Cooking is both an art and science. Each individual has a different level of skill or aesthetic sense when it comes to preparing a meal.
Moreover, even individuals from most impoverished homes produce delicious meals using artless skills such as steaming, boiling, and grilling. For instance, in Southeast Asia, cooking not only means applying heat but also means preparing food for consumption. Thus, in making meals, sun drying, preparing raw dishes, and fermenting are part of the process. Meal-process requires a lot of time, skill, and the freshest possible ingredients to process and prepare them. This paper describes the preparation of the meal process and also analyzes the meal’s importance based on the Food culture in Southeast Asia. Components such as; who cook, kitchen, and its content, food processing, and preparation will be discussed.
Who Cooks?
Before preparing a meal, it’s essential to identify the person that is involved in the process. The division of labor for cooking is flexible as both men and women may be acknowledged as skilled cooks in restaurants and homes. For instance, in the Khmu of Lao and other hunting ethnic groups entrust cooking all meat meals to men. Usually, young girls and women do daily food preparation and rice cooking. At their initial stages, children learn how to cut vegetables. Other communities such as Shan, Men mostly cook food for ritual occasions. A lone cook cannot prepare multiple dishes without getting help in processing flavor pastes o cutting vegetables, especially when making rice.
Kitchens and Their Contents
According to traditional Southeast Asian culture, kitchens are considered ritually essential places. Thus, kitchens are not only referred to as physical structures but duplicate cultural values. Kitchens are designed to keep smoke, heat, and smells way from living spaces. The rural kitchen setting differs from the urban environment basing on the location and the constituents. For instance, urban Southeast Asian homes have modern equipment such as rice cookers, electric refrigerators, and microwave ovens. In contrast, rural kitchens have an open fire or closed ceramic, coconut grater, mortal and pestles, among others.
Food Processing and Preparation.
Food processing takes place in both urban and rural households. In mainland Southeast Asia, fermented fish products are the most processed food as they are prepared in both rural and urban settings. Additionally, bean curd and bamboo shoots are as well fermented. Water used in cooking rice or washing can be used in the fermenting process. Sun drying is also another commonly used technique in communities.
Preparation procedures for vegetables include washing and cutting diagonally into matchstick pieces. For instance, before preparing many dishes, one can finely chop garlic. Ingredients such as shallots and garlic are dry roasted before cooking; this is done to intensify their flavors. In Northern Lao and Thai dishes, lemongrass is added to the roasted sticky rice powder to add texture and taste. Also, salt and black pepper can be dry roasted, and ground. Across Southeast Asia, the preparation of flavor pastes is an early morning job that associates cuisines. The recipes reveal locally available herbs and spices and taste preferences.
Due to the settlement of Southeast Asians in Europe and North America, vegetables, fresh herbs, and other regional ingredients such as tamarind paste and lemongrass have become available in the market at reasonable prices. Additionally, international cooking schools have emphasized on preparing meals of Asian origin to substitute for the diversity of local dishes. Therefore, nationalism has been created in the process of promotion of these cooking schools.