Do you hesitate to explore markets specializing in specific cultures because of a language barrier? Do you find it frustrating when you can’t read the labels on packages of food? I’ve recently added a new tool to enhance my international shopping skills.
Image from Google's information on this feature
Last winter a press release from Google announced a Japanese language expansion in their Google Translate app saying, “With Word Lens, you just need to fire up the Translate app, point your camera at the Japanese text, and the English translations will appear overlaid on your screen.”
My mind immediately saw this as a food shopper’s dream. I could see myself standing in a Japanese grocery store using my phone to read and compare the ingredients on packages. What’s more, since this app supports nearly 30 languages, you can point your phone at a package in any shop and it will do its best to figure out what language it is seeing and translate the information on that item.
Ask a Friend!
Far better than using a phone and app is exploring another culture with a friend who is part of that community, speaks the language, or who is far ahead of you in learning about that particular cuisine.
Ed and I enjoyed our first taste of Indian food with a couple who had lived in India. They not only explained the food, but also the dining etiquette.
Friends from Thailand wrote out, in Thai, a list of dishes we should try at a local restaurant that had a separate menu for anyone who wanted a meal made the way it would have been served in Thailand. We only had to point to a paragraph to order dishes prepared the way the customers with greater knowledge of Thai cuisine would prefer them.
Take a Tour
If you’ve spent much time in the North End shops, you may have seen one of the tour groups learning more about the Italian offerings available in this neighborhood. Many home cooks may feel they know Italian food and the ingredients needed to make it, but I know that I learn a bit more each time I interact with North End shopkeepers.
In this area you can find tours of other neighborhoods and cultures as well. Penny recently took one of Jacqueline Church's Boston Chinatown Tours – Food, Fun, Fables and loved it. Even after years of visiting the neighborhood, dining there, and shopping in area stores, she learned a lot. (She'll be writing a full report on that experience soon, so watch for it!)
For anyone trying to make Vietnamese food, the book Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors
Photo Notes
Another way that I put my phone camera to work is by taking photos of ingredients I’m seeking from the pages of one of the many ethnic cookbooks that have glossaries of food and equipment used in the culture the book covers.
A visit to your library’s cookbook section is a great place to begin exploring a cuisine. Grab a few books on the topic that have reference sections and borrow one or two that seem to supply the information you want.
Pick a recipe and take a photo of the notes or glossary entry on that ingredient. Then you can pull out your phone and show it to the shopkeeper or read it as you explore the shelves in an ethnic market.
Dedicated Guide Books
Author Linda Bladholm’s wonderful “Take It With You” guides to three ethnic cuisines were recently released as ebooks. Now you can have a copy on your phone for impromptu visits to Indian, Asian, or Latin cuisine. “The Indian Grocery Store Demystified
What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?
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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino
(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)