Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hello everyone :) I posted this in the Kitchen section a while ago and only got one response. I think its better suited here. I was hoping for your help as fun parents! I have a 9 year old and a 15 year old and we are trying to go in alphabetical order eating different foods and meals almost every day. My son picked Aliskerovo, Russia for the first one. Not a busy place! Poulation 7. So, we looked up a vegan version of borscht and made it last night. My daughter picked Baba Gahnoush and we also had that with our supper. We have never had either so it was fun to try something new AND we sat as a family and talked about what we all knew about where both these foods came from and read some printed stuff we found on the interwebs. It really was great.

Dad said he wanted to pick C and Im going to find something for D next. I told the kids it can be foods, a meal, a tradition, even a dessert. Anything fun and food related to your letter. I think this is going to be a fun way to try new things (my 9 year old is NEVER into trying new things but was happy last night!) and learn some geography and history. So, I was wondering if you guys have done anything like this or would help out by suggesting any of the other letters of the alphabet. Can you think of any traditional foods from around the world that would be yummy or fun? Festivals? Or my favorite, desserts ;)

This sounds like so much fun! For D, how about dumplings, dolmades (spelling? Greek stuffed grape leaves), or Diwali?

How fun and creative!!
Polish pierogi for P. That's all I've got for now.

Donuts! Danishes! Or something Danish...maybe I suggest abelskiver? :) and when you figure out how to veganize it, holla back.

Dragonfruit! Dill pickles! Ew.

yay for awesome ppk parents. i can't waiit until the little man is old enough to do this- it is going in my idea bank for sure!

As a teacher, i start thinking of all the great books that would go with this. there is a great children's book about eating rice in different cultures- http://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Cooks-Rice-Picture-Books/dp/0876145918 and it looks like the author does other books on the theme- noodles, soup. this sounds like so much fun!

This is such a great idea! I hope I remember to do this when Reno is a bit older.

For G you should make Goulash! That was my favorite thing to eat as a young girl.

And for s, please consider samsas- they are central asian, and pumpkin and onion is a common filling.

Woo! I just checked back to see if there were any replies to my post, and expecting none, I was happily surprised! Thanks guys :)

We havent been able to make a different letter every day. My God, too crazy. We researched the internet almost all day off and on. We just figured out C today. Yeah, China. (I thought it would be easy!) We made homemade fortune cookies and tucked in tiny sweet or funny messages. We did learn that if you were to eat IN China and wait for your fortune cookies at the end of your meal, you'll be waiting a loooooong time. A chinese man invented them in the US and only American Chinese restaurants serve them. I didnt figure out that I was folding the cookies wrong until the last three. I dont think my son will eat the cookies that arent folded correctly!

We made veggie fried rice that was just eh. It was a new recipe and I wont save it but the family thought it was pretty good. I had cut up pineapple in the fridge that nobody is eating that I wanted to throw in but my boy, the picky one in the family, said no way.

I also seemed to quickly forget that making a few different kinds of sushi NEVER takes less than a couple of hours. I tempura battered some sweet potato, portabello mushrooms, and avocado. I only sliced up carrot and cucumber for my son because that is all he will eat in them. I laughed at our directions when it mentioned to be careful of the sticky rice being stuck to socks and under plates and on clothing. Why did I laugh? It wasnt funny when it happened. It took us about an hour to clean up the kitchen after this mess. And I have a small kitchen.

I had a few more recipes printed out but my boyfriend couldnt get the rest of the ingredients at Whole Foods, oh, I mean Whole Foods. I need some fancy rice flour for Nian Gao traditional New Year cakes. I dont know about you guys, but I dont usually put sesame seeds on my snacks. We were going to try them but need some glutinous rice flour and red bean paste. Red bean paste. Did I really write snacks and bean paste in the same sentence.

We didnt get to sit down as a family and eat, unfortunately, because we were all cooking or eating something while talking about voting and why mommy is a democrat and daddy is a republican. We did have good conversation about how it is neat to know of another culture that eats lots of vegetables and tofu :)

Oh, and Abelskiver? Im not a good one to try to veganize things at all. I can follow recipes and them mess with them to suit my own tastes the second time. Im just not an original person. BUT! I do offer you THIS!

http://www.maplespice.com/2009/01/vegan ... kiver.html

They sound like a yummier donut?

Im going to check out more of your suggestions as well. I really, really want to do one where we dress up and really become immersed in what we are eating and learning. My 15 year old will think Im insane but she kind of does already, I guess. ;)

For Australia or L you can make Lamingtons! http://www.transmog.com.au/vegan_recipe ... lamingtons
I half-cheated and used one of Isa's cupcake recipes then just coated them in the chocolate and coconut mixture on the above website, but you could try to make your own sponge too (p.s. bi-carb is baking soda, plain flour is all-purpose, Nuttelex is vegan marg)

You could make Dahl for D, E could be for Ethiopian food (check out kittee's wesbite http://www.pakupaku.info/ethiopian/ethiopianintro.shtml ), F...french toast? tofu 'fish' sticks http://www.chow.com/recipes/13488-vegan ... ish-sticks, Fattoush (Palestine, Middle East) http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14513/fattoush (yummy yummy!), Gyoza for G (Japan)...

This sounds like fun!
Edit: I'm going to think of some more!
H - hummus of course!
I - Italy (pasta dish), Ireland (stew http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/11/irish-stew.html )
J - Jambalaya, jaffa (chocolate orange combination)
K - Knishes, Kimchi (Korean pickled dish), Kiwi fruits,
L - Lamingtons!
M - mousse (mmm don't know what country!), marmalade (Britain), matzo (Jewish/Israel), minestrone (Italy), macadamia (Australia, Hawaii), maple syrup (Canada)
N - noodles (opportunities/countries are endless! Maybe some summer rolls? Think Vietnam!)
O - okra (could do a Caribbean or African dish), olives (Mediterranean again), Orzo pasta
P - Peru (if you have Viva Vegan, there are awesome dishes for Seitan saltado, which could be too hot for the kids, and peruvian skewers), perogies, Pumpkin saag (Veganomicon, Indian dish)
Q - Tofu quiche

X - Pick one of these cities! http://www.world-airport-codes.com/alph ... ame/x.html

I wont do the others now because I'm foody-ed out! haha