Help me write a gourmet children's story

[Fat Guy]

Ellen and I (and an illustrator) are putting together a little thing for the Web that's basically an international gourmet children's story. The idea is to familiarize kids with the diversity and wonder of cuisines around the world. If you've got any ideas for good examples, I need maybe 40 of them from various countries and regions, with all levels of cuisine represented. Basic formula is "Did you know that in ____ they put ____ and ____ together and call it ____?" and variants thereof.

[Rosie]

How about something with noodles and eggs etc. and call it noodle pudding?

[Gavin Jones]

Spotted Dick (or any one of the steamed puddings) - they are easy to cook, tasty (as contents are sugar, fat, flour & flavouring in that order - so loved by everyone).

[cabrales]

The obvious --

Did you know that in France they put grilled ham, cheese and bread together and call it a Croque Monsieur?

Did you know that in Japan they put rice and raw fish together and call it sushi?

[helenas]

in Georgia (former soviet republic) they put cheese in bread dough, bake it and call it

khachapuri;

[Sandra Levine]

And in France, they do the same thing with chocolate instead of cheese and call it pain au chocolat.

[ahr]

Are you looking to point out similarities, like quenelles and gefilte fish, or the fact that most cuisines seem to have some kind of dumpling?

[Jinmyo]

Did you know that in Canada they put dough and grease together and call it a "Beavertail"?

[tony h]

you could include something to the effect of: "if you don't eat your greens the big bad balic thread'll get you"

[Jinmyo]

Did you know that in England they take dough and guts and put them together and call it Pie?

[Gavin Jones]

Did you know that in England they take dough and guts and put them together and call it Pie?

This is a children's story - maybe they will be too young for Pie.

In France they forcefeed corn into ducks and call it foie gras.

[Jaymes]

The Alaska-native recipes I put in the "worst foods" poll are all authentic.

Easiest example for your children's story would be "Eskimo Ice Cream." They make it with some sort of fat (blubber or seal oil or reindeer or moose fat) and sugar and berries. I can give you an actual recipe if you'd like. Ice cream is something kids identify with, and Eskimo Ice Cream is a name they'd love. The native word is "Agutuk."

So, "Did you know that in Alaska they put seal oil and sugar and berries together and call it Ice Cream?"

And besides all that, Eskimos are so darn cute in illustrations.

[Jinmyo]

Did you know that in Scotland they put guts and oats in a sheep's stomach, play the bagpipes, recite a poem, and call it haggis?

ediot: "Poem" not "poen".

[Rachel Perlow]

Did you know that in China, they put dumplings and soup (jook) together and call it breakfast? (Dim Sum)

[Gavin Jones]

In England they put left-over cabbage and mashed potato together and fry it in a ton of bacon fat and call it bubble & squeak.

Welsh Rabbit.

And let me vote for Jaymes' Jellied Moose Nose.

I have a friend who reads the recipes of Fergus Henderson's Nose to Tail eating as slightly frightening bedtime stories to her child. (there'd be some good ones in there - Haggis is particularly explicit - drape the oesophagus over the side of the pot...).

Jellied Moose Nose pisses over all of them.

[Fat Guy]

Are you looking to point out similarities, like quenelles and gefilte fish, or the fact that most cuisines seem to have some kind of dumpling?

Those would be interesting points to make. I hadn't thought of it, but certainly it would work. Commonality is a good theme for promoting enthusiasm. So is differentness.

Cabrales's "obvious" observations, and also Rachel's, are probably the closest thing to what I was looking for when I first thought about this, but I'm willing to have my horizons expanded. By the way, I didn't mean for the "Did you know?" thing to be so rigid. It was more of an example of the type of tone I was striving for.

[bigbear]

Has a "and this little piggy..." theme been done?

[Jinmyo]

By the way, I didn't mean for the "Did you know?" thing to be so rigid. It was more of an example of the type of tone I was striving for.

Did you know that in prosody they take a theme and a structure and put them together and call it a poem?

[Fat Guy]

I'll add that one to my ancient-Greek-for-kids book.

[Jinmyo]

Did you know that in Greece they take the name "feta" and the EU and call it protected?

[Jinmyo]

"Hey kids, if a cheese is smelly and moldy and runny, is that a good thing? Why, you bet it is! In fact, it costs so much more than nice clean plastic-wrapped processed cheese-food that it MUST be better! Discuss."

Perhaps some scratch-n-sniff for the printed edition.

[bigbear]

Perhaps some scratch-n-sniff for the printed edition.

Brilliant.

[Jinmyo]

Perhaps some scratch-n-sniff for the printed edition.

Brilliant.

Thank you.

[hoping for a bigbear "Welcome."]

[Degustation]

Did you know in England they combine pork sausages and batter and call it Toad-in-the Hole?

However, in America, take those same sausages and roll them in crescent dough and call it "Pigs-in-a Blanket".

I can see the imagery for this now.

[foodie52]

Skewered hamsters in Peru? "Hamster On A Stick"