For those of you who don’t know the reference from today’s title, shame on you. It comes from one of the best shows ever made, namely Fawlty Towers.Recently I bought some zucchini and after using some of it for a salad, decided to use the rest of it before it went bad.Where I live in Japan, zucchini has only recently been sold in supermarkets and farmer’s markets.

I picked up a zucchini today for 120 yen, which would be about $1.20 in Canadian money.These are precious little things here for me in Japan.Back in Canada, I can remember zucchini being the fruitcake/Christmas cake of the vegetable garden: almost nobody ate them, but lots of people would give them to other people. I can remember eating a lot of zucchini pancakes for dinner, as well as in salads and made into a cake.But I’ve always viewed zucchini positively, not negatively. Being very mild in taste, zucchini is a blank canvas that can take on many different tastes. Zucchini pancakes? OK. Zucchini tempura? OK. Zucchhini pickles, salads, curry, etc? OK!The ratatouille was easy to make and tasted great.However, the best ratatouille I ever tasted was the first time I made it. I had gone vegetable picking with my sister-in-law and together we picked a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. Cooking up the fresh vegetables with a minimal of seasoning made for fantastic flavours. And yes, even that time I put basil in the ratatouille.If you’ve never eaten it, buy some zucchini and give it a try. Then watch the movie and you’ll doubly understand.Yes, put basil in the ratatouille.