Poutine: Good Gravy

This hearty dish of fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy, though once looked down upon, has earned its place as a global trend. Anney and Lauren dig into the history and culture behind poutine.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about poutine or putine. I
think as you would say it, I think, yeah, I
think it's potent nikes. Yes, yes, this is interesting in

(00:29):
the light of our episode we just did on Gouda,
where it's just so accepted that there's this other pronunciation
that you might not ever question it. Yeah here in
the US, which is even doubly funny because Canadia, Canada
is not that far away. No, it's really right. There's
there's not even a really not even a notion separating us. Uh. Yeah,

(00:54):
and uh there is my ex boyfriend. Every time I
would bring up poutine in which I'm sorry, apologies in
advance what we're probably going to say poutine for the
most of it. Yeah, um, but every time I would
say it, he would bring up a joke from my
belief it was modern family. Um, where that main dude

(01:18):
that I don't know his name is. I don't know either,
but shiput someone out there nose that guy would say,
I'm not poutine it in my mouth, which folly for
that dude. Because it's delicious, right, Um, it is so
good and in fact, as we record this, it's a

(01:41):
very dreary, drizzly day. It's cold here in Atlanta early November,
which which is just a very like, like right, just
dreary fall day, the kind of thing that makes you
just want to build a pillow fort and crawl in
there and not come out until ring. Oh. Absolutely, it's

(02:02):
one of those days where you're like, I don't want
to go out. I just want to cover myself in blankets.
And I will tell you the poutine craving on a
day like this is off the chart. I want it
so bad that I feel like it would be perfect
right now. Yeah, yeah, I keep I keep thinking about

(02:23):
one of the one of the like like after work
happy our restaurants that we used to go to when
we were in the office. Uh nearby had a very
good pine and a very good like like both both
a beef one and a vegetarian mushroom one. The mushroom
one was the best. It was really good. It was good. Yes,

(02:48):
miss all of that. Oh me too, And I mean
it it's not clear I do love a good poutine. Um.
I think I've told this story before when my parents
and I we went to Tofino, Canada. I actually want
to go back. Um. It's a beautiful place. It's really small,
lots of storms. Um. I went out of my way
to make sure they got some like very obscure place

(03:12):
and this was It's a small enough place that they
had like two taxis, so you really had to plan okay, yeah.
Oh and they loved it too. They loved it. It's
hard for me not to get it when it's on
the menu. Um. And Canada was the last place I
traveled before quarantine really set in, I think right beginning

(03:36):
of March. For Yeah, in Montreal, and I had some
delicious poutine at La Bunkies, which is an institution there.
A lot of the articles you'll look up for poutine
has this like somebody from this restaurant or just a

(03:57):
mention of this restaurant. And yeah, yeah, I saw I
saw this name over and over and over again. Yes.
And it was cold and there was so much snow
outside and I was just eating this like warm. Oh
it was so good. It was so good. And I
love how many of you have written in about various
types of poutine you can find, like at the mall

(04:18):
or at different restaurants or like pizza and just all
these different poutines. Yes, I um, I've never been to
Canada or like i've I've like hopped over just enough,
like like like the other side of Niagara Falls, like
I've been to Canada. But like that's that's it. Um,

(04:39):
that is the extent of my transversal of the Canadian
the Canadian countryside. Um. So yeah, I A really really
really want to go. We keep hearing amazing things from y'all,
and um, oh man, there was one time that Bourdain
went there and everything looked glorious. Um, and I travel travel.

(05:07):
The other day, I missed being in airports. I hate
being in airports, but I was like, man, wouldn't wouldn't
it be great to be that that kind of stressed
out right now? I hear you and we do. We
do hear so many uh food suggestions from Canada sounds

(05:31):
so it does right goodness, So anyway, UM believe us,
believe us. Um it is on our list. But in
the meanwhile, in Canada, National Putine Day is April eleven,
and uh Putine Week, which is a restaurant festival focusing
on poutine, is the first week of February every year,

(05:51):
so we are so early. We are like way out
of the game. Got a runway, yeah, they say, um,
and do you can see past episodes we've done on
French fries, not yet potatoes, but several adjacent episodes, certainly
not on potatoes yet not not today, also past cheese episodes,

