(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)
As much as I like to travel, it is not feasible to go everywhere I want to go. But I can still enjoy things from other countries in the comfort of my own home. Today’s post features food and music from countries that I have never visited.
The vivid cover photo at the very top of this post is the packaging for a “Prague” chocolate cake. While Prague is of course in Czechia, the cake itself is from Ukraine. And the photo right above this paragraph is the cake you see when you take the lid off the packaging. The cake is now gone, but it definitely tasted like Europe! It’s always fun to try new products like this.
Speaking of new Ukrainian products, we’re trying the above cherry jam. We wanted to replace the cherry jam we previously used. This Ukrainian one tastes better, and sour cherries are actually the first ingredient! This is a big win because most jams have sugar as the first ingredient. As a bonus, this jam was also less expensive than the one we previously used.
While I have visited a number of Latin American countries, I have never made it to Mexico. I love very spicy food, but it is sometimes a challenge to find a spicy salsa that has no garlic. This spicy Mexican salsa is packed with smoky flavour and isn’t runny. The regular price is “above average”, so I bought four jars the last time it went on sale.
Speaking of spicy food…that’s one of the reasons I like Indian cuisine. This snack from India is a little different, as it is a sweet and sour mix. I wasn’t sure that sour would work in a dry snack, but I tried some khatta meetha recently and was pleasantly surprised. India is a very long way to go, but I am sure that I will find plenty to like if I’m ever able to visit there.
To accompany all this tasty food, I turn to my (vinyl) record collection. When I’m in a more meditative mood, Bob Marley’s “Exodus” album hits the spot. While I have never made it to Jamaica, my luggage has! When I was returning from a business trip to San Antonio many year ago, the airline messed up my luggage and sent it to Kingston, Jamaica, rather than “my” Kingston.
A little more adventurous is Jorge Ben’s “África Brasil” album. This 1976 album is a fusion of various types of music, but still very Brazilian. I have a lot of Brazilian music in my collection, and this is one of the best. Even if you think you don’t know this music, you probably will recognize at least one song. Rod Stewart had a hit in the late 1970s that lifted the melody from “Taj Mahal”. Ben successfully sued Stewart, and the royalties went to Unicef instead.
Long-time readers know that I really enjoy a lot of South African music. It’s another faraway place that I’ve never visited. The above compilation album (“The Indestructible Beat of Soweto”) features mostly mbaqanga music, which is what formed the basis of Paul Simon’s very successful 1986 “Graceland” album. But this album was released the year before Graceland. It was one of the first albums of contemporary South African music to be widely available outside the country.
The title of today’s post is from “The Inner Light”, by the Beatles. It is a George Harrison composition that uses Indian instrumentation, while the lyrics are based on the Tao Te Ching. Another good line from the song: “The farther one travels, the less one knows.” Maybe that will be the title of a blog post some day!