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By kate, February 24, 2012 10:57 pm

If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes, or at least eat their food, it’s a plus for everybody. -Anthony Bourdain

On Valentines Day Neil and I were eating at a mediocre restaurant and it struck me that we needed to expand our food repertoire to include foods we’ve never tried before. This idea was also partially inspired by the random Sri Lankan restaurant we tried over Christmas break where we tasted the most delicious food we’ve ever had. SO scrumptious! I believe I called it a “Superb, amazing, taste bonanza!” in the online review. Our adventurousness in cuisine was well rewarded.

Therefore, we launched the PIG Project: Proud International Gastronomers! Gastronomy can be defined as the study of food and culture, and we want to learn more about world politics, geography, culture, dress, dance, language, art, music and people through this project. Fine food is the principle study of gastronomy, and how can you know which food is the finest if you haven’t search the globe??

We will track these adventures in food and culture as noble PIGs on our blog.

Every week we will try to eat an authentic dish from a different country. We will attempt in this general order to acquire authenticity:

1. Find a restaurant (within a reasonable proximity) that serves the country’s food
2. Find someone from the country & convince them to cook for us
3. Find an event at the local association or the Embassy that we can attend
4. Make a dish from that country

We’ll strive for the closest thing to authentic dishes we can achieve whenever our pocketbooks will allow! We’ll be following a loose alphabetic order, but never skipping ahead to the easy ones (yes, we have looked at the list below & realize this is a long-term project). If nothing else, this will be a great opportunity to explore, meet new friends and get together with old ones. If you are in the DC area and want to come along, shoot us an email and we’ll keep you posted on where, in the world, we are!

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By kate, May 19, 2013 10:59 pm

The best part of this PIG Project was that my Exponent II/ Mormons for the ERA friends Chelsea & Aimee joined us. These are some rockin’, fun, smart-as-a-whip ladies!

Perhaps one of the best things about this restaurant is that when you walk up to it there is a mechanic’s shop by the same name so you immediately get confused… “wait, is this a car repair shop, or a restaurant??”

Also adding to the fun was Junie B Jones & her mama & papa!

We went up to Baltimore to the Kinetic Sculpture Race again this year. Is there a better combination than food, friends, family, costumes and really elaborate, moving works of art? I think not.

Since we were down at the harbor we decided to knock out Cuba from the list at the Little Havana Restaurante and Cantina Cubana right across the water. We had such a fun & large group it was nice that the place turned out to be a rowdy bar.

¡Viva la revolución!

The food, on the other hand, was not exactly authentic Cuban, and leaned more toward the generic Mexican bar food genre. Neil thinks we need to do Cuban 2.0 and get Cuban food that does not involve fajitas. However, we did get plantains, so I am willing to count it.

Plantains for the win! Who’s with me? Does Little Havana count?

One of the fascinating things is that I am actually working on a Cuban case right now at work, so I have been learning a lot more about Cuba. I remember my dad took a trip to Cuba in the ’90s and he said the only thing they were ever able to order at restaurants was a ham sandwich. He tried to order other things on the menu and they would reply “I think you’ll really like the ham sandwich.” Also, all of his film was mysteriously destroyed from that trip, so we never got to see any photos.

While the island has opened up a lot in the last year (now permitting some political dissidents, to travel abroad) there is still a vice-grip on communications on the island and a great deal of intimidation against any one who opposes the Castro government. There are over a million Cubans living in exile around the world.

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By kate, May 5, 2013 8:37 pm

Our great group of Colombian enthusiasts. We had the place to ourselves.

For Colombia we went to Restaurante Monserrate in Arlington. We had resident expert on Colombia, Shane, who served his mission there and somehow pulled out of his backpack two liters of Colombian soda at one point in the evening.

Shane <3 Colombiana

Shane told us that there was a really large range of altitude & thus temperature difference between the various cities in his mission. The terrain is beautiful there, but many areas are tightly controlled by guerrillas or drug cartels, so you have to be very savvy when you travel.

The food was amazing.

Neil had arroz con pollo (rice with chicken). It was flavored rice with peas and chopped chicken pieces in it.

I ordered a typical Colombian chicken soup called “Ajiaco” it was quite flavorful and had potatoes, rice, corn and then you mixed in capers, avocado and cream from the side. (Yes, I did eat chicken soup, but there were no vegetarian options, so my ox was in the mire. It was totally worth it. Delish.)

