amber waves of...condiments!

“You will see me probably drink an obscene amount of maple syrup. I’ve never had maple syrup before about three weeks ago, and now I could freebase it. Pints of it.”


That's from this!  The New York Times article, "Not just a muggle, with song and dance"


The article wasn't about syrup, it was about Harry, errr...  Daniel Radcliffe and his future, but this blog entry?  Definitely about maple syrup!  That article totally got me thinking about people who are passionate about condiments and how cool that is!  It's downright, AMERICAN!


Random little bottles of things that always live in the center of tables and on walls of fridges all over the world...a universal, international passion...condiments, but nowhere more so then the U.S.A..


They add flavor/fat to foods generally in a liquid form...sweet and/or sour and sometimes spicey!  


There's the basics....
USA:
ketchup and mustard
salt and pepper


Chile:
Aji, ketchup, lemon juice, oil, salt


Thailand:
salt, sugar, chile flakes, chile oil, vinegar


Then there are the unusual condiments...... these particularly are the ones in discussion....
(the reason our fridge in the States had no room for actual food) 
The new American pastime!


You watch an Italian/Asian/Greek/Mexican cooking show....
So you go out and buy a little/big bottle of something purely to make dinner....and the next thing you know, you own:


fish sauce
soy sauce
white cooking wine
white vinegar
apple cider vinegar
balsamic vinegar
I mean...just look at all that vinegar!?!?


I love that Harry...er...Daniel had never tried maple syrup until 3 weeks prior!  Welcome to America! It's probably the equivalent to my first experience with brown sauce (British A1) in London!  I was fascinated/disturbed, although, you definitely wouldn't want to consume it in pintfuls....which goes to show, we do our condiments up right in the States!


yeah...I'm feeling some U.S.A. pride right now, roll with it!!!  


Americans will be fascinated to learn, you can't find maple syrup in Chile...but you CAN find PALM TREE SYRUP, which we actually consume in the States on our pancakes, because we like it better...so much for that pride....


You also can't find peanut butter or molasses in Chile...but I did find avacado oil on a shelf last week in Jumbo, the ginormous grocery store here!  How crazy is that?!?


Harry's maple syrup impulse is my addictive equivalent to Mayo.  I did try mayo in almost every part of the world, but for the most part (not including France) nothing could compare to the wonder of Hellman's...which I'm not allowed to consume any longer due to the concern that I will get very fat and die.  I love mayo.  If you know me, you know this, and know you must hide mayo in your home if you want to have any left if I visit you.....it's a problem and I'm working on it!  Luckily/unfortunately, they this condiment up right in Chile....Mmmm...mayo....I even love the word mayo, say it out loud, doesn't it sound nice?


I think that obsessions with condiments may perhaps be an American thing because we have so many options!  Let's face it, we are a bit of a melting pot of condiments.  We have access to 100's of different kinds of condiments, especially if we hit up the ethnic food stores and markets....that can particularly effect our fridge space!  


Yes, there's yellow mustard, but then there's so much more!  You would know this if you lived in Wisconsin and got to visit their beloved mustard museum in Mount Horeb!  Yeah, so Europe has the fancy ones, but the 100's of options?  USA baby!


For example:
We are the land of Sriracha Sauce for crying out loud, created in California!  I can tell you, they don't buy pad thai sauce in a bottle in Thailand!  You won't find ranch dressing in a European refrigerator...ok....perhaps that is for the best....


What do I miss the most when away from the States?
CONDIMENTS!!!!!!  
What do I appreciate the most about new places?
CONDIMENTS!!!!!!


So now I know, being obsessed with Condiments?  Open mindedness towards new condiments?  Downright American!