The Food of the World on a Silver Platter

Considering New York City is one of the largest melting pots in the entire world, it should come as no surprise that the bold and daring food lover would have no difficulty finding foods that might not be tried by the average American. New York City hosts a cornucopia of foods from all over the globe. Unfortunately, the average tourist overlooks many of their options and goes for the basic foods we all know and love: a juicy burger, a slice of cheesy pizza, or a super-stuffed pastrami sandwich. This is a major problem, because just because a food is uncommon or unpopular, does not mean it cannot be five times more satisfying than any of the options listed before.

Growing up, I was exposed to all sorts of different kinds of foods as my mother was very passionate about sharing with us her love of adventurous foods. Our all-time favorite is by far Ethiopian. While different from standard cuisine in almost every possible way, it is just as (if not much more) delicious than any other style of food.

Ethiopian Plate courtesy of Ernesto Andrade- Flickr

Ethiopian food first differs significantly in its presentation. When ordering Ethiopian, each person at the table does not each order their own dish to selfishly chow down on, but the entire party orders together instead. Once the party chooses all of their dinner servings, the food is brought to the table on one giant platter, with each food item as a small "sample" paired with many other such samples. Then all there is to do is dig in!

When eating Ethiopian, there are no utensils. No forks, spoons, knives, chop sticks, etc... Instead, everything is eaten with hands. Now this would pose some obvious sanitation problems considering that most of the food is not very finger-friendly, so instead special bread, injera, is used to pinch small portions of the food to eat. The injera is much more sour than traditional wheat bread, but does a much better job of absorbing all of the delicious juices from the food that has been scooped. All of the food is placed on top of this bread as well, to ensure that not even an ounce of flavor can escape.

Injera- from Wikimedia

Two of my favorite orders are raw kitfo and the vegetarian combo. The vegetarian combo is pretty straight-forward and nearly every Ethiopian restaurant will have its own version of it. It is essentially just several unique vegetable dishes (some like salads, but most having a paste-like consistency) in small doses. However the raw kitfo is not quite as standard. Kitfo is minced beef with a few different spices giving it its uniquely spicy taste. But as is implied in "raw kitfo" the beef is 100% raw. Even when assured that the meat was acquired from reputable farms and has been extensively cured, at first nearly every person has an aversion to raw meat. While Kitfo can technically be ordered cooked, it is so much more savory, juicy, and spicy when ordered raw. I have had several friends try it to date and almost all of them have come out loving it, so I strongly urge everyone to at least give it a try before dismissing it just for not being cooked!

Raw Kitfo from Awash- courtesy of Kirk K- Flickr

If you were sold on trying Ethiopian there are several great Ethiopian restaurants in Manhattan. Two that are worth trying out are Awash and The Queen of Sheba. Hopefully you can muster the courage to try one!