Avocado Ricotta Cheese Toast

20250923 #breakfastdiary day 1517, 18°C/cloudy About 60% of the world's population uses tools like chopsticks, spoons, forks, and knives to eat. The remaining 40%, in a hand-eating culture found across India, other parts of South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and some of Southeast Asia, use their hands instead of tools. That's more than you'd think. Anyway, if you trace the origin of the tools people use to eat, it's probably efficiency and utility that mattered more than taste or preference. Cutting food into manageable pieces, sometimes stabbing or picking it up — the main goal, one way or another, was getting food to the mouth as efficiently as possible. (Najoshik, 'A Cultural History of Eating Utensils' from Everyday Breakfast) The 12th episode of Everyday Breakfast, now well into its second half, and the final episode of its 'Moments of Enjoying Breakfast' arc — 'A Cultural History of Eating Utensils' — has been published. ☝️Check the Brunch Book link in the profile. Today, I set aside spoon, chopsticks, fork, and knife and gladly join the 40% of the world in the hand-eating culture. Eaten casually by hand, with turnips marinated in tahini dressing on the side — an approx. 500kcal avocado ricotta cheese toast

1 serving slab bread, 1/2 Japanese turnip (kokabu), 1T ricotta cheese, 1/2 avocado, olive oil, salt, pepper, a few mint leaves, (marinade dressing) 1T tahini, 2t soy sauce, 1t toasted sesame salt and 1t mixed herbs, 1t lemon juice

1. Brush the slab bread with olive oil and toast in a pan. 2. Mix 1T tahini, 2t soy sauce, 1t toasted sesame salt and 1t mixed herbs, and 1t lemon juice to make the dressing. (I meant to combine the sesame salt and mixed herbs for a za'atar-like flavor, but it was too thick as-is, so just use 1t total of sesame salt plus mixed herbs.) 3. Julienne the Japanese turnip a bit thick for a crisp texture, and marinate in the dressing from step 2. 4. Whip 1T ricotta cheese with a little olive oil. 5. On the slab bread, neatly arrange the whipped ricotta from step 4 and sliced avocado, then top with the marinated turnip from step 3 and pepper.

Inspired by @latable_de_olivia