I was curious about my vinegar aversion and looked up why I didn’t seem to have any vinegar in my southern Chinese (Teochew and Cantonese) coastal cuisines at all. We also have almost no fermentation culture
Apparently, the climate, widespread availability of fresh food, and centuries of global trade in our ports and regional preference for food caught / prepared on the same day meant we have almost no need for food preservation.
Those cuisines dislike any flavors that overshadow the ‘original’ flavor of meats, seafood and vegetables. So yeah we almost never used any vinegar. I could not even eat northern Chinese food for a long time. Coz of the vinegar. It took me a long time to be able to eat anything that was vinegar heavy.
Now, my favorite ones are Yucatán foods flavored with citrus.
The first time I tried Tabasco and Sriracha, I was so mad. Hot sauce should not have vinegar (to me). It should just be straight up chillies, made fresh, daily, at lunch. 😉
I still don’t like Tabasco or American style sriracha. But I can now have a panucho with cochinita pibil with a lot of zest and acid.
Most people in my family cannot even deal with a drop of acid or vinegar. That was me, until very recently!