(06:15):
because we are gonna be talking about some cheese in here, definitely.
But I guess that brings us too our question. I
guess it does Putine. What is it? Well, putine or putine? Okay,

(06:36):
I'm so sorry I don't speak French. Um. Okay, I'm
just gonna go with putin yo uh. Poutine is a
dish composed of French fried potatoes, topped with gravy and
cheese curds and served hot. The cheese starts melting and
like stringing a little from the heat of the fries
and the gravy. It is a beautiful mess. It's like

(06:57):
nachos from the North. It's like getting a hug simultaneously
from every grandmother who was ever told a child you're
too skinny. Eat something. Um. It's crispy and tender and
chewy and like a little soggy and rich and savory
and salty. It is just such an amazing shareable comfort

(07:19):
food slash bar snack. Oh oh, it's so good as
always wonderful. Um. But but I suppose that that those
you know, that that's like three fairly basic ingredients. But

(07:41):
let's go into them a little bit. Um. The fries.
You want hand cut fries, um ideally uh, you know,
like thick, but not too thick, like maybe a quarter
inch that's about half a centimeter thick, so that, um,
they're they're good and crisp on the outside and just
fluffy tender on the inside. Annie is making the most
amazing faces through all of this, y'all. She's just so sad.

(08:10):
I'm so bad. Sorry, only a little more torture. Uh.
The gravy, Um, I suppose you could make them with
whatever kind of gravy you want, but the the usual
type is a brown gravy made with butter and flour
and stock, um to create a like medium bodied gravy

(08:33):
that will coat the surface of the fries and the curds. UM.
I've seen gravies that include bits of whatever the stock
was made with, like beef or mushrooms. Um. Or whatever. Uh,
the kurds. This is not an episode about cheese kurds. Uh,
but we we do, we do. But briefly, I feel
like we need to save that for when we get

(08:54):
to go to Wisconsin, because I know a number of
humans from Wisconsin who would just disown me if I
did not go to there before talking about it. Oh,
they have a cheese castle, laurnge cheese castle. The curds
the quick although, although I feel like we could get

(09:14):
away with going to a place in Canada. Yeah, in
Quebec as a substitute anyway, Okay, back to back to
cheese curds. So um. Briefly, cheese curds are a fresh
cheese product. They're they're what you get early in the
cheesemaking process for just about any type of cheese that
you're going to press into wheels or blocks and age,

(09:37):
like I'm like cheddar or gouda or palm or whatever. Um. So, so,
the first big step in cheesemaking is convincing the two
kind of basic components of milk, being the water and
the water soluble stuff, uh called the way to separate
out from the fat, and the fat soluble stuff called
the kurds um and then you drain the wet and

(10:00):
you go on to uh press and age the kurds
to preserve them. But in the case of cheese curds,
you're you're just taken those whole lovely clumpy lumpy kurds
um minus the way and selling them as fresh as possible. Um.
They'll be kind of a little like an unevenly shaped nuggets,

(10:20):
maybe the size of a finger joint or so. Um.
They've got a texture somewhere in between, like a like
a cheddar and a mozzarella maybe, And within the first
twelve hours or so after production, they'll squeak against your
teeth when you eat them. And that's due to these um,
these long elastic protein strands that are still all bundled
up together in them um at that time, when they're

(10:42):
that fresh. The cheese curds used for poutine are usually
creamy white in color. Um. You can get cheese curds
here in the States that are more likely to be
like yellow to orange um. But usually the poutine ones
are beautiful, creamy white. I am literally racking my brange
right now for where I can go. I've seen some

(11:08):
at your decab farmers Market, but I'm not sure how
fresh they are. Um, some folks, some folks go so
far as to recommend that you make your own fresh
cheese cards if you cannot find any in your area.
All right, yeah, yeah, there is an amazingly serious recipe, uh,

(11:32):
completely from scratch up on Serious Eats. Appropriately serious, I suppose.
Um that starts with, yes, making your own cheese cards
and making your own oxtail slash chicken stock to make
sure that your gravy is the right gravy. Wow, and
hand cutting your fries and doing the whole thing. Yeah.

