Food is an art form. Any gastronome would tell you about the sheer joy of carefully arranging the plate so that anyone who will eat it feels a little guilt for munching through it.
All across the globe, people have delighted their loved ones by unveiling some of the most colorful, intricate, and wholesome dishes.
Food is a way to express love and creativity so here goes a list of recipes and ingredients that start with the letter H:
Table of Contents
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Western cuisine
Hot Dog
Although sausage has been around since at least the 9th century, modern America has adopted this as their own. It came to this country in the 1860s and from there, it took a life of its own. Grill a sausage and then stuff in a sesame bun. Classic!
Hummingbird cake
The good ol’ American South, home to the most wholesome dishes were sweet hummingbird cakes and carry the smell across the hot wind. This dish was first created in 1978 by an 81-year-old widow who decided to get creative. She made this with three layers of pineapple and banana, scooped a dollop of cream cheese, and baked this legend.
Hot Chocolate
This food seems like it was invented just a couple of centuries ago but frankly speaking, it wasn’t. The ancestors, like us, just couldn’t resist. The ancient Mayans were drinking chocolate in 500 BC! Today, many types of this drink are there to comfort you!
Homard à l’américaine
If anyone knows fine dining, it’s the French! Homard, or lobster, is a rare delicacy we would all like to get our hands-on. In classic French fashion, lobster sits daintily atop sauce that just coats your tongue with flavor. As the French say, oo la la!
Hog’s Pudding
Truly, western cuisine is incomplete without a classic sausage dish. This English dish is one of the few that contains an impressive level of spice, where the sausage is dusted with garlic, cumin, black pepper, and basil. This makes a hearty dish!
Hendl
Count Dracula liked it, and so shall you! There’s something truly magical about the sight of whole chicken roasting away in spices. The Bavarians thought so as they saw it cooking in its fat, over a reddish flame. This is a celebration meal!
Hasenpfeffer
Hunters unite! If catching a fresh hare, and then marinating and braising it seems like your thing, read on! Hase means hare and Pfeffer means spice! This 1300s dish is smothered in herbs, black peppers, and such! Hare is marinated and braised to perfection.
Hamburger with Beetroot
There are few things Australia, a new country, can call its own. Beetroots topped in some hamburger is not one of them. Here, we see soft buns and juicy patty tossed together as usual. But then, earthy beetroot is added to elevate the flavor!
Central and South American cuisine
Huevitos de Leche
Panama! A country that has many a picnic around the iconic Panama Canal and snacks to go with it. This milk candy will make any weekend memorable. Admittedly, this isn’t quite healthy but hey! Sugar, flour, milk, and cinnamon boiled together are worth it!
Hojaldres
Many Panamanians eagerly wait for the weekend so they can consume this flatbread for breakfast. We all love fried dough because practically everything goes with it: cheese, sausage fried egg, etcetera! Wash down with some coffee!
Hilachas
Guatemalan cuisine is often credited for being exceptionally tasty. So, if the Guatemalans like a dish, it’s a must-try. Tomatillo-tomato sauce is smeared onto the shredded beef which adds to the heat. Hilachas means rags, and possibly because the flavor will blow your clothes off. Make the sauce with chili pepper, Guajillo chilies, and tomato. Viola!
Haitian Patty
Puffy pastries are adored all across the world. Not more so than Haiti which eats this patty day in and day out! Here, pastry is stuffed with savory fillings: some vegetables, some herbs, and seasoning to create this little treat. This snack lines the streets of Port au Prince where common merchants sell it to a passer-by looking for a quick energy boost.
Mediterranean cuisine
Harira
Moroccan national soup! This is bound to be indulging and flavorsome. This light soup is perfect for Ramadan, when you want to eat, but not be too overwhelmed. Plus, the whole family can enjoy breaking their fast with this vegetarian soup. Chickpeas, lentils, fragrant herbs, and spices are added to a good old pressure cooker and served hot!
