Principles of Gastronomy - Report Example

Principles of Gastronomy Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Cooking School: Vietnamese Cooking Classes in Seigon 3 Cooking Classes 5 Vietnamese Spring Roll 5 Camarel Fish in Clay Pot 6 Beef Salad with Tamarind Sauce 7 Farmers Market: Noosa Farmer’s Markets 8 Noosa Lime Company 9 Noosa River Smoke House Salmon Gravalax 9 Bendele Farm 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Gastronomy is defined as the art and science of health and adequate eating, it is also said to be the study of food and culture with a specific focus on gourmet cuisine. It involves discovering, tasting, experiencing, searching, understanding and writing about food preparation together with the sensory qualities of human nutrition as a whole. Similarly, extensively study’s how nutrition interfaces with the broader culture. Gastronomy relates to the production of food, means by which foods are produced, the political treatment of foods, storage, transport and processing; the preparation and cooking of the meals and manner, the chemistry of food, digestion and the psychological effects of food; food choices and customs. Different regions across the globe might have dissimilar food compositions and cuisines; however, the main gist of great food together with its preparation is the freshness. Significantly important, food texture contrasts, taste, as well as its overall appearance are other complementarities that are also considered. This report provides an insight as to how gastronomy can be vastly understood as a tourism product using Vietnamese cooking classes for tourists in Seigon and Noosa farmer’s market (Gillespie and Cousins, 2012). Cooking School: Vietnamese Cooking Classes in Seigon Established in 1999 by the Vietnam Cookery centre and regarded as the first and highly professional Cookery Centre in Vietnam tasked with providing extensive Vietnamese gastronomy visitors from across the world as well interested professionals. At this centre, all courses are hands-on-classes that are always introduced by providing excellent and insightful concepts of the real Vietnamese food culture (LaCombe, 2012). Once you take part in these professionally planned and conducted cooking lessons you will encounter unforgettable and memorable souvenirs in your entire life (Butler and Fine, 2010; Aguilera, 2012). This cooking school is situated in the heart of Seigon, where the school’s large terrace provides visitors with a unique golden view of the neighbouring real estate developers that is often referred to as “Golden Triangle.” Another rare experience that is associated with this school is that after having an exclusive initiation on Vietnamese gastronomy, visitors are accorded an exceptional chance to go back in history and have an extraordinary moment in one of the last colonial building that is still strongly evident downtown. Built in 1930 by French developers, the building was to be the residence of the Saigonese elite (This, 2013; Yue and Tang, 2013). The cooking classes here as already are hands-on and are tailored to accord the visitor a short but extremely insightful initiation to Vietnamese gastronomy; for instance, the visitor is taught how to cook two authentic and popular dishes in order to allow him/her to enjoy his/her own creation with rice or noodles served. Vietnamese cooking classes for tourists usually commence with a morning visit to the market that takes approximately four hours to allow visitor to explore Vietnamese shopping (Maier, 2012). The classes are either organized for one or two people depending on the visitor’s preference (Lee and Francis, 2009). It is also important to note that, visitors can also join existing classes. During the market, visitors are accompanied with a chef; this allows tourists to view or see lively activities of the traditional Vietnamese market at the Ben Thanh Market in HCM city. Similarly, the tourists are exposed to learn how to recognize the different Vietnamese herbs, fruits, and vegetables. The chef is always dressed in a white uniform and an interpreter with the sign “Vietnam Cookery Centre” are positioned at the entrance of the Ben Thanh market on Le Loi St. at 8:30 am to meet the visitors. Cooking Classes The Vietnamese cooking culture is rich and wide; for the purposes of getting the real picture of the cooking classes at Seigon, three different foods together with their preparation will be discussed in these sections. Vietnamese Spring Roll The ingredients of this wonderful and tasty spring roll include: 40g of minced pork 30g crab meat 40g of minced prawns 15g ear mushrooms 35-40g taro or sweet potato ½ teaspoon of chicken powder 1 teaspoon of sugar ½ teaspoon of ground