Week 33: Pakistan

Week 33: Land of the Pure.


There are over 70 shades of green. There is Army green, and Olive green, Bottle green, British racing car green, Chartreuse, Absinthe, Shamrock green, UFO green, even Zomp green, and then there is Pakistan Green. Pakistan Green is a distinctive dark green, as displayed on the national flag of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.  The green on the flag represents Islam and the Muslim majority in Pakistan, and has some very specific protocols: In Pakistan, no other flag may fly higher; it may never touch the ground, shoes or feet of anyone unclean; it may never be flown in darkness and may never be buried or lowered into a grave. The Flag must always be hoisted on the 14th of August to commemorate that day in 1947 when Pakistan was carved out from British India as a home to Indian Muslims and became a sovereign state.


With 180 million people, Pakistan is the 6th most populous country in the world, and the second largest Muslim nation, after Indonesia. I therefore found it quite surprising to learn that there are only 31,277 Pakistani's permanently living in Australia. They started to arrive in the late 1800's as cameleers, hawkers and labourers. Most arrived in the 1950's as camel drivers,  when camels were the go-to mode of transport to conquer Australia's big red centre. Today, those who arrive on our shores are mostly temporary students (presently over 7,400 Pakistani's are studying in Australia on student visas).


Being a Muslim nation, it comes as no surprise that the Islamic faith forms the basis of Pakistani cuisine (no pork or alcohol). Pakistan is divided into 4 provinces, all with different regional specialities. The Indian Moghul Empire ruled the region for hundreds of years, permanently influencing the herb and spice profile of its cuisine - with saffron, almonds and raisins featuring prominently. Lamb and goat are the proteins of choice, with lentils and rice acting as staples. It is a cuisine rich with sauces and chutneys, pickles and preserves, giving Pakistani food its distinctive flavour.


The closest we could get to a Pakistani restaurant in Brisbane was The Sultan's Kitchen, which specialises in the food of the Indian Sub-Continent. The Sultan's Kitchen is situated a mere stone's throw form SunCorp Stadium. Unbeknown to me, there was a rugby league came on last night, when parking restrictions apply and football fans congest the pavements, fill the bars and invade the restaurants. I made a booking for 8 people a week ago, and when we arrived, a table of 8 burly Bronco supporters have taken our table. Hugely apologetic, the owner somehow managed to do some creative rearrangement to honour our booking (I think some diners were politely escorted out while still chewing...). After the initial hick-up, everything went smoothly. The food was delicious, the service friendly (though a bit stressed) and once the footy crowd departed for the game, we were the only people enjoying the splendours of the Sub-Continent. We started with  3 platters of The Sultan's Mix (samosas, onion pakoras and chicken tikka). For mains we all had a different dish: Lamb Rogan Josh, Dhal Masala, Fish Curry, Butter Chicken, Beef Nisha, Tandoori Chicken, Saagwala and a delicious eggplant curry.  No doubt, in time, we shall return to the Sultan's Kitchen.


I love the fact-sharing part of the evening (see blog week 1 for FNO rules). I cannot quite remember all Kerry's facts, but I can clearly recall her whistle to capture our (and the rest of the restaurant's) attention for Phil's first fact: Alexander the Great fought his most costly battle on the border of (now) Pakistan 2,300 years ago. However, he did not retreat without leaving a legacy - The Kalash people, an ancient white ethnic group living in the Hindu Kush are considered to be the lost children the great man.  Apart from the flag facts, Boetie also elaborated on the national animal, the Markhor, which is  the most amazing large, wild goat, with horns that resemble that of a Kudu (see picture below). Keith showed us pictures of the Karakoram Highway that connects Pakistan with China - the world's highest international Rd which took 15 years to build. Martina had a couple of disturbing facts about Pakistan's non-compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (together with India and North -Korea), Nielen brought to our attention that in Pakistan a new baby is born every 7 seconds, and Anna informed us that the first PC virus was invented by two Pakistani's in the 1980's. We spoke about the most famous teenager in the world: MalalaYousafzai ( a young, heroic activist for education and woman's rights, who was shot through the head by the Taliban on her way home from school), and that Pakistan has only ever won one medal at the Olympic Games: a bronze for hockey in 1992.


Time to jump continents: next week we travel to The Horn of Africa. See you in Eritrea.




The national animal: The
Markhor

Week 32: England

Week 32: Land of Angles*.


