In the scenario of globalisation, sharing tastes and gastronomic pleasure has been a bold example. The intermingling of culinary practices among several cultures has been very widely observed. This has led to trying different food practices which is unknown.

Before the internet arrived, people relied on different cooking TV shows, cookbooks and grandmother’s recipes. At present, the internet happens to be the biggest help regarding learning and suggestions. Therefore while exploring and experimenting with new dishes, several food blogs and webpages on the internet come as your biggest help.

Why Exotic Food is Cherished by All

If you are a frequent traveller, you have to go through differences in cuisines and be adventurous about food. Getting exposed to a new way of living is one of the important reasons we travel. Therefore exotic food has been a centre of fondness for a large number of people. 

Many people accept the fact of experiencing diversity in the taste of different places. Spices that add flavour and fragrance are a very important example of exotic foods. The way various and unusual raw materials are used in cooking is also very interesting. Exotic food from different cuisines also represents diversified combinations.

How to Understand Flavour and Techniques

Having the right sense of spices and understanding their flavours and applications is very important for the cook. You have to have a very good knowledge of putting spices into the bowl and the techniques of using them in exotic dishes. The best way of understanding a taste is to visit a restaurant that serves a particular dish. With that, you can have an idea of how the dish should taste and its dominant flavours.

Following are some means through which you might be able to cook with unfamiliar spices and flavours:

• Tasting while cooking is the first way. While cooking you should keep on tasting right from the beginning. This would help you to understand the taste that eventually develops. The idea of how an ingredient functions and blends in a dish is very important. This helps you if you want to adapt to different exotic flavours that you are searching for.

• The Internet happens to be the vast platform from which one can learn anything. This platform is filled with videos of different culinary know-how. Starting from the basic mixing of spice to making choux pastry swans, the internet teaches you everything. To many, it is a very easy way to understand several cooking techniques visually. Videos available on the internet are more vivid and practical than cookbooks.

• Practice makes every cook perfect. No rocket science, the practice would make you an expert with ingredients, measurements and timings. It is the only way to master the art of cooking. The more you practice the better you will grow. Practice does not have any substitute. The more you work on a certain cuisine the nicer you would be able to adapt it.

• Experimenting and analysing is also a great teacher. Any dish on the first try might not be very good taste-wise or the way you expected. One of the best ways to come over it is to ask your tasters and analyse their opinions. This helps improve any culinary skills of a person, especially when an unfamiliar taste is tried. Even if some spices do not turn up with the expectation, experimenting with them can bring interesting results. Accidents always lead to new inventions.

How to Source Different Ingredients in Unfamiliar Way

The world today has become rather small than it was a few years ago. Food is considered a universal language. Therefore acceptance of taste from all over the world has become a widespread practice. In this process, a lot of new spices and seasonings are becoming popular. Some cooking items which were unusual and rare are now mostly available in every retail store.

Great ingredients result in good food. And these ingredients are not necessarily always familiar and also not known how to cook. Therefore there arises a big question of how these ingredients might taste and where to find them. You can follow some ways of getting familiar with these exotic ingredients.

• Research the Ingredients: The internet happens to be a fabulous source of finding out anything. You can know and learn about different spices and the cuisines they are mostly used in. Other than the internet, cookbooks are also a great help. Flipping through the headnotes of different cookbooks also helps in researching the unfamiliar ingredients. In most of these sources of information, there is a comprehensive section. Here you can know about the equipment and ingredients required and how to have them in your kitchen.

• Looking at Your Local Store: Globalisation has given rise to reaching beyond the comfort zone. This resulted in bringing all sorts of varieties near you. Hence checking out the nearest supermarket Is always a good option. The ethnic section in the supermarket is filled with all sorts of unusual ingredients. The stock they maintain is sometimes quite surprising. Even some workers in these stores share little facts and knowledge that proves helpful quite a time.

