About Evil Jungle Prince
Hi there and thanks for stopping by!
As you might have guessed, my hobby is Asian cooking. An amateur on a grand scale, I use this journal to chronicle both my successes and failures. It is my hope that by sharing my culinary adventures, I will learn from those who are more intimately familiar with the various cuisines I am attempting. Critical feedback is not only welcome but highly encouraged.
My interest in Asian cooking developed while living in Japan. Never having been particularly excited by Western cuisines, my exposure to Asian culinary sensibilities were a sort of awakening. Food at once became exciting to me. During my two years in Tokyo, I came to be particularly impressed by Korean food, thanks to a Korean woman who lived in shared accomodations. Mi-chan used to bring back homemade kimchees from her parents' home in Pusan, and it is from these impressions that I draw my original inspiration.
In the same vein as the musical genre known as Exotica, my hobby might appropriately be titled Cooking for the Suburban Savage. Just as the military men of the mid-century America period brought home slightly skewed visions of the "exotic" outside world and cultivated them in the remote privacy of their suburban backyards and bachelor pads, cooking for me is also an escape of sorts. After having spent many years of my life living outside the United States, "growing up" has meant settling down a bit. And while settling in a particular place in the world comes with it so many joys, it also means giving up one's freedom to roam around the world at will. Cooking allows me to have it both ways.
I have found that deprivation usually brings with it innovation. Living in the California desert, my hobby is a particularly challenging one because Asian spices, herbs, and vegetables are hard to come by. I view this as a personal challenge, however. This reality has simply led me to other adventures, such as gardening and growing my own herbs.
This blog continues to bring me a lot of joy. Comments left overnight are always something to look forward to in the morning. The act of cooking is also a form of therapy. In a world which is largely out of our control, cooking allows one to cultivate beauty and perfection. Food prepared by strangers is always a risk, whereas to prepare food with one's own hands is to exert control over an otherwise chaotic world.
I'm looking forward to your comments. Thanks for stopping by.