When food is fresh, one can taste the freshness of the food.
On our San Francisco Food Tour of North Beach\Little Italy and Chinatown, it??s interesting how changing an ingredient that we find can make an incredible difference in a dish. For example, we found some really nice red and orange bell peppers at the market. They just came into season and they looked really good. We were going to make stuffed bell peppers, which is usually made with green peppers, and just on a whim, we decided to use the orange and red peppers. The result was the sweetness of the red and orange peppers was perfect with the stuffing that we used for the bell peppers.
On our San Francisco Food Tours, it??s always interesting how our stops will find an ingredient that in season and substitute it in an otherwise traditional dish. For example, over in North Beach, someone found some pomegranates that were on season and a whim, made a pasta sauce out of it. The result was incredibly delicious. Admittedly, I??m a fan or pomegranates, so I may be a little biased. Probably a major part is that they are fresh and that makes a big difference.
When food is fresh, one can taste the freshness of the food. Adding that ingredient to a dish can change from an okay dish to something really delicious. The great thing is that our stops feel the same way, so it always ends up with something delicious.