(11:53):
So okay, so yeah yeah. If y'all need that level
of of of poutine completion in your life, check out
how to Make the Best Ultimate Poutine. I think that's
the title, yes, on serious seats dot com. That being said,

(12:16):
this is very often a food that people order out
rather than making at home. Yes, and uh it's it's often,
as I said, kind of like a bar snack, like
an accompaniment to alcohol, because it will kind of stop
everything up. Um and uh. And the that that traditional
recipe is really only the beginning. Um. It is pretty

(12:39):
infinitely customizable. You can get super fancy with it. Um
as we will discuss in our history outline. You can also, like,
I mean, I've seen all kinds of sauces added, like
you usually do, keep the gravy base, I think, but
then on top of that you could add like various
barbecue sauces I don't know, ranch sir, ratcha buffalo sauce,

(13:02):
maple syrup, a butter chicken sauce. Um toppings from salsa
and guac, to onions and peas, to pulled pork and bacon,
to fried cauliflower and fried chicken, to tater tots and
parog ease like, hey, did you need some more potato
on top of your potato? We've got that, yes. And

(13:27):
just by the way, all of the toppings I just
listed are from a single restaurant. You can get all
of those single restaurants that's from that's from the chain
smokes latiner e Um. Yeah, okay, alright, Well I guess
that brings us to the question what about the nutrition.

(13:51):
You know, this is a calorie dense food. For sure.
It's got protein and carbs and fat that will fill
you up and help keep you going. Um. But but yeah,
I'd say I'd say that that the level of fat
would probably put it in the treat category. Um, and
treats are nice. Have some treats, um, you know, eat

(14:11):
a vegetable, drink responsibly. Yeah. It was funny how many
people and the articles I was reading about this for like,
you know, I love poutine. I love it so much.
I only have it very rarely. Yeah, oh yes, I
will say, like on a I also read something about

(14:34):
you know why perhaps this all came together and get
back And I remember that day when I was eating
it at that place and it was so cold there
in Montreal. There's so much snow and it just felt
so hardy. It just felt so like worming and satisfying.
And yeah, I think I get it for multiple reasons.

(14:59):
I really stick to your ribs kind of dishes exactly exactly. Um,
we do have a few numbers for you, a few yeah. Um.
So there is a World Poutine Eating Championship and definitely
multiple poutine festivals. Yeah. At that World Poutine Eating Championship,

(15:19):
I believe that Joey Chestnut, who is a competitive eater
about town um town being the planet. Um, he's the
current eating record holder with twenty eight pounds down in
ten minutes in Wow, I just clutched my chair. WHOA, yeah,

(15:44):
I think I had about the same reaction. Um, I
think the I think the current world record for the
largest poutine was also set in Um, with a dish
weighing three thousand and thirty eight kilos that's approximate at
le six thousand, six hundred and nine pounds UM. Around

(16:04):
a third of that weight was cheese kurds uh, which
three cheesemakers split the duty of creating. It took about
twenty eight hours for each shop to create there like
third or so of the cheese. Some forty deep fryers
were used for the for the potatoes. UM and the

(16:25):
event which was in Warwick, which I hope i'm saying correctly.
I didn't look it up and I'm not gonna. I'm
so sorry. Um, it's in it's it's it's an it's
in a famed cheesemaking area um in Quebec. Uh. The
event took place in a in Warwick, Quebec, and was
raising funds for a collorrectal cancer prevention Hm. Wow, yeah,

(16:48):
that's a a lot of routine. It's it's more than
I would want to tackle alone. Yes, yes, yes, Oh. Also,
poutine is so popular in Canada that you can get
it at places like McDonald's or Burger King, which is
actually I think we've talked before, but this is one

(17:09):
of my fascinations is the specificities at these chain restaurants
different around the world. Sure, um, but that's not without
contention for multiple reasons. Sure. Oh yes, which we are
going to get into it our history section, which we

(17:30):
will in turn get into after we get back from
a quick break for a word from our sponsor. And
we're back, Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, and yes
we are back with some controversy debates, another beloved national dish,

