I have researched specialty foods and ingredients from 2004 to 2012 for an importing project I was working on and later for sourcing for my specialty food store located in Laval (near Montreal).
During this time, I travelled to the top food trade shows across the US and Canada and sampled (very happily I must say), foods and ingredients from across the globe. The fascination came naturally and the more exotic the product, the more it caught my attention. Now in 2016, I see a lot of those products available in supermarkets and are now sold as “mainstream” products.
For the purpose of this guide, I will try to stay away from prepared foods as much as possible but will mention a few that are essential in transforming a few traditional staples in North America to another level completely. Some of them are so surprising since we can find them in practically any kitchen.
Most of the products that I will be mentioning have enough history that complete guides can be written about them alone but I will not go into that much detail as the purpose of this guide is to encourage individuals to use these products more frequently for enjoyment’s sake and some for health’s sake.
This guide is geared mostly to young people that have never really prepared food for themselves or haven’t really given it a try. Most of us find ourselves in a pickle once we move out on our own and are suddenly in this weird situation of preparing something to eat for ourselves either because mom used to prepare it or because we used to eat out. In both cases you need to learn the basic ingredients and what is possible to make with what you have available or with what you can afford.
9 Pages, No Pictures, 4649 Words.