Hawawshi
Unlike many Egyptian dishes, this is relatively modern. Made in the stall of a man named Hawawsh in 1971, this spread like wildfire throughout the country. Some of the finest Mediterranean ingredients are stuffed in Baladi bread to make this. Ground beef, herbs, spices, make this dish what it is today.
Harissa hloua
What else would decorate the streets of Tunis if not bakeries? The harissa hloua sits prettily in them, with its smell wafting to pedestrians with a sweet tooth. This semolina cake is perfect because practically anything goes. Maybe coconut or almond do it for you. Maybe you’d like your syrup with the essence of cinnamon, rose water, or orange zest!
Hunkar Begendi
The sultan’s delight is the name given to this dish. If the great king adored this, you will too! Some of the grandest stews are made from lamb meat; this is no exception. Although this dish is dusted with Mediterranean spices, what makes this dish a class apart is the eggplant purée that is scooped atop it. Perhaps you love tomatoes and would top this with tomato sauce!
Haydari
Eating Turkish is wonderfully messy. Stews that just drip off the bread, bread that is so soft it breaks off. To add to this whole fiasco is haydari, a yogurt dip. This makes all Turkish food a class apart when they are eaten with this refresher. This is tangy, this is minty, this has fragrance and this has pizzaz. This is a reminder that the smallest of things matter.
Hummus
We have here an international star! The hummus has come to define the Levant, and for good reason. Firstly, this dish is a joy to look at. Pastel white with dainty sprinkles of paprika and herbs atop, and some red pomegranate seeds, bring a smile to anyone’s mouth. Secondly, nothing is more authentic Levantine than chickpeas eaten with some light pita bread!
Hareesah
Another dish that just happens to define the parts of the Mediterranean! The hareesa has been popularized throughout the Levant and the Middle East but in Tunisia, its birthplace, it is the most appreciated. This vivid red dish takes its color after the spices that have been added to it: Baklouti peppers, red peppers, herbs, cumin, and coriander. Yalla!
African cuisine
Hertzoggie
Few foods look as appetizing as this crimped and baked treat. When good food has some legend attached to it, it just becomes something else. This jam cookie was first baked by South African women for a certain General JBM Hertzogg after he promised black women the right to vote. If you can taste equality, it may taste a little like this goodie.
Himbasha
Another beautiful dessert! As always, Ethiopian cuisine shows its many talents: baking bread in the pattern and shape of a wheel! This flatbread is sweet enough that it gives you that sugar rush, and light enough that you don’t feel too guilty eating those calories. When the Ethiopians have something to celebrate, they usually eat this for it only brings more joy!
Pan Asian cuisine
Hot and Sour Soup
This dish is ancient, like China itself! It is so iconic that both Beijing and Sichuan have it labelled as their regional dish. Why shouldn’t they when we have all come to know and love this aromatic, hot soup? Although it is eaten throughout the world, China has perfected its art. Meat is thrown in with some wood ear fungus, bamboo shoots, and tofu to make this!
Hainanese Chicken Rice
This popular dish is the result of immigrants’ hard work. When Hainan immigrants decided to put their mark on China, they decided to poach some chicken, season some rice, bask it all in some chili sauce. Today, this dish is adored by many across the region!
Humba
If it’s hearty meat you want, the Philippines is at your service. Traditionally, tender pork is braised in a sauce but you can use any meat you want. This is because the black peppercorn and soy sauce are absorbed by any juicy protein!
Halabos na hipon
The Philippines is home to some classic seafood dishes. It is assumed that if there was one place shrimp would like to be eaten, it would be in halabos na hipon – Filipino style shrimp! This is a recipe in which shrimp is cooked whole. As usual, add garlic in oil until that distinct aroma is given off. Toss in some shrimp and spice it to an inch of its life.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this list was able to take your imagination through warm South America to the coastal Philippines and you were able to picture some of the treats that the world has been able to showcase. These foods are beautiful, complex, and (most of all) fulfilling.
Owner and Food blogger on The Cookware Geek. She loves cooking, baking, traveling, playing with the cats, and knitting. She believes that eating delicious meals doesn’t require a culinary degree or a Michelin-star chef in your kitchen.