Food For Thought?

I’ve spent the last six weeks in Prague falling in love with the city. The extraordinary architechture, wild night-life, and charming lifestyle of the city make it easy. The food though, in my opinion, could use an upgrade.

Traditional Czech cuisine revolves around meat dishes. Pork is the most popular, accounting for more than half of all meat consumption in the country. Chicken and beef are also quite common, featured prominently in Czech meals like schnitzel and marinated sirloin. Most meat dishes are lathered in sauce, and many are accompanied by bread or potato dumplings. Roast pork with dumplings and cabbage is a solid representative of a typically Czech meal.

Though Czech cuisine is tasty, and certainly nothing to scoff at, it lacks diversity, and it seems that virtually every menu in the city lists the same few options. Food culture in the United States stands in stark contrast, with some menus containing such lengthy listings of offerings, they might be mistaken for phone books. Fueled by variety, American cuisine is known for its ethnic variety, interesting fusions and a myriad of immigrant influences. We will take praise for the hamburger, and happily belt the Star-Spangled Banner while scarfing one down, but our food culture has to credit the cultural melting pot that is the United States. Italian, Mexican, and Asian cuisines have become so ingrained in the mainstream that they are no longer foreign to the American palate.

Here in our beloved city of Prague, a dedicated search is currently underway, the purpose of which is to avoid a continuous stream of pork roast and bread dumplings. It is a search led by taste buds, a dragging tongue along the city sidewalks, hoping to be enticed and awakened.

‘Street food’ is a popular choice amongst my peers. A ‘smazeny syr’ (fried cheese sandwich) is a cheap, delicious concoction, assembled around a melted cheese patty equivalent to a box of mozzarella sticks. ‘Street-meat’ tastes good, but is usually reserved for the end of a raucous night, purchased in a liqour-y fog.

My favorite place to eat in Prague is a small shop blocks from my apartment. An insignificant sign juts out above a busy street, ‘Gyros, Pizza’ it reads simply. Underneath, a lit board illuminates the treats inside. The “restaurant” lends barely enough space for the customer to order from just inside the door.

The gyro is about the size of a typical burrito. Wrapped in a tortilla and loaded with lettuce, tomato, onions, tzatziki sauce, and a heaping of chicken sliced fresh from the rotisserie, it explodes with flavor. It is a taste I relish a few times every week.

Thanks to globalization and the collapse of communism in the Eastern Bloc, fast-food giants like KFC and McDonalds have mushroomed all over Prague. The familiar names and smells beckon like a sirens’ call. Wishful thinking perhaps, but the quality of meat here seems to be an upgrade over the usual American mainland swill. KFC stays open non-stop, attracting a slew of customers, including many American students, twenty-four hours a day.  Is it possible to ever tire of fried chicken?

My American classmates seem to constantly be on the search for something familiar to munch on. Three girls from southern California have taken on the pursuit of burritos and tacos. (San Diego and Los Angeles are both home to ‘authentic’ Mexican food, better than even the Americanized fast-food favorite Chipotle which, despite it’s inauthenticity, I miss dearly.) After an extended period, the search was realized.

“I’m happy to announce that for burrito heads everywhere, Prague can fill that craving which torments you most,” writes Halley Crane, a self-proclaimed ‘foodie,’ my neighbor, classmate, and an intern at Radio Praha. Read more about Halley’s quest for burritos at: http://www.radio.cz/en/section/an-american-foodie-goes-to-prague/a-desperate-search-for-mexican-food-in-prague.

The culinary arts are an ever-evolving field of greens and grazing herds. Adventurous chefs the world over are driven to pursue new and unique combinations, blending textures, flavors, spices, preparation styles and cooking techniques.  Why should it be any different in Prague, which, after all, houses a vibrant, creative and innovative collective of citizens? Let’s just add a dash of pioneering spirit, a dash of audacity and let our inventions simmer over a medium heat until something new and intoxicating is ready to be served. Trying new things can be an exercise in frustration but it’s also the recipe for success. Food for thought?