Global Gastronomy at Home: A Taste of the World with Rowena Scherer
Tune in to the 96th Episode of Kitchen Confidante Podcast and learn about Rowena Scherer and her book, A Taste of the World.
In Episode 96, we welcomed Rowena Scherer – educator, author, and culinary curator of global flavors. As the founder of eat2explore, Rowena is on a mission to bring the world’s cuisines and cultures into our kitchens, one family at a time. With roots in Malaysia and a detour through Wall Street, Rowena’s journey is as rich and diverse as the recipes she shares in her first cookbook for families, A Taste of the World: Celebrating Global Flavors, where kids of all ages can learn and taste their way through each recipe. We chat about the importance of early culinary exposure, creating lasting family bonds over shared meals, and how cooking can foster global citizenship.
Tell us about eat2explore
eat2explore is a food and cultural experiential cooking kit. We make it easy for you to try a different country. There are only three recipes in each box, which means you can cook once a week. Do not overwhelm yourself. We provide the spices and the condiments that are hard to find. Then , we will give you a shopping list to buy fresh ingredients that will fit your dietary restrictions. You make a meal from Ethiopia , South Korea, Peru, or Israel. It’s something different to expand your flavor and palate.
I know many parents are struggling with picky eaters, but if you start them when you’re young and get them involved in cooking, they will naturally want to try because they put an effort into making it right. They know what goes inside. For kids, it’s often just a fear of not knowing what it is. But if they see that this is made out of this beautiful cauliflower or zucchini or whatever, it makes them realize that that’s what that raw material turns into, and the spices that go into it, right? It’s just like walking. They need to learn the process before they can run. So , their palate needs to be trained before they can take in the different spices. So slowly introduce them and get them involved so they see what you’re eating and putting inside the meal. It’s so important and a stepping stone to creating a global citizen, not just from a food perspective but also from a cultural sensitivity perspective.
Your book…it’s one of the happiest cookbooks I now have in my collection. It reminds me of a children’s social studies book! What went through your mind as you organized the countries and the dishes in the book?
So eat2explore has been around for over five years. This was born out of it. We give you materials to learn about geography, history, music, art, and language. Every country has that component of learning. And if you think about it, even history-wise, every cuisine, traces back to history. For instance, spices came from the spice trade that the Middle Easterners brought from India. They traveled around the world and landed in some places. All the places ended up using the spices. The same thing with meatballs. It came from the Middle East, and now we have meatballs in Sweden, Ukraine, Italy…throughout the world. It’s so powerful and fun to learn history that way.
eat2explore boxes first start with the continent, and then within that continent, all the different countries, and then within the country, the history and its connections. The cookbook is structured the same way. It starts with the continent first; then there are three recipes for each country.
A Taste of the World: Celebrating Global Flavors, by Rowena Scherer (The Collective Book Studio, 2024).
Learn more
Listen to the full podcast episode with Rowena Scherer here. Find eat2explore at https://eat2explore.com and follow it on Instagram @eat2explore.
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