I love discovering new ingredients to work with. But is there really anything new out there? I love ethnic food stores because it makes me realize that yes, there are a lot of things out there that I’ve never heard of. For example, I found out that there is something called “pistachio paste” that is slightly sweet. I can’t wait to find some and experiment with it in my baking and candy making.

Learning about something new always makes me wonder … what else have I been missing out on? My quest to broaden my culinary horizons leads me to search the globe for ingredients that are interesting and can really allow me to get more creative in the kitchen.

It’s also a good way for me to take a place home with me when I travel. Combing through the wine stores to find a Santorini white helps me remember the time I spent there in May. Making Schnitzel and Bratkartoffeln reminds me of Germany and the two years I lived there. The scent of baklava syrup bubbling on the stove, waiting to be poured over the pastry takes me back to my childhood and of the time I spent in Greece eating entirely too much of it.

In some cases, the dishes don’t include remarkable or even new ingredients. Sometimes they do. I’ve purchased spices such as saffron in my travels, combed ethnic stores for spices like Mahleb so I could make some traditional Greek dishes, and will go out of my way to purchase Greek oregano dried and still on the branches.

It is in these ways that I look to other cultures to find new ingredients, and to use ethnic cuisines to reinvent ingredients I know well.

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