Why are ethnic foods trendy now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am Indian American and love peanut butter.

Have you had a fluffernutter? You are invited to my place to indulge.

[Anonymous]

I’m mixed race AA. The experiences of my ancestors mean that I’m either unqualified to cook any ethnic recipes except soul food or I am justified in cooking most of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they claiming they created the dishes? Are they calling it American cuisine? I have my doubts, but please provide links to prove me wrong.

Look at Alison Roman with her “chickpea stew” and “gentle lentils”.

Ok. In the chickpea stew recipe, it clearly references “stews found in South India and parts of the Caribbean” right there in the first sentence.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019772-spiced-chickpea-stew-with-coconut-and-turmeric

And here she is talking about the lentils and mentions the South Asian origin of dal: https://anewsletter.alisoneroman.com/p/gentle-lentils

She did not claim either as American cuisine, and did not claim to invent anything or discover a new ingredient.

Yes, but she should have called them by their traditional names.

So, for lentils and rice with some onions, every white lady **MUST** call it "mujedrah" rather than Larla's Lentils and Rice or they are canceled? Come on people, gimme a break not buying it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they claiming they created the dishes? Are they calling it American cuisine? I have my doubts, but please provide links to prove me wrong.

Look at Alison Roman with her “chickpea stew” and “gentle lentils”.

Ok. In the chickpea stew recipe, it clearly references “stews found in South India and parts of the Caribbean” right there in the first sentence.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019772-spiced-chickpea-stew-with-coconut-and-turmeric

And here she is talking about the lentils and mentions the South Asian origin of dal: https://anewsletter.alisoneroman.com/p/gentle-lentils

She did not claim either as American cuisine, and did not claim to invent anything or discover a new ingredient.

Yes, but she should have called them by their traditional names.

So, for lentils and rice with some onions, every white lady **MUST** call it "mujedrah" rather than Larla's Lentils and Rice or they are canceled? Come on people, gimme a break not buying it.

Just don’t act like you invented a dish already known to civilization for thousands of years. What part of that is hard to understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they claiming they created the dishes? Are they calling it American cuisine? I have my doubts, but please provide links to prove me wrong.

Look at Alison Roman with her “chickpea stew” and “gentle lentils”.

She totally deserved to be cancelled for that. I'm fine with white people making international cuisine, but give credit where credit is due. She was acting like these were original recipes. Lady, you're making Chole and daal!!!

except if she called it chole or dal she'd be equally cancelled. what people REALLY want is for Alison Roman not to be allowed to do anything.

if a published chef has to give an international culinary history of each ingredient or technique, that's going to be pretty inconvenient. lentil's originally came from the Middle East anyway.

dp. I don't think she should be canceled for it. But, it does make her look ignorant, and also anyone else who doesn't realize that it's an ethnic dish and thinks it's a new American cuisine. If they came across someone who knew what it was, and they said that, "oh, that's an <ethnic> cuisine", and the ignorant person kept insisting it wasn't, guess who looks the fool.

Maybe Roman knew that most of her followers were too ignorant to notice.

I'm pretty sure that Alison Roman, who lives in multicultural NYC, reasonable assumes that her fans KNOW WHAT DAL IS. Come on.

Trying to appropriate a legume for a single culture is really something though.

Not exactly sure what happened, but it seems it was more than just using legumes in her cooking.

No one has a problem with another culture learning to cook their food. I sure don't - I'm east Asian. However, if a person pretends that it was something they discovered on their own and doesn't acknowledge that the cuisine with a twist is actually from x country, then that is shameful.

Maybe she just neglected to mention it? IDK.. I don't follow her. But, the issue is not other cultures learning to cook food from other cultures. It's pretending that what you created is not based on that cultural dish.

Did you read her newsletter? She wasn't pretending to invent dal. https://anewsletter.alisoneroman.com/p/gentle-lentils

And if she had called it dal she would have been equally open to critcism.

so basically the argument is she can't make anything with lentils.

As people have pointed out before she edited her newsletter only after getting complaints, but do go on repeating yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they claiming they created the dishes? Are they calling it American cuisine? I have my doubts, but please provide links to prove me wrong.

Look at Alison Roman with her “chickpea stew” and “gentle lentils”.

She totally deserved to be cancelled for that. I'm fine with white people making international cuisine, but give credit where credit is due. She was acting like these were original recipes. Lady, you're making Chole and daal!!!

except if she called it chole or dal she'd be equally cancelled. what people REALLY want is for Alison Roman not to be allowed to do anything.

if a published chef has to give an international culinary history of each ingredient or technique, that's going to be pretty inconvenient. lentil's originally came from the Middle East anyway.

dp. I don't think she should be canceled for it. But, it does make her look ignorant, and also anyone else who doesn't realize that it's an ethnic dish and thinks it's a new American cuisine. If they came across someone who knew what it was, and they said that, "oh, that's an <ethnic> cuisine", and the ignorant person kept insisting it wasn't, guess who looks the fool.

Maybe Roman knew that most of her followers were too ignorant to notice.

I'm pretty sure that Alison Roman, who lives in multicultural NYC, reasonable assumes that her fans KNOW WHAT DAL IS. Come on.

Trying to appropriate a legume for a single culture is really something though.

Not exactly sure what happened, but it seems it was more than just using legumes in her cooking.