Not sure if the pupusas were Colombian, but they were delicious. (Don’t worry, that’s not my cerveza. I ate chicken, but I’m not that wild.)

Shane with his hearty, meaty dish and Pony soda.

Emily with her Colombian tamale. Not to be confused with the Mexican tamale, which is much smaller. It’s large enough to be a main course serving. It consists of pork, chicken, veggies, and polenta wrapped in large banana leaves and steamed. It’s served with a small arepa (flat cornbread) on top.

Emily recently went to Colombia for vacation, and while she stayed mostly in the touristy areas she said she felt very safe there. With beautiful beaches and amazing cuisine, she highly recommended Colombia as a destination.

¡Viva Colombia!

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By Neil, April 27, 2013 12:01 pm

A free weeks ago Kate and I went to Philly to visit Ash and Thelma and to eat at the small family-owned restaurant Khmer Kitchen Cambodian. Seeing our dear, dear friends was so fun and the food was more than delicious (yes, we are willing to drive to Philadelphia just for the PIG project, we’re hardcore people). I should end the post here with a few photos below but Kate will get mad unless I say a few things about Cambodia. So here it goes: Cambodian food may be one of the world’s oldest continual cuisines. It uses fresh ingredients, seasonal menus, and simple but really powerful flavors. During the Khmer Rouge  regime in the 70′s the traditional cooking styles almost disappeared and has only made a resurgence in more recent times.

The Khmer Kitchen is owned and operated by a family who came from Cambodia as refugees. They were great and went out of their way to tell us about Cambodia, the food, and the restaurant. I even got to chat with the matriarch of the family as she delighted in how well all of her children could cook. We said we had come up from DC to eat there, and they were thoroughly unimpressed. They said they get customers from all over the east coast, coming from as far as Massachusetts and all around the country. It was good enough that I totally believe it. Completely worth the trip.

The gang outside Khmer Kitchen in Philly.

Here is a video about the restaurant from the website Phily.com

In the background is a traditional salad, nyum sahdau, made from bitter flower leaves, cabbage, cucumbers, and herbs. In the foreground is sah-law ka-koe stew made from papaya, sweet pumpkin, Khmer eggplants, seasonal veggies, and traditional spices.

Thelma eating some unknown spice or vegetable.

A picture of the bitter flower that was included in one of the dishes. The chef told us this spice is a really common ingredient in Cambodian cuisine.

We forgot to write down the names of all the dishes and so I am trying to guess from a menu I found online. I don’t remember what this was called but it was amazing.

Me eating a Khmer eggplant.

I had to try the lemon grass marinated beef sticks and coconut milk and Curry infused chicken sticks. Both…amazing!

Once again it was a delight to try food from a new county with great friends. The food was amazing and I can’t wait to try some more soon… too bad there isn’t a place to eat Cambodian food in DC. If anyone is in the remote vicinity of Philadelphia I cannot more highly recommend this place. They were so friendly, helpful and nice. The flavors were rich and unique.

Nothing better than good friends + good food!

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By Neil, March 12, 2013 10:14 pm

When Kate and I started the PIG project we hoped it would be a great opportunity to experience the culinary delights from around the world. We never planned it would also be an occasion to end our life-long prejudices toward Chinese food. Until Hong Kong Palace my perception of Chinese food were entirely deep-fried and coated with a tasteless glaze as per my experience at small-town all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets in places like Rexburg, Idaho or Valley Springs, CA. Turns out there are 8 culinary traditions in China and for this PIG Project we tried Sichuan style.

Sichuan food is found south central part of China and is known for spicy meat dishes and lots of interesting vegetables.

Spread of dishes

Celery and wood ear mushrooms

The menu had lots of vegetarian options. The celery and wood ear mushrooms were Kate’s favorite. We also had some garlic spinach and bok choy, both which where also good.

Vegetarian pot stickers

For starters we had some vegetarian pot stickers and a green onion pancake. Both were delicious but I preferred the pot stickers.

Lots of tiny dried fish with peanuts

I don’t recall the name, but one of the dishes was a bowl of tinny fishes in a peanut sauce.

Breaded flounder fish

We also ordered another fish dish. The breaded flounder was very good although it was the least exotic of all the dishes.

