Note: Photos in this post are not my own. Click through for complete credit.
Last night a group of people from my lab went for Ethiopian food. A new Ethiopian restaurant has opened resonably close to the campus, and an Ethiopian student in the lab organized the outing. David and I had planned to go to a movie, but I was really tired, and when I found out about the Ethiopian restaurant outing I dragged him along (it really was to his advantage anyway – the Ethiopian restaurant was on his way home). I also haven’t had Ethopian food in a long time, and was keen to eat it again. I ended up splitting a vegetarian platter (which was delicious) with Rhutesh.
Over dinner there was a suggestion that we should sample cuisine from all the countries in the lab – which someone put at 17. I think it’s a great idea, but am a little apprehensive about my responsibility to Australia’s cuisine. We certainly won’t be visiting an Outback Steakhouse, and there aren’t really any authentic Australian restaurants that I know of (and it’s not clear to me that Australia has an authentic cuisine, anyway). All this makes me alarmed that I may have to cater myself. Which, in turn, makes me alarmed that I’ll have to decide on something that really is Australian. Hamburgers with beetroot and pineapple? Pavlova? Vegemite on toast?
johnlikesfood said
I love Ethiopian food, we lived just down the road from a fantastic Ethiopian restaurant when we were in Kenya, and went a couple of times a week.
I miss it
Marianne said
Mmmmm, I love Ethiopian food! I had no idea that Pavlova was an Australian dish – it is one of my favorite desserts!
nezza said
Vegemite on toast. Definitely!
(I had marmite on toast for tea as was dashing out to my other college class. It’s an old fave from childhood and I think it’s more or less the same thing.)
I’ve never had Ethiopian food. Sounds interesting though.
Katie said
johnlikesfood: Wow! Ethiopian food so often. I have to admit to being a bit jealous.
Marianne: There actually is a bit of controversy regarding the origin of pavlova – Australians claim it as their own, but so do New Zealanders. Either way, it’s delicious.
nezza: At the risk of sounding a bit backwards/culturally insensitive, I was actually a bit surprised when I first discovered Ethiopian food. It seems like there were massive food shortages in Ethiopia for most of my childhood, and it never really occurred to me that they ever had any food – much less a cuisine. It’s very good. A little like Indian food, although the bread is spongy, and a little sour.