Let's start simply again. Think of it this way. White sauces are made with flour added to liquid such as white milk. Brown sauces from stock such as meat or fish. the third variation is adding an egg.
Then we come to some place names. From the French point of view, the espanol is from south of where they are on the map, a thick brown sauce. (Think go south for more sun, thicker skin, brown like a tan.)
(Incidentally, some Indian sauces are the same, at least as a memory aid. Mild korma which is a white sauce from the cooler north. Hot sauces, and spicy sauces, such as Madras made with c h i l i, from further south. On the other hand, the animals are in the north, whilst the vegetarians are in the south - so you get vegetarian foods.)
In France you get the butter based dishes in the north, in Normandy (the word comes from the root Nor - same as the English county of Norfolk meaning north folk). The oil based dishes are from the south. The north is where you get countryside like southern England, with cows providing milk and meat.
In the south you get olive trees and olive oil. Just like driving for days through the American corn belt on a Greyhound bus taught me geography of the USA, driving through Spain and Italy seeing the vineyards on the cooler hillsides, and the gnarled olive trees in the south taught me how geography affects food and wine production.
You don't have to travel by bus and car nowadays. You can check the geography of any country with Google maps, even as detailed as street view showing the wineries, animals in the fields, fishing boats on beaches, and food factories and trees in the streets and gardens, such as the coconut palms and oil palms.
If you are stuck for hours at an airport, or waiting in a restaurant for friends to turn up, you can amuse yourself by translating the menu and when your friends arrive they will be ever so impressed by the fact that you arrived early and have detailed knowledge of the menu. You will probably know more than the serving staff, who will greet you like an old friend if you know their home area and its produce.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and speaker.
Then we come to some place names. From the French point of view, the espanol is from south of where they are on the map, a thick brown sauce. (Think go south for more sun, thicker skin, brown like a tan.)
(Incidentally, some Indian sauces are the same, at least as a memory aid. Mild korma which is a white sauce from the cooler north. Hot sauces, and spicy sauces, such as Madras made with c h i l i, from further south. On the other hand, the animals are in the north, whilst the vegetarians are in the south - so you get vegetarian foods.)
In France you get the butter based dishes in the north, in Normandy (the word comes from the root Nor - same as the English county of Norfolk meaning north folk). The oil based dishes are from the south. The north is where you get countryside like southern England, with cows providing milk and meat.
In the south you get olive trees and olive oil. Just like driving for days through the American corn belt on a Greyhound bus taught me geography of the USA, driving through Spain and Italy seeing the vineyards on the cooler hillsides, and the gnarled olive trees in the south taught me how geography affects food and wine production.
You don't have to travel by bus and car nowadays. You can check the geography of any country with Google maps, even as detailed as street view showing the wineries, animals in the fields, fishing boats on beaches, and food factories and trees in the streets and gardens, such as the coconut palms and oil palms.
If you are stuck for hours at an airport, or waiting in a restaurant for friends to turn up, you can amuse yourself by translating the menu and when your friends arrive they will be ever so impressed by the fact that you arrived early and have detailed knowledge of the menu. You will probably know more than the serving staff, who will greet you like an old friend if you know their home area and its produce.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and speaker.
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