Sesame balls

For dessert we had sesame balls which were rice gluten rolled in roasted sesame seeds. I can’t say this was my favorite and I let Kate finish mine.

Numbing peppers

This is where things get weird. Sichuan cooking uses a very strange spice that looks like a pepper corn that actually numbs your tongue and makes everything you eat afterward taste different. Apparently no one knows exactly how the numbing spice works or how it messes with your taste buds but it does. After eating some of the numbing spice my whole mouth felt as though I had been given a Novocain shot and when I drank water it tasted like crappy lemon aid. Crazy!

Dinner with friends

Again I want to thank everyone who came. Great food always tastes better when paired with great friends. See you at the next PIG Project!

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By kate, February 16, 2013 12:12 pm

For Valentine’s Day we took a break in our regularly scheduled program of alphabetical globetrotting and skipped right on down to the U section.

The event was put on by the International Club of DC and was hosted by the Ukrainian embassy at it’s super-swanky Georgetown location.

The Ukrianian embassy has traditional Ukranian handicrafts on display, like these pysanka Easter eggs.

The Romantic Ukraine event featured a dinner buffet feast of traditional Ukrainian delicacies prepared by the embassy chef as well as an enchanting violin and flute concert by the delightful duo.

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By Neil, January 25, 2013 1:45 pm

A few weeks ago we traveled to Silver Springs, MD to have some Cameroonian food at the Roger Miller Restaurant (yes Roger Miller really is its name). As the manager explained the restaurant gets its name from a famous Cameroonian soccer player (Roger Milla) and a singer that if Cameroonian I couldn’t find anything about him, but if American than it is this guy (Roger Miller). We had made a reservation for 10 and so were a little surprised when we arrived to a restaurant with seating capacity for about 5. The manager chased a few customers away and somehow managed to hobble enough seats together to accommodate our group. The food was turned out to be very good and everyone enjoyed themselves.

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By kate, December 22, 2012 11:42 am

In stark contrast to Bhutanese food, the Belorusian restaurant we found in south Brooklyn far exceeded our expectations. Granted, our expectations for Syabri Restaurant were pretty dang low, so they had a lower starting point. First off, the whole ambiance was amazing & the neighborhood was great. There were women walking around that looked like post-soviet grannies doing their Christmas shopping. Pretty much every sign was in English and Russian. Or just Russian.

Syabri Restaurant

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By kate, December 21, 2012 12:33 am

We ticked off a couple of the more obscure B countries in NYC this past weekend, ever faithful to dwindling down the list of the PIG Project. We schlepped out to Queens to the Himalayan Yak, a Nepalese restaurant that also serves a few Bhutanese dishes. They serve the national dish of Bhutan, Ema Datsi. Going in to the experience I wasn’t expecting much because I had read things like this where food experts proclaim that Bhutanese is “well known to be the world’s worst cuisine.” But, we were willing, nevertheless, to give it a shot. We even dragged our dear friend Elena all the way to Queens from Brooklyn to join us.

Elena thinking to herself “what have I gotten myself into??”

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By kate, November 24, 2012 10:51 am

Burma has been in the news a great deal as of late, because Obama took the first official state visit to Burma ever, just last week.

Obama and Clinton visit Burma Nov. 2012

As we near the end of the Bs (finally!) we were taken on a grand adventure by one of our most devoted PIG Project loyalists, Thelma, to explore the cuisine and culture of Burma. Thelma spent 2 1/2 years on the Thai/Burma border, and then worked in the U.S. for the U.S. Campaign for Burma. She told us about a restaurant that is “the best Burmese restaurant on the East coast” that turned out to be in a strip mall about 6 minutes from our apt, Myanmar Restaurant.

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By kate, November 18, 2012 7:55 pm

I figured Brazil would be tricky for a vegetarian & I was right. We managed to find a great place in DC that was not a million dollars a plate, which is apparently the going rate for a Brazilian meal these days. We were joined for a Saturday lunch by our two most loyal PIG project devotees, Jill & Edmundo. Those two are serious troopers. We went to The Grill From Ipanema in Adams Morgan area of DC. The restaurant was in a great area & had a really nice ambiance. It was a lovely place to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Jill & I enjoy the ambiance of The Grill From Ipanema

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