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I recently took my first class at Ger-Nis Culinary and Herb Center, a fair-trade produce importer that has just begun to host cooking classes at their Gowanus HQ. The course I took was called Pre-Colombian Cuisine: Indigenous Foods of the Americas, taught by Palo Santo Chef Jacques Gautier. He put together a roster of recipes using ingredients and methods based on research to pre-Americanized America — so no chile peppers, no rice, hardly any non-indigenous ingredients. We made dishes from three diverse regions:
The Iroquois of North America & Eastern Seaboard: Whole Fish, Stewed Clams, and Pumpkin Succotash
The Mayans & Aztecs of Central America, Mexico, & Guatemala: Turkey and Green Mole, Hand Ground Tortillas, Nopales, and Epazote
Quechuas, Aimaras, & Incas of South America, Peru, Bolivia, & Ecuador: Seco de Venado (Braised Deer), Chunos, Quinoa, and Chicha Morada
It was all so hearty and delicious, particularly the verdant mole. We made tortillas from scratch and played with what felt like exotic ingredients, though they are native to American soil. The space was gorgeous and the class was cheap ($50) — so I’m stoked on taking more super-specialized classes at Ger-Nis, so close to home!
Posted on December 16, 2010 with 1 note ()
I'm Angela Gaimari and New York is the city where I work, play and eat. I've reviewed restaurants for Time Out and Citysearch, interviewed some of the city's best chefs for NYMag.com's Grub Street and I work as a copywriter, too. This blog is my homage to New York food--plus a bit of pop culture and fun stuff to spend your paycheck on. Share the love and your suggestions newyorkavores! Submit your recipes, tips, food photos and more to http://www.newyorkavore.com/submit or email me at newyorkavore@gmail.com This policy is valid from 01 February 2010 This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations. The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements. The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest. To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org
