An International Kitchen

This weekend I will be an American in New Zealand cooking Mexican for Japanese friends. I’m excited J So how did this situation come about?

Well, first of all, Mexican food is hard to come by in New Zealand. That is possibly because there are not many Hispanics here (most of the immigrants here are Asians, Indians or UK-ers), so I suppose in some respects the demand is not what you would expect to find in the US. Because it is not something normally found here, the majority of Kiwis are not familiar with Mexican cuisine. So, regarding my dinner guests, my Japanese friends have never had Mexican food and have been quite keen to try it so we finally settled on a date for this week.

One of my favourite stores in New Plymouth is Piano Works, where they sell all manner of pianos and sheet music. The owner was one of the first people I met when I got to town, and I often drop by to look for something or find out a bit of info on music around town. So when I popped in one day, I was introduced to their new staff member who turned out to be Japanese and we quickly struck up a friendship. She is also a pianist so we did a recital together in September, and have another performance coming up. Through this friend and many trips to the Japanese-owned sushi restaurant in town, I have becomes friends with a couple of the other Japanese ladies in town around our age, but often have opposing work schedules, so we are looking forward to the get-together.

Having always cooked and/or eaten Mexican food, I tend to take it for granted that everyone knows what a fajita is, how to make a quesadilla, or what goes in an enchilada. But in NZ that is not the case. So today at lunch as we were discussing weekend plans I shared excitement over the upcoming dinner plans. This led to questions such as the best uses for tortillas, how to make enchiladas, etc. I was declared to be the resident expert on Mexican cuisine as I was the only one present who grew up with such kitchen delights J