I mentioned taking home swag from the expo (for previous swag see 22 Sept. 2019 post) … Constant Companion and Daughter both took their shares from the goodies. Look at the back of this stack of goodies to see Cahokia Rice. I was drawn to this product because my family enjoys rice and we’ve all been to Cahokia, a very special site in Illinois.

Cahokia Mounds State Park (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/198/), located in western Illinois near St. Louis, is one of the most significant archeological sites* in the US. Dating to 800-1350 C.E., this expansive site was a cultural, religious, and economic center of the Mississippian culture that was found throughout the south-eastern US. It was an agricultural society that is thought to have supported a population of 20,000. Compare that to the population of London at the same time! The site includes a number of mounds or earthern structures constructed by the inhabitants. It is, indeed, listed as a World Heritage Site.

*Food for thought. I learned not to use the term pre-historic when I was privileged to work with Native Americans in Oklahoma. We all have been taught that societies that existed before the written record are considered to have come before or pre-(Western) history. Think about it, they still had history. Certainly the structures remaining at Cahokia (which you can see from space) are a record of the people who lived there and their history. Think about it – “pre-history” – whose history?

Cahokia Rice (https://www.cahokiarice.com/pages/about-us) is a family-run business that specializes in rice, what else, grown in the land that centuries ago had supported the Mississippian culture – which had cultivated corn, squash, and beans. Constant Companion and I enjoyed our first taste of this rice at dinner and enjoyed it. It’s a delicious, long grain rice. It was great, went well with the rest of the meal. I would love to try the brown rice another time. Thank you for sharing.

Other products of interest (well, to me!).

Fish. Fish appeared in a number of forms. There was dried fish, and carpaccio, and ceviche, mousse, and tuna. Some from Salazones Diego (https://salazonesdiego.com/) in Spain.

I thought the best were the offerings from True World Foods direct from Japan (https://www.trueworldfoods.com/). I missed seeing the whole tuna being carved on day 1, but tasted its sweet deliciousness the next day. They also had samples of their candied yuzu and other Asian citrus peels.

Best yet were the knives they were selling that skilled Michiko Kubota engraverd with patterns and names in Japanese (https://www.instagram.com/michiko_knifeworks/?hl=en). Who would know this is a skill?

Tortillas. El Gran Azteca (https://en.elgranazteca.com/) came from Mexico with samples of their specialty tortillas. We’ve all had flour tortillas – wheat tortillas, corn tortillas, even blue corn tortillas. How about tortillas with nopales (cactus), beetroot, corn with chia? All flavor(s) of Mexico and beautiful and tasty, too.

I loved this bottle of Una Vodka (https://unavodka.com/) topped with a glass rose. This is a woman-owned company in South Florida. Their flower-infused vodka infused with the essence of flowers. Here’s to the power of women!

What’s next for the Food Adventurer. Nothing is on the immediate horizon, so after this two-day food-filled sojourn, it’s time to get back to work!