Let's start by getting our facts straight: England is a country situated on the largest island in Europe, called Great Britain. The island hosts three countries: England, Scotland and Wales. All the kingdoms of Great Britain were remitted into a union of kingdoms in 1707, and in 1801 it was united with its neighbouring island, Ireland. Ireland subsequently became an independent Republic (1921), except Northern Ireland opted to remain part of the United Kingdom. In short: England is not Britain (but on it), and it is not the United Kingdom (but part of it). Confused? Never mind...so are many.   

When travelling, you fill your day with activities such as visiting museums and cathedrals, or hiking the mountains and admiring the natural riches of your destination. This is what you do in "the space between meals". Often the food and dining experiences of different countries are the most memorable part of a holiday. Apparently not so in England. A recent Lonely Planet survey deemed English food the worst in the world (by a landslide). Former French President Jacques Chirac famously quipped "one cannot trust the people whose cuisine is so bad".

Now let's take a closer look at this cuisine that is often described as boring, bland and boiled. Traditionally, English cuisine centred around bread, cheese and meats. Being surrounded by the Atlantic ocean, seafood also played its part - cockles, mussels, whelks and winkles. Oysters used to be the mainstay of the poor, baked in a savoury pudding with beef ...later replaced by kidneys. Meat pies date back to the middle ages, when the pastry was used as a container to serve meat (called a coffyn). And pasties were formed by simply wrapping the entire filling in pastry. Classic cottage pie (beef) and Sheppard's pie (lamb) are topped with mashed potatoes. Sausages (colloquially known as bangers) were traditionally made from low quality meat and offcuts, with beef and pork being the most popular - sometimes baked in Yorkshire Pudding batter, known as Toad in the Hole.  Savoury puddings, like Black Pudding and White pudding contain pig's blood....in line with the famous adage  "you can eat every part of the pig except its squeal". The Victorians sabotaged their own meals by boiling everything into a pulp because they were so obsessed with hygiene and afraid of raw food. Yes, English cuisine has had a bad rap. But where would us Anglo-Saxons be without a sandwich ( named after the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who asked his valet for "some meat tucked between two slices of bread", and others then ordered "the same as Sandwich"), or a Full English Breakfast, Afternoon Tea and The Sunday Roast?

And how different the profile of Australia would have been, was it not for the 80,000 English convicts that were transported here between 1788 and 1840. By 1859 there were 2.2million free settler immigrants from Britain. Today, people from England form the largest migrant group in Australia, with 14 million having an ancestral connection to England. We discovered a little bit of England last night. We travelled 19km south east of Brisbane City (pushing the boundaries of our Friday-Night -Out rules a bit...) to the bay-side suburb of Birkdale. Hugging the foreshore of Redlands mainland,  Birkdale was so named in 1880 by local landowner William Thorne after his birthplace in England. Australians aside, the biggest percentage of the 13,800 residents in Birkdale comes from England. 

Outside of England, fish and chips wrapped in newspaper, and sprinkled with salt and malt vinegar is the most popular and identifiable English contribution to the culinary world (surprisingly, inside of England, the most popular dish is chicken tikka masala). So it had to be Fish and Chips. It was just me and my two boys, joined by Martina and Kerry. We visited Chumley Warner's, a traditional  fish'n'chippy in a dining precinct that reminded us of the huge English ex-pat community in the area. Urban street food is what they specialise in: battered and deep fried haddock, plaice or cod with hand cut fried chips,  fried scampi, fried onion rings, fried mushrooms - we ended up with a number of "unidentified frying objects " in front of us. The menu also features pies and sausages, haggis and black pudding, mushy peas, gravy and baked beans. Chumleys must be the only place in Brisbane where you can order a couple of faggots (offal meatballs) and not be cited for verbal abuse. All the fish served at Chumley Warner's is caught in the North Atlantic Ocean, "wild" and not farmed, and frozen within 5 hours to preserve quality and taste. Their Frying Range was designed and built in Leeds, England and then shipped to Australia, together with a  unique potato rumbler and chipper. If you are desperate for authentic English fast food fare, Chumley Warner's might just fit the bill.
(* Angles. The Angles are of Germanic tribal origin from the Baltic Sea, and settled on the Island of Britain in the early Middle Ages)


Assorted "frying objects" with pickled wallies
Pie and Pasty
Fish and chips
Restaurant to the right
Shop to the left

