At Perilla, where the cuisine tends to skew toward Italian-American and Eastern European influences, I serve a spaghettini with crab gravy studded with crushed red chili flakes, fennelseed and Thai basil.
In Cork, no less, in the 18th-century English Market, I sampled smoked mussels in vinaigrette, rock lobster from Kinsale, tender soda bread flavored with fennelseed, elderflower cordial, floury Golden Wonder potatoes and Yellowman toffee.