Why, How and What Not

 Why is is that Yum Cha is never served like on a sushi train, with diners sitting around a carousel and picking up the moving  tapa sized plates?

Why are not more different culinary dishes served in small snack sizes late at night to accompany laughter, the party mood and small shots of alcohol after midnight?

Why are not more non Japanese restaurants using the useful Bento boxes to showcase samples of their food?

Why are serves of food still sticking to rather large bowls or plates - and diners wanting small serves are not catered for?

Why does the asking price for simple street food dramatically rise in price with the addition of a piece of seafood?

Why do we appreciate knowing the source and origin of ingredients used in our restaurant serves?

Do we welcome complimentary serves of appetisers like Korean Banchan - or hot piping soups and free fruit platters at the start and end of Cantonese banquets?

Must hot curries be accompanied by cooling yoghurts or pickled vegetable slices?

Must fries accompany battered or deep fried seafood?

Is sitting around a simmering hot pot or grill adding to the sharing of eaten food?

Why are dumplings found across Russia, Austria, Poland, Italy, China, Korea, Mongolia and south-east Asia?

Why do Thais traditionally use forks and spoons instead of chopsticks?

The Middle East, Mexico, Ethopia, Indian subcontinent and south east Asia encourage the use of hands to help down food at meals.

Why are Italian pasta hardly used in Chinese cooking - and Chinese noodles not used in Mediterranean cooking?

Why are diners forced to agree to 90 minute sessions of meals, hurried up especially in crowded suburban and city locations?

Why is the cooking fire and heat preserved endlessly through so many years in several traditional restaurants?

Why do most restaurant operators not own their venues?

Most eating places in Australia no longer open for the whole day.

Why is it mostly so difficult to find reasonably good eats near transport hubs?

#yongkevthoughts

Pause for Thought

 

Oh, the habits of the past and what was a comforting routine is no more.

Many years ago, it was a casual relaxing pleasure to do something easy and different from weekdays, on a Saturday morning.  Simple regimes like going through the newspapers. Or catching up with people in a cafe. And driving like crazy just to try eating some hyped up dish, even before Instagrammable culinary.

On a small island, it was doable, until the escalating traffic jams made me think twice.

The pleasure and reward were to catch up with fellow human beings. The underlying pace was that it was unstructured, flexible and had delightful changes in store - surprise me!

Across the plains of Greater Sydney, I had to plan arrival and appointment times, for distances were greater to transverse and traffic jams even more congested at particular hours.

Now the newsagent is a sad shade of its past activity and future possibilities.  The dominance and ease of online publications have decimated the presence of print in magazines and newspapers.

I recall the high pleasure of reading subscribed weekly columns in print, to make sense of an ever changing world and events beyond my control.  Now, that is only but a distant memory. The advent of round the clock news and hijacked agendas in communication these days has made me turn off much of the media in whatever form.

I love visiting various suburbs, for many have a distinct character of their own in various layers of impression and experience.

I reckon each of us have cut down roaming the suburbs - and the big world - due to movement restrictions over the past two years.  We have inadvertently turned to nearby localities in our footprint - and this may not necessarily be a negative change.

Still there is the inherent instinct of the wanderer in each of us.  However, we no longer assume the right and convenience of greater mobility.  Our mindsets have inevitably transformed in rhe process.

Our eating habits may also have changed.  First there was a shift to more cook-ins and takeaways, when dining-in had or still have density limits and mindful physical distancing. 

The constant barage of almost daily telecast addresses by the powers that be has made me watch such institutionalised sessions to almost zilch.

We are increasingly told to comply and not question many important things.  The liberating joy of opening my mindset in reading books and magazines many years ago is no more. 

We cannot sneak out in the middle of the night to experience a secret pleasure.  Each of us are becoming more traceable through online devices and communication.

Yes, we still have the opportunity to embrace Nature in our own free time - and to physically sustain and manage our health with the wind blowing in our faces.  However, we must be ever conscious to build our mental resilience, more than ever in a changing world.

#yongkevthoughts