I love everything about this post. As a food anthropologist who watched people cook mokoroni (as they called them) in West Africa until they turn into mush, I love the appropriation of the food of others to make it one's own.

In Lisbon when I currently live, the best Italian restaurant is owned and run by a Nepali chef trained in Italy. All the cooks are Nepali, but they cook 'classic Italian'. I wonder however what the staff meals are.

Thank you for this great post.