BY LOIS PARK

In print | Published October 29, 2009

…Not that anything is necessarily broken. But I will introduce simple ways to “kick things up a notch,” to borrow the famed phrase of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.

With exams, projects, papers, theses, and dealing with being sick, who really has the time to eat, let alone put frills on their food? These ways to enhance the food on your plate are so simple (and the returns so great) that there really is no excuse, allergies aside, not to try.

Nuts and Seeds
Adding a handful of sunflower seeds (at condiments island) to a salad is not uncommon knowledge, but the results are so delicious that it’s a shame it isn’t standard practice. ­Go ahead and try putting a scoop of sunflower seeds into a salad or into your sandwich (yes, sandwich). Put the seeds right on top of the mayo/mustard on your sandwich to keep them in place. If you prefer your sandwiches condiment-free, just layer the seeds on like another other sandwich filling. The little seeds add a huge burst of flavor. Their size and texture also add another dimension to the salad or sandwich. You can use sunflower seeds in sweet dishes as well. I mix sunflower seeds into granola and yogurt for more crunch and flavor.

Coarsely chopped walnuts started making their appearance next to the chopped peanuts on the small table housing the peanut butter this year. Maybe they’ve been there before, but I didn’t notice them till this semester! Walnuts and peanuts are good on savory dishes as well as on ice cream. Walnuts pair extremely well with dried cranberries, which in Sharples can be substituted with raisins. Sprinkle walnuts and raisins on a salad and top off with a vinegar-based dressing for a tasty salad.

Dealing with the spicy
Spicy foods are a pleasure to some and a pain to others. Then there are those people, like me, who enjoy spicy foods but don’t have a high tolerance for them. I was the kid who ate spicy Cheetos even though I knew that the painful burning sensation would soon follow because they were just so, so good.

There are some dishes at Sharples that have that extra spicy kick. It’s a good thing, I think, because spice adds good flavor and also because it adds to the diversity of flavor choices available.
I’ve seen, however, earnest requests on the ‘Napkin Board’ from students to tone down the spiciness of some foods because they’re too spicy for them. I understand spice is a good thing, but above a certain level (which is different for all people) it can be uncomfortable.

Sharples tries to accommodate a wide range of taste preferences. While it may seem preferable for cooks to eliminate the spice and serve pepper flakes (or whatever spice) on the side for people who want the spiciness, dishes just taste better when they’ve been cooked with the spices rather than when they are added after the cooking is done. I’m saying that spicy dishes are better cooked that way. But there is a quick solution to masking the spiciness of some dishes.

You can rein in the spiciness with something dairy-based or chase it with something sweet. If the soup or chili is spicy, eat it with a handful of shredded cheese (at salad bar) or top it off with a dollop of sour cream (at condiments bar). For example, I found the jerk chicken at Caribbean bar a tad spicy for me so I topped it off with some crumbled Feta cheese (at salad bar), which did the trick. Eating the jerk chicken with the side of sweet, fried plantains (served at the Caribbean bar) also toned down the spicy flavor. When something chutney-like or the occasional fruit salad shows up, it could also be paired with spicy foods.

If these suggestions don’t make you happy, you could always just stick a spoon of ice cream in your mouth to help your tongue cool off.

Lois is a senior. You can contact her at lpark1@swarthmore.edu.

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