(17:55):
another controversial history. Um. In my mind, I'm saying that
in the same cadence that Doug slash Taka with t
T says that in Thora Narok another day, another Doug,
I gotta all mixed up cord, not Doug, excuse me,
but that's, you know, the general vibe I've gotten right

(18:17):
off the top. But many sources place the origins of
Putine in rural Quebec in the nineteen fifties. That's about
all that's agreed upon. As we said, current episode in
the future Potato episode, different time from the episode also separate. Yes,

(18:39):
but this one dish, that's what we're talking about. Let's
let's focus, folks, Let's focus. Yes, let's focus. Um. Also,
this is another fun with pronunciation episode, but we're going
to do our best. Um. Yes. So. One of the
most widely told visions of the story of the Story

(19:00):
of Poutine credits a restaurant called La Lou Tan Kirie
and Warwick in ninety seven or Um the sister restaurant,
possibly um Cafe E d l Um. Allegedly, a regular
patron named Eddie Lness was in a big hurry and
requested that the restaurant's owner, Fernand Leschance, put French fries

(19:23):
and cheese kurds in the same bag to save time.
The story goes that the restaurant owner looked in the
bag and called it poutine um or the Quebec was
slang for mess, or that he said the request was
going to make a damn mess um mysteries history. I

(19:44):
love how it's always like it was a regular patron,
he was in a hurry, put him in the same bag.
You know, you know it does save every time, I
guess because that is a common theme throughout these story. Yeah,
there are a lot of these dishes. It's just someone
was like, I don't have time for your cold cut plates.

(20:08):
This is what I have. It's going in one bag,
stack it up. Yes. Yes. So another restaurant, Le Roy's
You Step Out of Drummondville, owns a trademark for poutine. Oh.
In nineteen sixty four, the then owner, Jean Paul Roy
served with some label the first version of poutine as

(20:31):
most people think of it today being the fries, cheese
and gravy. Roy reportedly got the idea after observing a
lot of customers ordering a side of curds to go
with their fries and gravy dish, a dish he first
introduced in nine was kind of They're like, okay, go
to dish, and then people are ordering all the curds alongside.
He was like, wait a minute. Um. Employees say he

(20:54):
named it poutine for two reasons, one being that mess
um meaning we talked about earlier. The other being the
chef's name was t poo Um. Not surprisingly, the city
of Drummondville, they're tourism board really land into this, really
pushes the scenario. Yep. They got a really funny ad

(21:18):
you can you can watch about it. Um. Quick note
about the name. Some think it might actually have derived
from the English word for pudding or a different Quebec
word for stew. And somewhere I read even said bad stew,
but I wasn't sure what bad stupent. Yeah. According to

(21:38):
Marion Webster, the word in this context first appeared in
English in two which doesn't necessarily track with these stories
we're telling, but I guess sometimes it does take a minute, um,
for these things to take a firm grasp enough to
get into the Merriam Webster dictionary. Yeah. Or or certainly

(22:01):
like like you know, the word having been published in
in in French previous to that, um, but just not
in English, that's true. Um. Others think that poutine may
have been invented by one of Quebec's curd producing dairy farms.
One in particular, Princess partnered with a nearby restaurant called
Le Petite Fash to sell their curds at the counter.

(22:23):
Since the dairy didn't have a storefront of his own,
one of the restaurants regular customers but order the kurds
and mixed them with his fries. His creation was known
as the fifty fifty because it was half fries and
half curds. I love that. Um. Someone along the way
I got the idea to add gravy and the name
was changed to mixed. Um. I mean yeah, I mean

(22:47):
fries and cheese is a good combination. Oh yeah, since
it's sure? Sure, yes. As with many things, I feel
like any and all of these stories could certainly be accurate. Yes,
happening simultaneously. Um, and very very briefly, very very briefly,

(23:08):
Samuel desian Plaine founded Quebec City and introduced cows there
around sixteen ten. Arriving French settlers brought their love of
cheese and she's making traditions with them, and cheese and
dairy farms became an important part of that area's economy.
Historians think a glut of dairy in the nineteen fifties
in this area led to extra cheese kurds finding their

(23:31):
way in diners and shops across the region, which makes
sense that people would be like, how do we use these? Yes? Sure, yeah.
However it got started. Putine spread across Quebec and then
across Canada, with different restaurants putting their own spins on
it and trying out different topics. Putine made it to

(23:54):
Quebec City in nineteen sixty nine. In Montreal, bye, and
of course this is what we have records of. It
could have in there before then. Um by n it
was appearing at Canadian chains. At this point, it was
pretty widely available at things like food trucks, and I
think by then it had even already garnered this reputation
of sort of the late night food like snack food.