pepper 1 teaspoon of chopped shallot 1 teaspoon of chopped spring onion 1-2 teaspoon of egg-yolk 3-4 pieces of rice paper or net rice paper which is covered by fresh banana leaves or cabbage one day before Coconut juice or beer or mixture of fresh water and a little sugar; preferably, beer and a little sugar can be used. Cooking oil for deep frying This roll is prepared by first; soaking the dry ear mushroom in warm water for approximately 15-20 minutes; drain; and then discard the stems. Peel off the Taro skin and cut it into julienne. In a bowl, stuff the pork, crab, prawn, taro, and ear mushroom; afterwards add shallot, spring onion, sugar, chicken powder, pepper and egg yolk. Mash the mixture until they are evenly combined. Divide the mixture into 3 or 4 equal parts. Spread evenly a little coconut juice on the surface of rice paper. Fold the edge of the rice paper about 3cm towards the centre and place one part of the stuffing on the folded surface. Similarly fold the right and left sides of the rice paper into the centre. Tightly roll up from the bottom edge away to the far end. Deep-fry all the spring rolls in a pan over low heat until golden brown. Finally serve with lettuce, fragrant leaves, rice noodle and dipping fish sauce. Camarel Fish in Clay Pot The ingredients here include: 100g fish, sliced in 1cm thickness 1 teaspoon of chopped shallot 1 teaspoon of chopped spring onion A baby chilli ½ teaspoon of chicken powder 1 tablespoon of fish sauce 2 teaspoon of sugar ½ teaspoon of ground pepper A cup of fresh water ½ teaspoon of cooking oil 1-2 teaspoon of caramel syrup 1 tablespoon of chopped spring onion (green part only) for garnish The preparation of Caramel syrup is done by heating 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a pan. Stir until golden brown and then remove from the heat. The Marinade is prepared by placing marinate sliced fish in a pan, add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, ½ tablespoon sugar, ½ tablespoon of cooking oil, ½ teaspoon of pork powder, ½ teaspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of spring onion and shallot, chilli’s and caramel syrup. Leave the mixture to absorb within 15-30 minutes. Stir the mixture occasionally until the sauce dries up. Pour fresh water into the pot and leave it to simmer until the sauce is reduced by half or thicken and the meat is then cooked. Garnish with a little ground pepper and chopped spring onion on the top. Serve the Caramel fish with fresh or boiled vegetables and steamed rice. Beef Salad with Tamarind Sauce The ingredients for preparing this unique salad include: 150g beef fillets sliced 4-6 tablespoons of tamarind sauce 200g-300g saw-leave herbs 2-3 tablespoons of sugar 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1/2-1 teaspoon of chopped chilly Fried shallots, peanut, shrimp cake The preparation involves dipping tamarind sauce including 2 tablespoons of tamarind sauce, 11/2 2 teaspoons of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt; mix them up and add chopped chilly. Blanch beef into the boiling water for 3-5 seconds. Keep rare and then drain it. Mix the beef with saw leave herbs, onion, 2-4 tablespoon of tamarind sauce, 2-3 tablespoon of sugar, ½ teaspoon of salt. Let the mixture stand for 15 minutes, transfer the beef to a serving dish and garnish with peanut and fried shallot. Then serve with shrimp cake and dipping tamarind sauce. Farmers Market: Noosa Farmer’s Markets Noosa Farmer’s Markets are mired with a lot of fantastic and extremely outstanding experiences. They are located along a beautiful coastline along the Weyba Road at Noosaville; these markets offer a variety of highly prized farm produce. The Noosa Markets set out elegantly and offer mainly regional produce which vendors are happy and willing to talk about their produce. Vendors who are mostly farmers specialize in one or two food areas rather than stocking a variety of different things. Noosa is largely transforming into a food producing heaven thus it is renowned as a food conscious region. This is mainly due to the prevailing food culture in this region; the locals have money and are always willing to spend it on the great farm produce readily and abundantly available. The food prices are slightly higher which are directly related to the best quality offered here. The Noosa Farmer’s Markets will always offer something for everyone; the vendors arrive very early to prepare for the day. Similarly, shoppers who arrive early on these markets are kept busy by vendors who are accustomed to talking to buyers about their produce (Talbott, 2008). Various companies operating in these markets uniquely make sure that the shoppers and visitors as well receive unforgettable