• The Speciality Stores: While cooking a traditional dish of a different culture would require you some specific items. There comes these stores which are specially meant for several ethnic ingredients. The working personnel of these speciality stores are highly efficient regarding culinary knowledge. They offer useful tips regarding the ingredients and the brands as well. Ethnic groceries are also observed to be cheaper than the local supermarkets.

• The Online Stores: All commercial stores over the internet are like Pandora’s magic box. The e-commerce portals are a fantastic place for finding all sorts of ingredients that are hard to find. But most of the time it is observed that several rare ingredients are quite expensive. Then again, you can look for the less expensive substitutes right from online stores only. 

Top food blogs

Food blogging exemplifies a complex interweaving of being interested in gourmet, writing blogs and photography. Food blogging is practised for a long time. It encircles several factors regarding food and culture individually or in combination. The factors are the recipes, reviewing any food or restaurant, food photography and food and travel.

With the multitude of food blogs over the internet, you can bring the world into your home. These blogs would tempt your taste buds like anything. There are several highly read and appreciated food blogs over the internet that unfailingly satisfies your hunger. Some of them are as follows:

1. Love and Lemon: Created by a food-loving couple, the name of Love and Lemon comes first when searching for mouth-watering vegetarian recipes. Founded in 2011, this blogging page is acclaimed by many prestigious food magazines. This blog would be helpful when you browse food by season, any specific ingredient, holiday etc.
2. Cookie and Kate: The food blogging page Cookie and Kate celebrates good food in every way. This web page mainly discusses vegetarian recipes along with their advantages. Kathryne Taylor, the founder of this web page also shares whole food recipes. If you are searching by filters like season, ingredient, everyday, diet or cuisine, you might be headed to this page.
3. Minimalist Baker: As the name of the page suggests, Minimalist Baker shares hassle-free recipes. The recipes mostly require less than 30 minutes, less than 10 ingredients and 1 bowl for preparation. Instead of the name baker, this food page covers preparations of beverages, snacks, breakfast, entrees, sweets etc. The recipes found on this page are mainly vegan.
4. Smitten Kitchen: This food blogging page features a number of scrumptious food images. This is a reason Smitten Kitchen enjoys a vast number of followers and food fans. The founder of this page is highly obsessed with the sophistication of cooking. Hence the recipes found on this page are highly acclaimed. This food blogging page mainly prioritises the uprising of comfort food.
5. 101 Cookbooks: Founded by Heidi Swanson, 101 Cookbooks are mainly focused on offering several healthy recipes. This food blogging page has scripted about 700 preparations. These recipes include vegetarian, vegan, whole food and instant pot preparations. The founder of this food page writes about cooking facts that intersect travel, life and everyday aspects.
6. Budget Bytes: As the name goes, Budget Bytes targets providing its readers with a large number of budget-friendly recipes. It replaces all the expensive ingredients with comparatively cheaper substitutes to make the recipe affordable for all. All the recipes are posted with a detailed analysis of cost, preparation time, step by step pictures and alternatives of ingredients.
7. Closet Cooking: Created by Kevin Lynch, the food blogging page Closet Cooking symbolises his little kitchen of closet size. The recipes available on this page are all developed by the founder himself. The most popular and liked recipes on this page are Balsamic Strawberry Chicken seared in a pan with Brie, mozzarella balls wrapped in prosciutto, strawberry lemonade bars, Sicilian pizza, shawarma seasoning etc.
8. Damn Delicious: Founded by Chungah Rhee and Butters, Damn Delicious was created in the year 2011. The recipes posted on this food blogging page are showcased step by step. The recipes with videos are posted, where several visitors teach preparing easy and quick meals suitable for mundane cooking.
9. Green Kitchen Stories: This food blogging page features a number of healthy vegetarian preparations. The creator David and Luise mainly emphasise the health factor with food. They also use different organic ingredients in their recipes for making them simple and pure.

Conclusion

If you are a traveller then you will come across different lifestyles, cultures and fooding styles. Even if you are not a traveller, you can bring food from all across the world to your table. There are several means through which one can reach the world by adapting culinary cultures.