(24:18):
Um poutine could be found in other countries like the US, Russia,
and the UK. By the nineteen seventies, the dishes popularity
continued to grow, and in the two thousands it wasn't
uncommon to find it on menus at more upscale places
in Canada. One of the first instances, one of the
most well known instances of this was that a Montreal

(24:39):
restaurant named O p Decchan in two thousand two, when
customers could order foix grab poutine. I believe you can
still get it, and I I looked at my Montreal map,
uh for you know, I make my maps when I
go to a place, and I revisited it for this
episode just to be like, oh yeah, and it was

(25:00):
on there. I did not go, but I did. Okay,
you know, well, you can't get to everything every time.
It's true. This is true. Um, very I want to
touch on this very brief disco fries aside, which I've
never heard of disco fries. Have you heard of him, Lauren?
I have not? Yeah I had or not? It came
up in my reading for this. Yeah, yeah, So disco fries.

(25:24):
Um are these fries with gravy and mazzarella and cheese,
and they're often called America's version of poutine. The some
disagree with that assessment vehemently. They are believed to have
been invented in New Jersey or maybe New York in
the nineteen seventies, though some say it may have actually
been in the nineteen nineties. The name came from the

(25:47):
fact that disco fries were a favorite food of the
late night crowd. UM listeners, please write in with your experience,
but also like, this is just a very brief I
understand people have strong opinions about it. Yes, just saying
we had to touch on it because a lot of
people were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's this other fries
and gravy and cheese dish. We should mention it, but right, yeah,

(26:13):
that'll come back. We're only reporting. Yeah, no, no, no, no,
I understand, it's the whole thing. I just wanted to
be like, yep, understand. Um. Also, there is a from
something some articles I read, there's a something that's called
poutine also in Canada. But it's like dumplings with like

(26:33):
meat in the inside, and they're normally served around the
holidays and especially Christmas. Um, So that is also a
thing that exists. And also listeners, yeah that oh please
do it sounds so good. Any any dumpling news that
you have for us, it's generally very very welcome. Um.

(26:58):
In the year two thousand and Canadian comedian Rick Mercer
interviewed a group of American politicians for a segment on
his program This Hour Has Twenty two Minutes, including then
presidential candidate George W. Bush. Mercer made a comment about
Prime Minister Jean Poutine, and many, including Bush, responded, not

(27:20):
acknowledging that this was not in fact the name prime
minister at the time or like ever. But and this
story made international news. And actually, um, it made international
news again because some of the reporters reporting on it. Um,
I thought that Bush had misunderstood the name Potent of

(27:44):
Russia Ladder putin It was the double a double controversy. Yes, yes,
um so yeah, I guess that give some uh creed.
Credence isn't the word I'm looking for at all, but yeah,

(28:05):
it shows a light. It shines a light on how
we're not pronouncing it the way that they would pronounce it. Yes,
in Canada. Uh. In two thousand three, an organization of
health concerned parents in Toronto petitioned successfully to remove poutine
from school lunch menus mm hmmmm. I was like, yeah, yeah,

(28:34):
mixed emotions, right, I'm like, well, that's sad, that's sad,
but also like probably not unfair health wars. Yeah yeah
mhm uh. Then in two thousand and eight, the first
poutine focused chain, UM, the aforementioned Smokes launched UM. There

(28:54):
have since been others, including La Putinari and Puttini's House
of Putine Love It, which is wonderful. Um. Also, there
is a lot of cat activity in this episode. I
I'm not sorry, I find it delightful. As we said,
it's a cold jury day, yeah at welcome, Yeah, it's