services. To largely expound on this, three companies with their offerings will be discussed. Noosa Lime Company This company provides great zesty fresh lime cordial that is laced with a hint of ginger and kaffir lime. They are professionally combined to give the visitor an excellent and lasting experience given the fact that lime and ginger are truly tasty together. The true cordial tastes of real lime is outstanding and wonderful when mixed water or vodka particularly when you are feeling tired and naughty. This combination is exclusively a product of the Noosa Lime Co. and once a customer tastes it, he/she will automatically request for more. This market also offers finger lime, which gives visitors a tremendous taste. Noosa River Smoke House Salmon Gravalax This market is one of its own, offering salmon gravalax in two different fabulous flavours; for instance, one is dill based while the other has a paper-corny bite. Here, the salmon is cured with seat salt together with brown sugar; it is extremely delicious. The Noosa River Smoke House gives the customer the salmon in its tender, silky and with a fresh taste. The paper-corns are very delicious and mouth-watering additions that are not meant to overpower the salmon’s flavour. The salmons are usually served in a fresh baguette laced with fresh salads from various stands that are abundantly available in this house. They are packed in vacuumed containers with an expiry date tag making it appropriate for any customer to buy in huge quantities that can last up to a full month. The customer service in this market is tailored to every customer who comes here, for instance each visitor receives an exclusive service encounter. Bendele Farm This is a market that offers a rare opportunity of purchasing an organic duck. This particular product has given this market exceptional popularity. It has been observed that getting an organic duck is very hard particularly from a Bendele stand (Pitte, 2013). However arriving early on this market gives one an excellent opportunity to buy this inimitable farm product. Freshly from the farm, is what every customer covets to buy; early morning purchases will automatically give this from Bendele market. The fresh ducks are slaughtered within very early in the morning and exclusively packaged for the customers. Conclusion Gastronomy is the discovering, testing, experiencing, researching, understanding and writing about food preparation as well as sensory qualities of the entire human nutrition; it also studies how nutrition is interrelated across different cultures across the world. Gastronomy is a vital tourism product; this report has used two incomparable gastronomic events; the Vietnamese Cooking Classes and the Noosa Farmer’s Markets to describe how gastronomy is a significantly important tourism product. The Vietnamese cooking classes gives us an insight of how Vietnamese foods are prepared and served to both tourists and indigenous locals. A variety of foods and their preparations including beef salad with tamarind sauce, Camarel fish in clay port, and Vietnamese spring roll extensively explains how the Vietnamese food culture is rich and will always have an unforgettable experience. On the other hand, the Noosa Farmer’s Markets is another area that has been vastly exploited by this report providing the real picture of what exactly goes on these markets and above all what kind of experience that they offer. Following the findings of this report, it is undoubtedly evident that gastronomy is a true tourism product. References Aguilera, J. 2012. Edible Structures: The Basic Science of What We Eat. New York: CRC Press Butler, C., and Fine, N. 2010. Principles of Cancer Reconstructive Surgery. London: Springer Gillespie, C., and Cousins, J. 2012. European Gastronomy into the 21st Century. London: Routledge LaCombe, M. 2012. Political Gastronomy: Food and Authority in the English Atlantic World. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press Lee, H., and Francis, S. 2009. Migration and Transnationalism: Pacific Perspectives. Sydney: ANU E Press Maier, T. 2012. Hospitality Leadership Lessons in French Gastronomy: The Story of Guy and Franck Savoy. London: AuthorHouse Pitte, J. 2013. French Gastronomy: The History and Geography of a Passion. Columbia: Columbia University Press Talbott, D. 2008. 'Recommended by Duncan Hines': Automobility, Authority, and American Gastronomy. London: ProQuest This, H. 2013. Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor. Columbia: Columbia University Press Yue, I., and Tang, S. 2013. Scribes of Gastronomy: Representations of Food and Drink in Imperial Chinese Literature. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press Read More