Friends, I've shared my love for egg tacos before, but they've really developed into something that deserves another post. Even before taking a turn for the amazing, egg tacos were (and remain) not only delicious but also quick and tidy--how long does it take to fry an egg? And how long does it take to clean up the cast iron after? The answers are 3 and 0 minutes, respectively. It's brilliant to have dinner started, eaten, and cleaned up in under 8 minutes. I know it's not ideal to cook and eat quickly; our physiology instructor made sure we understood the cephalic phase of digestion (digestion really begins in your brain as you think about what you want to eat, prepare it, take in the aromas and lovely sights of your food). However, naturopathic school is a guaranteed four years of irony, and sometimes a girl's gotta prioritize studying over food gawking, dear cephalic phase. So my beloved egg tacos, quick, tidy, protein-filled and gluten free have become the statistical mode in my kitchen.
Ok, so they're convenient, but a jar of fabulous plum chutney gifted by a friend took them from delicious to eating these will never get old. Yeah, chutney. Do you eat chutney often? It's a little rare in my food scene, so I wasn't sure how to use it at first; it hung out with tempeh, and starred in a salad dressing or two, before finding it's true calling as a flavoring in the egg taco. Not only does chutney increase the tasty factor, but it elevates the egg taco to truly American status--and I mean something pretty specific when I call a food "American".
What is American food? Instead of the term conjuring up images of hotdogs, hamburgers and potato salads, I posit that American food really boasts a more complex definition. It's food that is made of ingredients that are themselves already a processed food (for example, chutney and corn tortillas) and are likely to come from more than one cultural tradition (again, chutney and corn tortillas). American food is what happens when international shipping is undertaken on a currency-backed whim, and when ingredients from disparate cultural traditions hang out at the same grocery store. Suddenly, bacon-wrapped sriracha! Green tea mochi ice cream balls! Quinoa skillet bread! It's marginally more pride-worthy than hot dogs and hamburgers.
So here's my little American meal: corn tortillas from Central America; chutney from India with a stopover in Great Britain; parmesan from Italy; and fried eggs, from...who knows where the fried egg comes from? All topped with something colorful or fresh for the old cephalic phase.
I served them to my sweetheart the other night and we downed a half dozen in 20 minutes. Also very American of us.
Ok, so they're convenient, but a jar of fabulous plum chutney gifted by a friend took them from delicious to eating these will never get old. Yeah, chutney. Do you eat chutney often? It's a little rare in my food scene, so I wasn't sure how to use it at first; it hung out with tempeh, and starred in a salad dressing or two, before finding it's true calling as a flavoring in the egg taco. Not only does chutney increase the tasty factor, but it elevates the egg taco to truly American status--and I mean something pretty specific when I call a food "American".
What is American food? Instead of the term conjuring up images of hotdogs, hamburgers and potato salads, I posit that American food really boasts a more complex definition. It's food that is made of ingredients that are themselves already a processed food (for example, chutney and corn tortillas) and are likely to come from more than one cultural tradition (again, chutney and corn tortillas). American food is what happens when international shipping is undertaken on a currency-backed whim, and when ingredients from disparate cultural traditions hang out at the same grocery store. Suddenly, bacon-wrapped sriracha! Green tea mochi ice cream balls! Quinoa skillet bread! It's marginally more pride-worthy than hot dogs and hamburgers.
So here's my little American meal: corn tortillas from Central America; chutney from India with a stopover in Great Britain; parmesan from Italy; and fried eggs, from...who knows where the fried egg comes from? All topped with something colorful or fresh for the old cephalic phase.
I served them to my sweetheart the other night and we downed a half dozen in 20 minutes. Also very American of us.
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