(29:16):
it's it's honestly pretty annoying because a lot of what
he's that. This is this is a great cat, and
he's just staring at me. M hmm, like ma'am, what
are you doing and why is it not petting me? Um?
But anyway back to poutine, Yes, um Chef Chuck Hughes
one in Iron Chef America competition with his entry of

(29:39):
lobster poutine in two thousand and eleven, and blogger Naim
Adam founded Poutine Week, in which you mentioned earlier. Um.
Thirty restaurants participated and people voted for their favorite poutine online.
I believe the statistic given was a hundred thous and
people voted in the first week or visited the web

(30:00):
site the first week. Um um. Then in Lays Potato
Chips had a bacon poutine flavor available only in Canada
after it placed as a finalist in there do us
a flavor contest? Alright, alright, you're like, I'll allow it.

(30:23):
Um And And around that time, poutine was really proliferating
in the United States, with lots of local restaurants trying
takes on the dish, from from poutine burgers to like
ramen fries topped with gravy and cheese cards all all
kind of all kinds of stuff. I'm so hungry. Um. Okay,

(30:46):
So stepping back a bit inve, Wendy's caused some controversy
when it started a quote poutitionum putd can it as
a national dish, and this didn't sit well with a
lot of folks in Quebec, giving Quebec's regional identity and

(31:07):
history of independence. On top of that, for several decades,
poutine was viewed as a dish for the poor. Um
and other parts of Canada made jokes about Quebec and
its poutine. It was kyle looked down upon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
President Barack Obama added to this when he served Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau poutine in sixteen, saying we want

(31:28):
our Canadian friends to fill at home. And a lot
of articles we found researching this labeled it as a
Canadian dish, which is again this sort of point of contention. Contention, sure, yeah, um.
There there was a really fascinating paper that um, that
we saw referenced in a lot of the stuff that
we read and and that we also found and read

(31:49):
um called poutine dynamics UM. And this is from the
journal Cuisine. The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures published in
and it is just a really terrific academic paper about
all of all of these issues, um, the the entire Yeah,

(32:09):
just just social dynamics of this dish and how it
went from being you know, like kind of a food
that other people from outside the area might have made
jokes about, um, to something that's kind of nationally celebrated. UM.
It really reminded me of some of the conversations that

(32:29):
we have here in the States about foods that originated
in poor areas, usually from black cooks and chefs in
the South, and then have have made it to a
national stage and have been made much of after you know,
we spent years and years, you know, decades, centuries being like, oh,
you're eating chicken, right, and now we're like, heck, yeah,

(32:52):
Nashville hot fried chicken. Like, but I don't know, and
let's make it symbol right, and and and and that
kind of thing, and you know, and so like yeah,
and that was a side to Putine that not knowing
that much about Canadian culture or or Hippocas culture, UM,
I just had not heard about and so yeah, yeah, yeah,

(33:14):
it's really really interesting. UM. And there are a lot
of in these discussions. It does touch on a lot
of stuff that we talked about a lot on this show. Um.
And also I believe, I mean, this is still ongoing
and Quebec recently Canada recently I had like this whole
kind of forum on should Quebec be its own thing?

(33:36):
Um so yeah, yeah, it's it's definitely something that is
still ongoing. And uh, I can see like and why
that would be frustrating if you people make fun of
it and then all of a sudden they're like, oh
it's good and for a lot more money and it's
all of ours now right Yeah yeah, um, but that

(34:03):
being said, we would love to hear from anybody, um
as always in Quebec, in Canada, anyone at all. Poutine
is lovely. Yes, I do enjoy it so much so
and yeah, so so thank thank you all for for
sharing it with us. I am so glad whenever it

(34:27):
crosses my plate me as well. Well, it's like one
of those things I'm like, you open them in you
my eyes just immediately zero in on it and like
nothing else, nothing else matters. That's that's it. There could
be other amazing things on all the other pages. And
I'm like, what, like the lights dim and there's just
one spotlight and it's just done the poutine. Yeah that's great,

(34:54):
so good. Well, I hope that your poutine comes soon. Annie.
Oh me too, you too. I'm already like, where gonna go?
We're gonna go? How can I get it delivered? Um?
But yes, I think that's what we have to say
about it for now. It is. We do have some
listener mail for you, though. We do. After one more

(35:14):
quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Thank you, sponsored, Yes, thank you, and we're back with me.