Week 31: Greece

Week 31: The Hellenic Republic

In 1829, seven Greek sailors were convicted of piracy by the British Naval Court, and sent to New South Wales. They were the first known Greeks to arrive on Australian shores.  The first free Greek migrant was Katerina Georgia Plessos. She arrived in 1835, with her husband Major James Crummer, and thought to be the last person to speak to Lord Byron ( more on Lord Byron later...). Over the years, there has been a steady increase in Greek immigration, which slowed down in the 1980's and 90's. In 2000, many decided to return to their homeland. Now the tide has turned. Due to the Greek Financial Crisis, Greeks are flooding back to Australia. Inflation, Deflation, Disinflation, even Lowflation. Call it what you like - this period of ultra-low inflation is destroying output in Greece, and they are returning en masse  to re-join the 378,270 people of Greek ancestry living in Australia.

Greece has a 6000 year old continuum of Culture. They gave us the principles of governance as laid down by Plato (a student of Socrates), the transformation of knowledge by Aristotle ( a student of Plato), the lyric poetry of Sappho, and baklava! The first ever cookbook was written by the Greek gourmet Archestratos in 330 BC.  With a sun-blessed Mediterranean climate, the ancient Greek diet centred on the triptych of bread, olives and wine. Vegetables like eggplant and zucchini were turned into olios so filling that no other substance was required. In fact, the vegetarian diet of ancient Greeks was one of the healthiest in the world. They worked fruit and nuts into dough, and soaked pastries in honey. They seasoned with wild oregano and sage, garlic and lemons. They turned milk into yoghurt and cheese and preserved the wild capers in sea salt.

In 350 BC, Alexander the Great extended the Greek Empire from Europe to India with exposure to fragrant new spices. Greece fell to the Romans in 146 BC, adding Italian influence to Greek food. In 330 AD, Emperor Constantine moved the capitol of the Byzantine Empire to Constantinople (with the introduction of even more flavours and preferences). The Empire fell to the Turks in 1453, with  Ottoman Rule dominant for 400 years. Some Turkish food names remain today like tzatziki, hummus and dolmades.

Greek cuisine is simple and elegant, the flavours can range from subtle to robust, and it is always fresh and healthy. Our culinary journey to Greece took us to Lefkas Taverna, along Hardgrave Rd in West End. Lefkas was opened in 1991 as a small family owned business, and has since expanded into a large capacity operation, with John Theoharis at the helm. Kali orexi!

On arrival, we had some ouzo (similar to Italian sambuka or French absinthe....without the woodworm). Distilled from grapes and flavoured with anise, this clear solution turns into a cloudy emulsion once water or ice is added. The Greeks will warn you never to drink ouzo "dry hammer" (drinking without eating), as the alcohol absorption is delayed by the high sugar content, and then, all of a sudden ...BAM!....you wonder why you are dancing on the table. We ordered two platters of mezethes to spare us any possible embarrassment. The menu featured all the traditional mains one would expect to find at a taverna somewhere on a Greek Isle: moussaka (mince eggplant, potato), keftedakia me saltsa (meatballs in tomato salsa) gemista capsicum kreatos ( stuffed capsicum), elliniko psimeno kotopoulo (baked lemon chicken), lachacoctolmades (cabbage rolls), yiros (rotisserie of lamb), souvlaki (skewers) and calamari tiganito (battered and fried calamari).

The fact-sharing (see sharing of facts rules blog week 1) was as layered as a baklava: From the flag (Freedom or Death) and the national animal (the dolphin) to some personal insights and memories from Vanessa. Kerry (fact-free last week) dared to return this week, armed with encyclopaedic knowledge on a range of topics (some challenged, true to Friday Night Out tradition). We discussed the Olympic Games, the origin of the Caduceaus symbol (medical symbol of two entwined serpents on a winged staff), the origin of the white Chefs hats and the poet Lord Byron. Shunned by the British for his bohemian lifestyle, and famously described by his peers as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know", Lord Byron part-funded the Greek revolutionary army and died in 1824 fighting for Greek independence from Ottoman Rule.  His support was an inspiration to young men to join the uprising, and in Greece he enjoys hero status, with the day of his death honoured as a public holiday. From Greece, we shall travel our way back to Lord Byron's county of birth. Next week , we'll dine in England.