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Interesting read about the use of language in talking about cuisine and ingredients from The Washington Post food section:

https://www.washingtonpo...-food-xenophobia-racism/

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Over the years I've had many laughs over familar items that were "exotic" to others and vice versa. I finally came up with my own definition of "exotic" ... any ingredient that takes me more than a day to find a potential source for. This leads to interesting reversals such as when my favorite West African grocery supplier was bought out by a larger African grocer and the most "exotic" items were dropped from the inventory. More seriously, I agree that exotic should not be used to enforce a Eurocentric world food view.

An ingredient might be exotic by my definition if: 1) I cannot find it in my local major grocery store chain; 2) I cannot find it anywhere in my city (including the organic/health food grocery, the local food co-op, the ethnic-specific grocery stores, and the local spice shop. Another criteria is how frequently/rare an ingredient is found in a all-recipes search of EYB, because EYB is so extensive.

I find fruits and vegetables to be more difficult to find (i.e. more exotic) than spices, sauces, and long-lasting ingredients (such as grains, canned/jarred/frozen products) -- probably because of the problems in shipping and preservation. There are several vegetables that I have seen in my cookbooks, but never in reality.