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IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS CHINESE — take-out, that is. For many of us, those first forays into the ever-so-exotic food in the little paper pails with red pagodas on the side were the point of no return. Our taste buds were piqued and prepared for even more culinary adventures. Today, almost every city in the country has an assortment of Asian cuisine to choose from, including Indian, Thai, Japanese, Indonesian, Cambodian, Korean, regional Chinese, and all kinds of "Asian-inspired" fusion foods that combine Asian ingredients or techniques with non-Asian cuisine. One of the first to tread this ground was Wolfgang Puck at his Santa Monica restaurant Chinois on Main. There, he paired classic French techniques with the flavors of the East. Puck was influenced in turn by French chef Paul Bocuse who may have been the first to bring back the flavors and aesthetics of Japanese cuisine to Western tables, virtually inventing nouvelle cuisine in the process. The result of all this multicultural food exchanging has been that we no longer look exclusively to Europe for our culinary inspiration and ingredients. Asian products, both imported and domestic, abound on the shelves throughout the food community, and Asian flavors in the prepared foods section have become commonplace. It's no wonder then that, like so many of us, it seems that lately (with apologies to Ray Charles), I have Asia on my mind.

One could almost say that the food of Asia, and particularly that of Southeast Asia and India is the new Italian. By that I mean that the ingredients and concepts that were once so foreign and exotic are increasingly familiar and easy to find. Remember, it wasn't that long ago when authors had to give substitutions for balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. In fact, according to a report called Market Trends: Food Flavors & Ingredients Outlook 2005 by market research publisher Packaged Facts (a division of MarketResearch.com), this will be the year for Asian flavors. They point to Indian cuisine specifically as a flavor category that is set to take off. Also according to Packaged Facts, retail sales of Asian food products went up by almost 28 percent between 2000 and 2004. Asian products — both ingredients and prepared dishes — are showing up throughout the store, from packaged foods to frozen foods to fully prepared foods.

It's All in the Ingredients
Asian ingredients are finding their way into all kinds of Western dishes (Asian tapas, anyone?) and consequently, onto store shelves. Here is a brief look at some of the more common ones:

- BOK CHOY. Why people aren't cooking more bok choy is a mystery. A delicious and easy-to-cook vegetable, it pairs well with almost any meat or fish, and works great in stir-frys and soups. It has been grown in China since ancient times and is highly valued there. The dark green leaves resemble spinach in flavor, and the lighter-colored stems are almost sweet. Braised in a light broth, it takes hardly any time to cook and the results are delicious and very nutritious.

- CHINESE LONGBEANS. Sometimes, they are called yard-long beans, as they can attain lengths of three feet or more. They have an interesting mild flavor and pair brilliantly with hot chiles and other strongly flavored foods. According to Ken Hom, they are often deep fried in Sichuan. They also cook quickly, making them suitable for stir-fry.

- FISH SAUCES. Various sauces made from dried and fermented fish have their genesis in the ancient art of preserving the foods available for leaner times. They have come to be basic ingredients in the cooking of Thailand and Vietnam in particular, but are used elsewhere. They taste very strong right out of the bottle but when mixed in and cooked with other foods, they mellow considerably and lend a depth of flavor to the dish. It's not surprising that the best brands are said to hail from Thailand and Vietnam.

- GINGER. One of the five ancient spices of China (along with red pepper, scallions, garlic, and cinnamon), ginger is one of the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen, both for its flavor and remedial qualities. Though not unfamiliar to American cooks, it is more often known in powdered form and pulled out at Thanksgiving to enliven pumpkin pie. It is a wonderful addition to soups, stews, and fish dishes, and can be preserved and even candied.

- LEMONGRASS. This versatile grass is turning up in restaurants in everything from teas to desserts. It has an intense lemony flavor as implied by the name, and is said to possess good digestive properties.

- NOODLES. If Asian cooking is the new Italian, then this is the new pasta. Asian noodles are made from both rice and wheat, the latter mostly from the northern Chinese tradition. Asian-style noodles tend to be more delicate than western types, and they can be used in many of the same ways, such as in soups, salads, or served with all sorts of sauces.

- RICE. The other white starch. Rice is a staple grain for most of Asia but not all. In northern China, for example, wheat, mostly in the form of noodles, is far more prevalent than rice, and in Vietnam, although rice is a staple, there is a grand tradition of bread making left over from the French. Asian rice has been available in supermarkets for some time but increasingly more exotic strains are coming to the gourmet market. Lotus Foods, for example, has been pioneering such ancient varieties as Forbidden Rice, Bhutanese Red Rice, Kalijira Rice, and Jasmine.

- SOY. What is left to be said about this extraordinary little legume? The nutritional benefits have been expounded by nutritionists and scientists, and the number of ways to consume it is staggering. An ancient food, it is far more nutritious than wheat or rice, the two foods it rivals as a world staple. In addition to all of its virtues in warding off diseases such as cancer and heart disease, it provides complete protein and is often thought of as the "meat" of China and other areas where it is commonly consumed. It is something of a miracle food and is now a major crop in the United States, finding its way into everything from milk for one's morning cereal to the cereal itself.

For Further Reading
The Asian cookbook shelf has been expanding as fast as the grocery shelves in recent years. But Asian flavors and spices are also appearing in books that are not specifically Asian in concept, a trend that is mirrored on restaurant menus from coast to coast. Here are two excellent books by two intrepid cooks and travelers that are decidedly not Asian and yet offer some tantalizing dishes from that side of the world.

In Mark Bittman's newest book, The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway), he offers over 1,000 recipes from just about every corner of the globe, including Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. What seems to unite all the recipes is that they are unpretentious, everyday foods even though many of them are considered the classic dishes of Southeast Asian, Japan, and China, and many have new twists and subtle improvements. The recipes call for mostly common fruits, vegetables, meats, and so on, and even the spices and other exotic ingredients are not so hard to attain these days. This is a grand book that looks to have been many years in the making, and obviously is the product of a man with a wide-open palate and an insatiable curiosity about how the world eats.

Clifford A. Wright's new book, Some Like It Hot (Harvard Common Press), is a wonderful collection of hot and spicy dishes from Asia and around the world by a tireless researcher and avid cook. Wright himself points out in an introductory sidebar that this book probably would not or could not have been written as recently as 15 years ago. Many of the heretofore exotic ingredients would simply have not been available to the majority of American consumers. Wright offers 350 authentic recipes from the "hot zone," or a geographical band running around the globe that extends from roughly the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn. The author also gives us a glossary of spicy ingredients and an exhaustive guide to online resources for all sorts of related ingredients. This is a must-have book for anyone interested in Asian cooking, chiles, chile-based cuisine, or world cuisine in general.

Another great book to have for reference is Ken Hom's Asian Ingredients (Ten Speed Press). It is both an extensive illustrated guide to the fresh and preserved products that make up the Asian pantry and a cookbook. It is an indispensable source of information on many of the exotic ingredients of the East, with delicious and relatively simple recipes to illuminate their uses.