All Ingredients

The Japanese like to serve noodles in soups and salads. It's customary to make loud slurping sounds when eating noodle soup, though younger Japanese are rebelling and eating more quietly. Kishimen, udon, hiyamugi, ramen, chuka soba, and somen are all wheat noodles, while soba is made from buckwheat, shirataki from yams, and harusame from mung bean or other starches.

Don't confuse this with yamaimo.

This is a Norwegian cow's milk cheese. It is a knock-off of Emmentaler. It's mild, creamy yellow, and has large holes.

Jasmine rice is a long-grain rice produced in Thailand that's sometimes used as a cheap substitute for basmati rice. It has a subtle floral aroma. It's sold as both a brown and white rice.

These look like small, knobby potatoes, but they have a crisp texture and an interesting earthy flavor. You can eat them raw, stir-fry them, or bake them like potatoes. It's best not to peel them, but you'll want to scrub off the dirt. If you slice them, dunk them immediately in acidulated water to keep them from discoloring.

This tan-skinned tuber has a mild, nondescript flavor, but a nice crunchy texture. It's a good, cheap substitute for water chestnuts in stir-fries. Since it doesn't discolor, it's also a great vegetable to serve raw on a crudité platter. Peel it before using.

These are small colored rods used to decorate cakes and cookies.

This is a Mexican product that's halfway between buttermilk and sour cream.

This is a grape variety that produces a fragrant, fresh-tasting white wine that's great with ham, sausages, smoked fish, shellfish, or spicy Asian food. It's the grape that's used to make excellent Rhine wines in Germany. Don't confuse these excellent wines with domestic Riesling wines, which are usually made with inferior cousins of the Johanissberg Riesling grape. Late harvest Johannisberg Rieslings are very sweet, and make excellent dessert wines.

This crisp, juicy apple is a Jonathan-Golden Delicious cross. It's a bit tart and good for eating out of hand.

These are found in the coastal waters of New England.

This tart apple is good for eating out of hand, though it has a fairly thick peel.

These are very similar to blueberries.

This dark blue spice is used to make gin, and to flavor game and sauerkraut. Crush the berries before using.

These are tossed into stews in Africa, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia.

This orange-fleshed winter squash has a striated green rind. It's sweeter, drier, and less fibrous than other winter squash, and it tastes a bit like sweet potatoes.

This is an Indonesian peanut sauce.

Cooks in Greece and the Middle East use this shredded dough to make sweet desserts. You can find it among the frozen foods in Middle Eastern and Greek markets. While working with it, cover any unused dough with a damp cloth.

This has green skin and pinkish-white flesh.

Thai cooks use these golf ball-sized limes to give their dishes a unique aromatic flavor. Kaffir limes have very little juice, usually just the zest is used. The leaves are also used in Thai cooking.

A kaffir lime leaf look as if two glossy, dark green leaves were joined together end to end, forming a figure-eight pattern. Most Thai recipes count each double leaf as two separate leaves. Frozen kaffir lime leaves are a good substitute for fresh. Dried leaves are much less flavorful, so use twice as many as the recipe calls for if you're substituting them for fresh leaves.

The very sour kalamansi looks like a small round lime and tastes like a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. It's very popular in the Philippines.

You can find these popular Greek black olives in most large supermarkets. They're salty and have a rich, fruity flavor. These can be eaten out of hand, or used to make tapenades.

Kale is a kind of cabbage with dark green, wrinkled leaves. It's prized more for its hardiness than its flavor or delicacy, but it continues to be popular in the South, where it's often cooked as a side dish. Remove and discard the tough center stalks before cooking. Varieties include curly kale, dinosaur kale = black cabbage = lacinato kale, and the popular Red Russian kale = ragged jack kale.

This tiny aromatic rice is grown in Bangladesh. It cooks fast and is especially good in rice puddings.

This colorful Japanese specialty is made of a fish paste that's been molded into logs or half-logs.

Japanese cooks soak these gourd strips in water, then use them to tie sushi or other food packets. They're also sometimes cooked and used as an ingredient in sushi. Look for them in Japanese markets.

Kamut flour is tolerated by many people with wheat allergies and is a good substitute for wheat when making bread and pasta, especially if it's combined with other flours (e.g., spelt flour).

Kamut® contains gluten, but it's tolerated by many people with gluten allergies.

Though this contains gluten, it's tolerated by many people with gluten allergies. But even people who aren't troubled by allergies often prefer this sweet, buttery grain to wheat.

This has a sweet, nutty flavor and lots of protein. Though it contains gluten, it's tolerated by many people with gluten allergies.

This ancient grain is related to durum wheat, and was reintroduced to the world after an American found some kernels of it in an Egyptian tomb. It's high in protein and has a sweet, buttery flavor. Though it contains gluten, it's tolerated by many people with gluten allergies.

Kangaroo is becoming increasingly popular in Australia. It has a very strong, gamy flavor that's a bit like venison. It's very lean, so avoid overcooking it.

This is the Russian name for buckwheat groats that have been toasted in oil to remove buckwheat's natural bitterness and to bring out a sweeter, nuttier flavor. They come whole or crushed into a coarse, medium, or fine grain.

This is a Bulgarian version of Italy's Caciocavallo cheese. It becomes much firmer as it ages and turns into a good grating cheese. It is usually made with cow’s milk or a combination of cow and sheep’s milk.

Don't confuse this with ordinary Kashkaval, which is a semi-firm cheese. It can be made with cow's milk, sheep's milk or both.

This mild Kashmiri chili is used in Indian cooking to add flavor and color.

This mild Kashmiri chili powder is used in Indian cooking to add flavor and color.

This salty and tangy Greek cheese is made from sheep's milk. It's great on pizza.

German delis sometimes stock these pre-sliced smoked pork chops. They're fully cooked.