in culinary traditions of middle east and around?
It is often debated it was actually a taboo based originally on perhaps more ecological OR health sanitary need, but....

Would alt jews, arabs, turks, etc eat pork anyway?


(Heck, does christians and non-jews-muslims of the region to and beyond eat pork? In sinosphere, it is a beloved meat, yeah, but...)

Very likely yes, but not in a big way. To answer the last part first, some Middle Eastern Christians (Copts and Palestinians e.g.) keep pigs and eat pork, but it has been stigmatised for so long that it's not a very popular meat with them.

We know from archeology and written sources that pigs were kept and eaten in parts of the Middle East for a long time. They are, however, not ideal animals for that environment. Pigs need water and shade, while goats can thrive on very dry food and little water in the hot sunshine. There are parts of the Middle East where you have ample water, shade, and enough roots or nuts, but these are areas of first preference, and sooner or later someone will want to turn them into fields, orchards or gardens. Pigs do not coexist well with farming, they are quite destructive and can best be kept either indoors or foraging in wood and scrubland. Since there isn't too much forest in most of the Middle East (now - it used to be different in many places), the only viable option is keeping them indoors and feeding them garbage. that is exactly what Coptic Christians did in many Egyptian cities, BTW, but you can imagine what it does to the social status of a meat to be associated with a distrusted minority and grabage disposal).

My guess is that without a taboo, pigs would continue to be kept in farmsteads to dispose of things other animals cannot turn into meat (pigs can eat the dung of many animals and organic wastes that neither ruminants nor dogs will touch). There would alsao very likely be forest mast, but the increasing pressure on good land would limit or even destroy that. The typical marginal herding activity would be goat, not swine, and goats would incidentally see to it no forest regrows to shade the pigs. The pattern of keeping single pigs for garbage disposal and eventual slaughter was a common one in European towns until the twentieth century and many farming families that got out of stockraising otherwise kept it up to this day. There is no reason why it shouldn't work. The problem is, of course, that pork does not keep too well in the heat, pigs can transmit diseases to humans, and the status of the animal will be quite poor compared to the sheep and cattle that measure a man's wealth. Fat-tailed sheep can also meet the demand for animal fats that in Northwestern Europe, pigs and aquatic birds were raised for. I would imagine pigs would be quite marginal. It could end up a poor-people thing the way goat did in large parts of Germany.
 
Another indirectly related thing; with food, come drinks too.

In a world without Islam, judaism or such, or vastly different faiths, would there be taboos on alcohol? (In theory, alcohol is haram to muslims...)

Would some modern days OTL muslim areas have some famous drinks? I remember hearing by example praises on the wines of Maghreb... And maybe Iran would be a wine producer.

In my fantasy world, a region equivalent to central asia - the 'turkestan' of old, where supposedly the apple came from, the locals have a passion for a cider, and also a sort of cider brandy.
 
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