- Ghana: Jollof Rice
Aufa Korantemaa Dankyi Anyinam doesn't know when she started eating jollof rice or where the name came from; she just found herself eating it one day at her home in Accra, Ghana, and it became her favorite dish.
A mash-up of sorts, the dish is rice-based and cooked in a tomato sauce.
"With vegetables if you like," said Anyinam, graduate student in industrial engineering. "Some would like it plain, but I love a lot vegetables, and so I put vegetables in it."
She also said any meats can be used in the dish.
Since moving to the United States in 2009, Anyinam said the food hasn't been too different for her because she has been able to find all the ingredients she needs.
"But I've been to Germany, and that's where I didn't find the ingredients I needed," she said.
Anyinam said the dish is not necessarily easy to make and may not be the best for beginners.
"It can be a difficult dish to make if you don't have any experience at all because you might get it burned or unevenly cooked," she said.
She estimates it took her about a year to master the dish, cooking with her mother and grandmother.
First, the tomato sauce is cooked with spices like curry powder until it's thickened. Then the meat is added. Depending on the meat, Anyinam said it may need to be partially cooked before it is added.
"For instance, when you're using canned meat, which is sometimes partially cooked, you can just put it in," she said. "But if you have raw chicken, you have to sometimes fry it or steam it or boil it--whatever you want."
When the meat is mostly cooked, the rice is put in last and should be raw, Anyinam said.
"The rice can be really stubborn if you don't cook it well," she said.
Anyinam said she doesn't know if it's the taste or the texture that makes it her favorite.
"I just like that one," she said.
- Sicily: Arancini
Combinations of different types of foods have merged to create Sicilian cuisine, and one of the more prolific snacks is called arancini.
"My favorite food it is called an arancino, and it's a Sicilian dish that's actually Middle Eastern meets Italy kind of deal," said Alessio Summerfield, junior in radio television and film. "I grew up with it, so it kind of reminds me of my childhood."
Summerfield was originally born in England, but visits his mother's side of the family in Sicily every summer where he has the chance to eat his favorite food.
"It's a rice ball filled with cheese, peas, ragu sauce, sometimes meat, and then it's all fried, so it's a fried rice ball filled with pretty much everything that is awesome," Summerfield said. "They're pretty big, like baseball-size."
Arancini may even be migrating to the U.S, said Summerfield, who was surprised to find microwaveable arancini at the grocery store.
"I saw at Kroger the other day they had mini arancini balls, like microwaveable ones, and it completely caught me off guard because it's a really random food," Summerfield said. "They were missing the sauce on the inside, so it was almost just fried rice. It was good, but it wasn't really as good."
Though Summerfield has continued to search for similar foods, he said he hasn't found any as good as the arancini made in Sicily.
"My dad knows how to make them," he said. "It's kind of a weird Sicilian secret, because even going to other parts of Italy they don't have them, and when they do they don't taste as good at all."
- Brazil: Feijoada
Brazil is a country known for its many different kinds of foods, with each state having its own delicacies.
But Nina Meireles, junior in radio, television and film, said one particular food from her home country has gained popularity in every region of the nation.
"In Brazil each state has a signature food, but something that's really known in Brazil is called feijoada, and it's basically this huge Crock-Pot of black beans, and they put meat in it," Meireles said.
Meireles said the food probably originated in one state, but gained popularity because of how easy and cheap it is to make.
"It's mostly cheaper meat, so I think it was something they used to do for people who couldn't afford expensive food, but it's really good and it's really famous there," she said. "That's one of the things I miss a lot because it's really good."
A typical meal in Brazil is not unlike a typical meal in America, but Meireles said the food is a lot fresher, which she always enjoyed.
"I really like the food here, but in Brazil we have different flavors and everything is really fresh," she said. "Usually for lunch we'll have rice and beans, but not Mexican beans--not fried. Then we'll have some type of meat like chicken or fish or something, so the thing I miss the most is just things being really fresh."
Though Meireles said she misses food from Brazil, she has discovered a fondness for Southern food as well.
"I really like Southern food, and that's something we don't have, so it was something I'd never tried before," she said. "So basically grits and hash browns and biscuits and just all the different casseroles you guys have--I think I tried everything. There were some things I didn't like, like coleslaw, but I was ready to try everything."
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