I Talk About The Places I've Lived In This Episode Of Junk Fud and You

I've not only travelled around the world, but I've been lucky to live in a few places around the world. In this episode I talk about where I've lived, and how it's changed the way I see food.

Click here to check out the episodes of Junk Fud on the Road that I talked about.

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Two Years In Pakistan

Pakistani culture is similar to its food, it can be really good, and sometimes it can be very difficult.  While I'm sure locals get over the difficult parts, as a foreigner that can be much more challenging.  If you're even somewhat  adventurous, the challenging can be at the very least educational. The part that shocked me most when moving to this country was the amount of good that there is, both in the people and the food.  People wise there is a lot of good, some of the most friendly people you'll ever meet, people who want to make you happy, and many who are willing to give the little that they have just to be a good person.

Food wise the challenges mostly came from the poverty issues. Health and cleanliness are a big issue in Pakistan.  There are really two levels of this when it comes to the food, one is that there are certain bacteria that locals can handle, but foreigners cannot, this lead to some problems particularly early on.  The second comes from other contaminants that even the  locals can not handle.  The contaminants are often found in the tap water, and this makes life very challenging. While this is a problem that cannot be overlooked, if you did you'd be in for a bad night of stomach upset, you also can't overlook how great some of the food is as well.

You can't start a conversation about Pakistani food without India.  In the 1960s Pakistan was part of India, while the religion may have been different, the food has many similarities.  Spicy is the order of  the day, and you'll have a hard time finding anything that isn't spicy, even the basic fast food places have menu items that would shock most westerners.  There is also a great range in spices used, it's not just about heat, but it's also about the flavours behind the heat.  The biggest differences you'll find  in the food between Pakistan and India is the meat.  Beef being illegal in many parts of India, is a huge part of the Pakistani diet.  Pork, while not illegal in India is not common, in Pakistan pork is illegal. This certainly makes for different choices when it comes to meals.

Subtlety there are a few differences between the two cuisines.  I found that Pakistani food tends to blend more spices together in each dish.  It's much harder to take apart a Pakistani dish and figure out what flavours are mixed in.  In Indian food the flavours are simpler, and maybe a little bit cleaner, with one or two spices leading each dish.

One of the great debates in local cuisine between India and Pakistan is who makes the best naan bread. Many people prefer the lighter Indian naan bread, but personally I really liked the thick heavy naan bread from Pakistan.  Indian naan is more flexible, and would then be easier to pick up food, but the heartiness of Pakistani naan made it a meal into itself. Pakistani naan also often had highlights, as well.  In Pakistan you can find naan stuffed with so many fillings, spicy or sweet.

As for candies and confectionery, Pakistan was a fascinating place.  In the packaged candy department there are a few locally made treats.  Most of these are either hard candies or gummies, and two of the most predominant flavours are Imli (a sweet red bean) or hot peppers.  The most popular packaged treats in Pakistan are not Pakistani at all.  Most of the chocolate bar market seemed to be British, this is likely because of the British influence from occupying this area for so long.  Dairy Milk and other British brands can be found everywhere.

Locally made treats where very different indeed.  Most treats came in the form of barfi and jalebi. As unappealing as it sounds to North American ears, barfi is a really great sweet treat, often made of milk.  It's a smooth creamy and sweet treat that takes on many forms.  Jalebi is a common sweet treat found in Pakistan that looks like a poorly made pretzel, but is in fact a sweet deep fried treat.  It's my favorite of all the treats I found in Pakistan, and something I hope to learn how to make myself.  As with the food, many of these treats can also be found in India, and there is always great debate as to where they have originated.

I can't lie, I had some trouble with the food in Pakistan. Many a night I found myself in the bathroom lying on the floor wondering what could have possibly made me this sick.  It's not a place for those that aren't adventurous (I'm still not sure how I survived).  The thing is, when it works, it works really well.  There's so much more to Pakistani cooking than just the food. I can't tell you how many times I enjoyed the environment, and people around me when I was eating. I'll never forget eating on New Food Street in Lahore, up on the rooftop of Andas restaurant looking down at a giant mosque with good people all around me.

Before I go, I can't forget the mangos... They're like nothing I've ever eaten before.

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This Week In Candy

This is a week full of potential.  This week is feeling like a giant jaw breaker, it could be filled with gum, or it could be filled with an infinite number of candy layers.  Either way it's going to be an adventure I'm sure.

In the next 4 or 5 months I have two adventures planned, both are pretty epic, one is going to change my life... again.  The epic adventure that's not life changing is happening soon, and it's going to be a trip to India.  India is a country known for flavour, and spicy food.  I'm excited about the flavour, I'm terrified of the spicy food. Any suggestions for must try meals and treats are greatly appreciated.  The second life changing adventure?.. You'll hear more about that when the time is right.

This week we're going to be doing a little prep work for the Indian adventure, booking hotels, and making sure the plants here don't die.  We'll also be doing some podcasting this week.  It looks like we'll be recording two podcasts this week (if everything lines up), one will be our monthly look back at what's been going on in the junk food world in what we call Junk Fud News.  The other is a special episode of our not so regular series called Junk Fud And You.  If all goes well you'll be pleasantly surprised with some entertaining talk about junk food.

As always we're working on lots of articles for the Candy Critic blog as well. We're going to be recording a new episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! featuring a pretty strange looking basket of brown randomness.  We're also working on a new series of articles that we hope to have up later this summer, we're going to look at the many versions of classic treats that some candy companies come up with.  We're also going to start work on a new video series where we'll look back at classic treats and re-review them.

This week on Snack Facts, our Instagram feed, we're looking at one of the most famous sandwiche in the world, the hamburger.  Ever day this week we're posting a fun fact about the BBQ specialty.  You can follow Snack Facts on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

This week's review-a-thon is part 3 of our epic Candy Review-A-Thon-A-Thon.  This week we're going to post a new review every day from a country you may not think about when you talk about candy, Pakistan.  Every day this week we'll post a new candy review from a place that is mystirious, beautiful, and in the news a lot.  Today we're starting with a bar where the main ingredient is a complete mystery to me.  Click here to read the review, and if you can help me identify the ingredient, that would be great too.  You can keep up with all of our new review's for this epic Review-A-Thon-A-Thon by following  us on Facebook, Twiiter, Tumblr, Google +, or Pineterest.

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Candy In Pakistan

I always get a kick about reading anything related to candy from outside of North America or Western Europe. It's not that I doubt the existence of treats outside of these borders, the opposite is in fact true. It's just that I like to look at the similarities and the differences, and I often fantasize visiting these places and seeing the candy situation myself.

Click here to learn about candy in Pakistan.

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Junk Food Advertising Criticized Globally

Here's an interesting article from Pakistan about the new "problem" facing children today. Similar to many arguments in the US, England, and here in Canada, junk food advertising is under some pressure to lighten up. People see the problem of too much advertising geared towards kids in order to get them to buy junk food. As long as this "junk food" includes unhealthy meals and fast food I'm OK with it. I just don't like when the target candy and candy alone. Although the reference with junk food and tobacco seems a little harsh.

Click here to read more.

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