Corn is thought of as a quintessentially American crop. That’s true if by “quintessentially American” you mean that Americans have exploited corn’s industrial potential to a greater degree than anyone else. But of course corn didn’t originate in North America, and its popularity is by no means limited to North America, nor even to the New World.

Corn is grown on every continent on Earth save for Antarctica, most intensively in the American Midwest, western Europe and eastern China. On which note, I was watching a terrific BBC program called Wild China the other night. In one sequence on the subject of farm villages in Hunan province, I noticed that the ceilings of the homes there had bundles of dried corn hung from all their rafters. I did a double-take until I remembered that the farmers there — like most corn farmers around the world — think of corn as a traditional crop. It’s been around for so long, few are even aware that corn originally came from somewhere else.

I’ve been getting all sorts of interesting emails since I announced my month of savory baking. Among the most intriguing was from reader Abri in Durban who told me to try something South African for a change. Not knowing much about South African food I naturally asked for some suggestions, the more classic the better. This topped Abri’s list of classic South African foods. It’s not a pastry, nor a bread…it’s actually a side dish. However since I just came into possession of some pretty nice corn meal, it seemed like fate. And given the holiday yesterday and the fact that little Joan has bronchitis, this is going to be a pretty abbreviated week anyway. So let’s do it!

…asks reader Will. That’s the sort of question I really, really dig, reader Will. The reason is simply because Arabs are legendary traders, blessed by happenstance to be situated right on the receiving end of history’s ultimate wholesale supply line: the Silk Road. The Silk Road — which wasn’t actually one road but a network of trade routes — stretched for some 4,000 miles from the Pacific coast of China all the way to the Mediterranean.

Reader J from Singapore submits this very interesting and helpful video showing how spring roll wrappers are made. Warqa is the very same concept, just done in Morocco. And indeed it seems at least possible that along with all the spices the Arabs imported from the Far East they may have imported some kitchen techniques as well. The only difference between this and warqa-making is that a slightly firmer dough is dabbed onto hot metal several times to create “leaves” which altogether make up a finished sheet. If you prefer not to use a paint brush — try it!

I mentioned yesterday that there are a lot of spellings for bisteeya. Of all of the ones that are pronounceable in English, it seems to me that “bisteeya” is the most misleading of the bunch. For based on what I’ve been discovering over the last few days, the most common pronunciation of this pastry is something akin to “pastila.” That brings it a lot closer in look and sound to the Spanish word “pastel” which means “cake” in that language. Interestingly, if you look around the Mediterranean you can find more than a few baked items — including many savory pies — that sound quite similar.