Exploring World Cuisine from a Pennsylvania Kitchen

This article originally appeared in the November 2015 issue of The Connector.

Analida Braeger lists a paring knife, a chef knife, a tagine dish, a food processor, a kitchen scale, and some silicon spatulas among the stuff she can’t live without in the kitchen. These are the tools she uses most often when creating ethnic dishes for her food blog, Analida’s Ethnic Spoon, which combines recipes with their related history and culture.

A native of Panama, Analida attended high school in London, England. Although only 250 students attended the school, approximately 70 different nationalities were represented. This is where Analida started to become acquainted with world cuisine.

At the suggestion of one of her high school advisors, Analida enrolled in Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. When she arrived on campus 30 years ago, she knew very little about northwest Pennsylvania, except that winter would be very cold.

While pursuing a degree in marketing, Analida met her husband, Tom, in a business fraternity to which they both belonged. After college, the couple stayed in Erie and raised two children there.

“I have always loved cooking, ever since I was very young,” she said. “A few years ago I began teaching classes in ethnic cooking at a local organic food market. To get ready for class, I’d type the recipes and do some research. My husband suggested that I put the recipes online. And it all started with that.”

Tom handles the technical aspects of the Website, so Analida can focus on her research and recipes. Right now, the couple is keeping their day jobs, but Analida would like to eventually be able to work fulltime on the blog.

While Analida’s Latin American heritage has a big influence on her creations, she incorporates cuisine from many other cultures, including quite a few Turkish recipes. “Their cuisine is so culturally diverse and so flavorful,” she says. In addition, Analida’s grandfather was French, so she finds herself often exploring that country’s cuisine. She’s also been trying out some Thai recipes lately.

Recently, with her daughter teaching English in Hanoi, food from Vietnam has caught her interest. And apparently, Analida’s love of cooking hasn’t just influenced her readers. The Braeger’s son has just started his first year of culinary school.

Ann Silverthorn writes about a wide variety of topics in numerous genres. She’s currently working on a biography of William E. Dimorier (1871-1951), a nearly forgotten poet and educator, who dedicated his life to service and leadership.

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