Hot weather foods

One thing that distinguishes Mediterranean/northern African cuisine and culture from the (northern/western) European one, is that there isn't really such a thing as cold dishes. I'm not talking about breakfasts- I'm well aware of the fact that in some cultures, there isn't even really a thing such as breakfast foods, and typical dinners would be eaten for breakfasts. 

I'm talking about lunches and dinners now. In Europe (the part where I'm from anyhow), as soon as the weather starts to change, people nervously switch from their usual warm dinners to all types of cold foods- sandwiches, salads etc. It's not a bad thing in and of itself, and it even seems quite logical, as you're not heating up the kitchen unnecessary. The thought alone of eating a warm steaming stew or soup is suffocating to a lot of people! Here in Tunisia it's rather the opposite. While there are some typical winter dishes, people generally are not afraid of eating warm meals during the summer heat. Why would they? Just living off of salads for three months on end certainly doesn't do your body good, and it's just kind of... boring.  

I must say that I haven't noticed a difference physically, eating a cold evening meal vs a hot one. Either way, you're going to get hot during the summer. Personally, I prefer the hot type of foods that they eat here, and I make a pasta salad maybe once or twice during the entire summer, usually when the children crave it and they're asking me to make it on and on and I can't procrastinate it any longer. I've even been eating soup a lot lately for lunch. We do like to eat sandwiches every so often though, but not nearly as often as our regular hot meals. Since living here, one thing that I learned is that eating hot foods doesn't really mean you have to eat them piping hot. I usually decrease the temperature a little bit, so that it's still warm but not too hot. I feel like this way of eating is not only more delicious but also healthier. Why? Well, people who switch to cold summer foods tend to have sandwiches a lot. I don't think that sandwiches are bad in and of itself but the amount of vegetables you can put in there are obviously a bit limited. Or you need to serve big sides of vegetables, which would defeat the purpose I guess, since they still need to be cooked (unless it's just salads). Also, most people tend to make their sandwiches less healthy than their usual, warm meals. There's always exceptions of course, but I know I don't really make a sandwich as healthy as I would make my regular, warm meal. 

When it comes to heating up the kitchen, the people in Europe have a good point. The other day I was making roz Djerbi, a Tunisian rice dish that needs to be steamed. Even though it's technically a one pot meal, the kitchen was 3 degrees (C) higher than it was before cooking. That's a big difference! So I totally get why people avoid that. And honestly, I was relieved when the cooking time was over and I could turn off the heat and go to the living room where it was a bit less hot. But personally, eating delicious and healthy meals is more priority for us than keeping the warmth out of the kitchen - although I try to do my best to not heat it up that much. 

I mentioned before how much I love batch cooking, and especially during the summer this is a huge advantage! Just heating up a meal takes a few minutes. Thus, heating up the kitchen isn't something to worry about on those days. On other days, I like to make meals that take less time to cook. My rice dish had to steam an hour and a half in total, which is quite a long time, and there's a lot of foods I can think of that don't take nearly as long. The pressure cooker (or cocotte as it's called here) is quite a popular kitchen gadget. Since it reduces the cooking time and it doesn't really release steam, especially dishes that take long to cook can be made in such a pot easily. Unfortunately, I'm just too afraid to use one. There's been too much accidents with pressure cookers that I don't want to take the risk I guess. In fact, not too long ago, my husband's aunt had an accident and had quite a bad burn as a result. 

My mother in law had a habit which I initially thought was kinda weird but now I understand it better- she started cooking the main meal as soon as she woke up. In fact, she started with the meal even before having breakfast! In the morning, with the window having been opened all night, the kitchen is much cooler than it is in the early afternoon. So that also makes sense, even if you're not big on batch cooking.