Real Conversation #11 - Food (Gabriel & Lexy)

GABRIEL: Alright Lexy so let's talk a little about food, and here in Vancouver it's a very multicultural city so we have, you know we can find basically restaurants from all over the world with all different kinds of cuisines and I think that basically, you know for every palate you can find something here in Vancouver, and I find it especially interesting, because there's been a bit of a trend here in Vancouver for people to become healthier and eat healthier and a lot of restaurants are trying to accommodate that, but at the same time of course there are still a lot of restaurants offering very greasy, unhealthy food and you know just burgers and so on, so what kind of food do you like?

LEXY: My favorite cuisine is Japanese.

GABRIEL: Okay.

LEXY: I love sushi and any type of Japanese food, I would say from being in Japan, I just was in the airport though when I had sushi, but I would say that we have one of the best sushi in the world.

GABRIEL: Here in Vancouver?

LEXY: Apart from Japan, yes.

GABRIEL: Interesting, that's what I also heard, because you know I've heard Japanese people here really complement the quality of the fish and so on, that being said I'd love to go to Tokyo and try it, but I think that our fish here in Vancouver or in Canada, in British Colombia is just excellent, so I think that, that makes the sushi of course very, very good. And do you have any favorite restaurants here in Vancouver, sushi restaurants?

LEXY: Yes there is a few that I like, one is called Town Popo, and I also like Bella sushi, there's a few different restaurants where you get the authentic Japanese sushi and then some people do more of the North American take off of the sushi and make crazy different roles with bunch of different sauces on it, I was actually told that in Japan there is not a California roll.

GABRIEL: True, I think that, that is perhaps only, to my understanding it was created in LA and then it's the North American thing, perhaps it can also be found in Europe, I have eaten sushi in Germany and France, however I do not remember if California roll was even available, so that's interesting.

LEXY: Yeah another interesting thing about sushi is when I traveled to Australia, there were a bunch of different sushi restaurants and you can get some sushi to go, the difference was usually most sushi that I have here in Vancouver, you can either get it in a little cone or you can get it chopped up which I believe is the traditional way.

GABRIEL: Yes.

LEXY: In rolls chopped up, but when I was in Australia it was very different, because if you got a roll, it was rolled up and kind of just taken to go.

GABRIEL: Something in the cone then.

LEXY: Not a cone, it was rolled up and you know the next part of you know is chopping the sushi up, sushi roll.

GABRIEL: Interesting, so they will simply not chop it?

LEXY: Yes, they won't chop it, so it was fine for on the go, but I didn't find it as satisfying as sitting down with your friends having sushi. Another thing that was interesting too in Australia is when I got a tuna roll, a few places I went to, the tuna I believe it was from a can.

GABRIEL: From a can I see, so it wasn't really fresh tuna.

LEXY: It wasn't fresh tuna, just for the few places I went to which was interesting, because in Vancouver all the tuna that you get is really fresh.

GABRIEL: That is true, however I have read and I've been told that unfortunately the tuna in North America has a lot of mercury in it, and because of that I have been avoiding tuna for the longest time and I primarily eat salmon, cod and different kinds of fish, and then I've been avoiding tuna, however that being said I need to check online to see if that is really the truth, but I always like to warn my friends about that and maybe they can check as well especially because a lot of people seem to really like tuna.

LEXY: Yes tuna is really popular and yes I believe that there is some mercury in the tuna I don't know how high the levels are, I have tuna every once in a while, I am actually allergic to salmon.

GABRIEL: Really?

LEXY: Yes, I am allergic to salmon which is very unfortunate, so I have tuna every once in a while instead of salmon.

GABRIEL: I was not even aware that, that was possible to be allergic to salmon in itself, that's quite interesting, and of course it is a shame because there are quite, there are some delicious rolls, sushi rolls made of salmon, but I guess let's change the topic, because if you're allergic I'm kind of done to say how great it is, any ways so do you like any other types of food?

LEXY: Yes, I like the Vietnamese cuisine, my favorite is "pho", which is I get the beef pho which is pretty popular, I also enjoy their salad rolls, and I also like Tai food too. GABRIEL: Interesting, so it seems to me that you really like Asian food primarily?

LEXY: Yes.

GABRIEL: Okay, do you like any European food as well, sorry any European cuisines like perhaps Italian, French?

LEXY: Yes I do enjoy Italian food, I really like pasta and pizza, what I found when I went to Italy and had their pizza compared to North American pizza there is a big difference.

GABRIEL: Indeed, I haven't been to Italy in a long time, however I do remember eating fantastic pizza in Italy that was indeed quite different from you know what you would get from a chain restaurant here in North American, so here in North American the pizza is very Americanized to say the least, so the ingredients aren't quite the same, they taste very different, I think that at least in Italy to me the crust was very nice and light, and it was like a thin delicious bread, is that what you found about the pizza in Italy as well?

LEXY: Yes, I found when I was in Italy, I found the pizzas to be very simple, when they make it though it has a very thin crust and one of their most popular pizzas is Margarita, which is pretty much just tomato sauce and you put cheese on top with I believe it is some... basil... on top of that?

GABRIEL: I think so.

LEXY: On top of that, and very simple and they put it in a wood burning wooden oven and it tastes very, how do I say it, very healthy, I found that for pizza in North America.

GABRIEL: It's a little bit grease here, a little bit of fat.

LEXY: It is, and they like to, what I find is, for some pizzas they have a bunch of toppings, and in Italy when I was there it was just you know, it was more based on cheese just a few toppings, you know prosciutto, in North America people pile on the toppings and I feel like it takes away from the original pizza.

GABRIEL: Interesting, I agree and I remember that too that the pizzas are always simpler, and I just think that it's probably because of the fact that here in North American we like having a lot of protein, so we just add a lot of toppings and different flavors as well too, and I think that because of more competition each different pizza place started creating different creative kinds of pizza to try to attract more customers and that created like a really wide variety of toppings being offered.

LEXY: Yes.

GABRIEL: Which I find interesting, and back to Vietnamese food I think that only recently that I started trying it more and I do really like it as well, would you have any local restaurants to recommend for Vietnamese food?

LEXY: I just go to a few restaurants in North Vancouver that are owned by different families, I think it's always best to go with a family-owned restaurant it's really authentic versus clean.

GABRIEL: Interesting.

LEXY: Yes.

GABRIEL: That's a good idea especially because they think that the family-owned restaurant they care more about the food that they're making, the ambiance that they're creating and so on, I think that's a good tip thank you, and yeah I think that we're running out of time for this chat, but it was interesting to talk a little bit about what you like to eat. Thank you, Lexy!