(35:36):
I'm gonna feel whenever I get or even happy. Yes,
Renee wrote, I was so excited to listen to your
Chopsticks episode. I waited an eager anticipation to see if
you had mentioned the one thing that is forever burned
into my brain. Do not stick your chopsticks into your food? Uh,

(35:59):
no way. My mother will find you and slap your
hand as she did mine. Her context, my mother is
Japanese and my father is a good old Southern gentleman.
My mother never really taught us any Japanese customs or language.
She left it up to my Caucasian army dad who
taught us the colorful Japanese phrases. So I never knew

(36:21):
that sticking your chapsticks in your rice or food was
taboo until that fateful day. Oh no, I jokingly stabbed
my chopsticks into my rice. It was then my quiet
mother gently slatched my wrist and told me never to
disrespect my ancestors like this. Oh no, I could actually
feel all my past ancestors looking upon me. Was shame,

(36:46):
since then I can't have any utensils sticking straight up
in anything. I discreetly and quietly pushed the spoons or
forks down to lay on their sides, as I still
fear they're disapproval. I know it's only for chopsticks, but
just in case, Oh absolutely. My father also taught us
how to use chopsticks. One day early on in my

(37:09):
learning um, we were at the only Japanese restaurant in
my small town, and I pulled apart the small wooden chopsticks,
and to my horror, watched this one stick, I swear
in slow motion blew across the room and squarely hit
a Japanese businessman in the head. Oh no, I felt
my ancestors shake their heads at me again and a

(37:33):
quick thing. I also own cooking chopsticks, which are longer
than eating chopsticks. Often I use them in place of tongs,
but I still give them a quick click click to
make sure they are working, like any normal human would
do with tongs. Again, I'm sure my ancestors put their heads,
their hands and their faces and shake their heads at me.

(37:55):
Always good to check. I mean, just because the spring
action in chopsticks is your hand doesn't mean you shouldn't
check it right. Yeah, you gotta warm up as Yes, yes,
there's so much I relate to you in this, even
like accidentally hitting someone with a straight chopstick feeling that

(38:19):
you've shaved your ancestors. I understand. M hm. But you
know you're doing just great, Renne. You are, you are,
We're you're You're trying. You're trying, We're all trying. It's
gonna be okay. Yes, uh, Kelsey wrote, I was excited

(38:40):
to see that the latest episode was or chatta. It's
what I always get at a Mexican restaurant if I
don't order margharita, and I had no idea it originated
in Africa slash Ancient Realm I always knew it to
be made with rice milk until I went to the
Las Fas festival in Valencia. This is a festival in
the spring in which organizations and can unity groups build

(39:01):
huge paper mache sculptures and burned them down at night
while everyone parties in the streets and sets off firecrackers,
and if you're me and my fellow American students, drink
sangria from a box with a straw. Anyway, late that night,
my friends and I were wandering down a busy street
of food stands after enjoying the festivities when I spotted
a little uh or chatta cart Catalan for or chatta.

(39:25):
I think I just said it pretty much the same way.
It's spelled differently anyway, and I just had to run
over and get some uh. This or chatta was made
from tiger nuts and was absolutely delicious and creamy and
cinnamony and went well with the little bun yellows a
small donuts my friend bought t L. D. R. Or
Chatta is delicious no matter what kind of milk it's
made of or where in the world you are. Ah,

(39:48):
that sounds lovely, Oh it does. Oh my goodness. I
love these festivals too. You all keep writing it about
I'm like, yes, yes, build a paper mache I then
burn it. Now have some more shoto while doing so. Yes,
little donuts of course sounds amazing. All of this, all

(40:12):
of it m mmmm well. Thanks to both of those
listeners for writing to us. If you would like to
write to us, we would love to hear from you
our emails Hello at savor pod dot com. We're also
on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod, and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit

(40:34):
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way