When I met my friend Allison during my first day in New York, she asked me what I would like for dinner. “I don’t know,” I said. “Take me to eat some typical food from your country.” “There is no such thing as typical American food,” she replied, jokingly. I argued that this couldn’t be true, after all, it was the Americans who made the burger, fries and milk shake trio world famous (and I’m very grateful to them for that).
Allison, however, had a point. It is true that the United States is not known for its rich cuisine and always ends up linked to the image of fast food. I don’t blame them. After all, look who they were colonized by (England still tops my ranking for worst food in Europe). However, saying that the country is not gastronomically interesting is another story.
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As it receives influence – and immigrants – from so many cultures, it is possible to find restaurants and typical dishes from practically everywhere in the world in different regions of the United States. Indian, Cuban, Mexican and even Brazilian food can be tasted without much difficulty there. And do you know where all this is? That’s right, in New York.
And if the big apple is an international gastronomic hub, the Smorgasburg market, which takes place in Brooklyn on weekends, is a good summary of the opera. Among the various stalls in front of the East River, with a scandalous view of Manhattan, you can take culinary trips to different corners of the world.
The strange name comes from the combination of the words Smorgasbord, a type of Swedish buffet, and Williamsburg, the area of Brooklyn that hosts the market on Saturdays. On Sundays, the place is DUMBO, more specifically East River Park. All the producers who set up shop there have a natural, cool, independent feel and are prone to exotic gastronomic experiments. What would you say, for example, to drinking lemonade with a seasoning similar to oregano? This was our choice to quench our thirst at the fair (no, there was no Coca-Cola). And we were surprised!
A good idea, if you are with more people, is for everyone to choose a different dish to share. We chose a breaded chicken schnitzel sandwich and something that looked like wasabi, that strong root very common in Japanese cuisine, but we also tried Korean noodles and Malaysian street food.
And, in the end, didn’t we find typical American food? Fried chicken wings.
For dessert, a delicious ice cream sandwich and some cakes with unusual flavors.
And I still left there remembering my times in India, having a lassi popsicle with mango and basil.
Smorgasburg always takes place between 11am and 6pm. Event locations may vary from year to year and attendance may be interrupted in winter. Try leaving it to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday and from there go straight to the fair, which is close to the Brooklyn Heights Promanade, which guarantees a nice walk after filling your belly.
