While I was sick just before Thanskgiving I binge watched this short 4-part series based on the book written by chef, teacher, and author Samin Nosrat. I knew nothing about Ms. Nosrat or this series before I watched it. One of my friends who likes to cook may have mentioned it in passing at some point and then I saw it appear on Netflix, and decided someday I'd get around to watching it.
Overall, I enjoyed it quite a lot. While I knew a lot of the basic information contained in the series, my favorite parts were the insights into the different countries she visited and her personality.
FAT
I hadn't realized this about Italy and it really, really made me want to go there.
SALT
A strong nostalgia for Japan hit me while I watched this. (I spent a school year abroad in Nagoya in college.) At that time, I remember being somewhat concerned about all the salt in the food because American culture tells you lots of salt is really bad for you...and yet the Japanese have a longer life expectancy than Americans. I still don't really know how to reconcile that but I guess neither does health research. I'm still going to enjoy my miso and soy sauce.
ACID
This made me really want to go to Mexico too! I had no idea turkey was so common as a food in the Yucatan. I noticed Samin's Spanish has a lot of Italian mixed in. I also loved that her first reaction to eating something way too spicy was to laugh.
HEAT
It's adorable that Samin got her mother in on this (but it makes a lot of sense, many of us learn to cook and develop our tastes for food from our mothers). The rice dish they make (tahdig) is how my favorite Indian restaurant in town makes their rice, and though I had read about it, it was cool to see the process in action.
