Lovingly described! Thanks for the tips.

Most pasta in the US suggests to salt the water when you boil it, I don’t think many Americans do. My mother didn’t, at least.

This may be a result of the war on salt that came from heart disease concerns of the 80s/90s.

Eh, half the authentic East Asian food you get has Fish Sauce as an ingredient, which is essentially Rotting Fish Juice. Hell, Worcester Sauce in the West is similar but different.

Source: Unmilitant vegan that is peeved that fermented fish product ends up being the secret ingredient in many authentic dishes.

I have yet to sample an Italian arrabiata sauce that I would remotely call ‘spicy’. Though, to be fair, I’m an American that over spices everything I cook, so my palate is probably blown out at this point.

Iirc the psychoactive compound in ergot/morning glories is LSA, which is similar, but different from LSD. LSD is a refined version of LSA.

Koval is an Illinois distillery with excellent whiskey, including bourbon. I’m sure there’s a few in Oregon and Washington as well.