No one has a problem with another culture learning to cook their food. I sure don't - I'm east Asian. However, if a person pretends that it was something they discovered on their own and doesn't acknowledge that the cuisine with a twist is actually from x country, then that is shameful.

Maybe she just neglected to mention it? IDK.. I don't follow her. But, the issue is not other cultures learning to cook food from other cultures. It's pretending that what you created is not based on that cultural dish.

Did you read her newsletter? She wasn't pretending to invent dal. https://anewsletter.alisoneroman.com/p/gentle-lentils

And if she had called it dal she would have been equally open to critcism.

so basically the argument is she can't make anything with lentils.

DP here. This newsletter appears to be from this year, whereas the dust-up with Roman happened a year or two ago. I am assuming that at this point she is really careful about attributing the foods she cooks.

Not really. She caught heat for the “gentle lentils” last month and went around editing her newsletter and insta.

[Anonymous]

There are some foods that appear in multiple cultures, for example empanada, samosa, spanakopita, parogi, dumpling. They’re all roughly dough with a filling. Who gets credit for the original?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some foods that appear in multiple cultures, for example empanada, samosa, spanakopita, parogi, dumpling. They’re all roughly dough with a filling. Who gets credit for the original?

You forgot panzerotti. You are welcome

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[[…]
Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday from this perspective, because many of the "traditional" foods are actually Southern soul foods that originated in Black communities. Yet we talk about them like the Pilgrims at them. It's a form of cultural erasure that historically marginalized groups feel acutely. They've been told for centuries that their cultures are inferior...now all of a sudden the supposedly "superior" culture is taking their cultural heritage and passing it off as their own.

[…]

I don’t think anyone believes that turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, bread and cranberries were served at the first Thanksgiving (at least certainly not in their traditional form) and I’m curious which of those foods originated in Black communities. I’ll give you that Black people definitely invented the way America eats, but not Thanksgiving foods (at least not the ones I serve).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some foods that appear in multiple cultures, for example empanada, samosa, spanakopita, parogi, dumpling. They’re all roughly dough with a filling. Who gets credit for the original?

Don’t forget flatbreads! That’s another great category of foods humans make all over the planet. Lefse, naan, lavash, tortilla, injera, pita, focaccia…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some foods that appear in multiple cultures, for example empanada, samosa, spanakopita, parogi, dumpling. They’re all roughly dough with a filling. Who gets credit for the original?

You forgot panzerotti. You are welcome

Pastelito!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is a white person trying to provoke other white people into being outraged about "cultural appropriation".

I am Indian-American and although I grew up mostly eating Indian food, my mom would frequently put her own Indian take on food from other cultures - especially Middle Eastern and Mexican foods which were flavorful and had similar spices. I thought it was great - it expanded her own palate and ours! I still think American/Northern European-derived foods are pretty bland, so I do what I can do spice things up. Are white people offended by that?

Normal people are not offended by that. (I do think it's silly to paint all American and Northern European food as "bland," given the huge variety of food included in those two categories.) Just like I'd hope that non-white people aren't offended by white people putting their own take on foods from around the world, "authentic" or not.

I mean, I was just trying to make a point with that comment, no need to be offended by it, PP, LOl!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[[…]
Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday from this perspective, because many of the "traditional" foods are actually Southern soul foods that originated in Black communities. Yet we talk about them like the Pilgrims at them. It's a form of cultural erasure that historically marginalized groups feel acutely. They've been told for centuries that their cultures are inferior...now all of a sudden the supposedly "superior" culture is taking their cultural heritage and passing it off as their own.

[…]

I don’t think anyone believes that turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, bread and cranberries were served at the first Thanksgiving (at least certainly not in their traditional form) and I’m curious which of those foods originated in Black communities. I’ll give you that Black people definitely invented the way America eats, but not Thanksgiving foods (at least not the ones I serve).

Mashed potatoes originated from England. No one can claim cranberries and a roasted bird, lol.. this is an exercise in futility.

[Anonymous]

I cannot stand the term “ethnic.” It is so non-specific and so subjective, and it also objectifies the “other” as being “ethnic.” It also reminds me of an acquaintance who had moved here from Chicago suburbs and complained there were no “ethnic” stores here. There ARE “ethnic” stores here, but probably not the same “ethnicities” she was referring to. But, what really is “ethnic”? It is such an obtuse and vague term, it makes me cringe when people say it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For anyone interested in a deeper take on what went on with Roman, this isn't a bad summary: https://www.thelily.com/alison-romans-comments-about-chrissy-teigen-and-marie-kondo-lit-a-fire-heres-why-its-still-burning/

A key passage:

It’s also an issue of whose voices are amplified. Here, too, America is contending with a long history of inequity, according to Tompkins. “Some of the earliest sense of what American cooking was was represented by cookbooks written by white women,” she says. “But so much of it was invented by African American women in the North and in the South.”

That trend has continued today: One analysis showed that the vast majority of New York Times recipes for Chinese, Indian and other ethnic cuisines were written by white writers.

If there weren't a history of marginalizing these communities (and chefs from these communities) and generally treating them as inferior, I don't think this would be such a big deal. But all of you pretending like colonialism, racism, and oppression doesn't exist and it doesn't impact the way foods are integrated into cultures are kinda delusional.

basically - they don’t think Alison Roman should be allowed to publish anything or make any money from writing about food because colonialism.

No, that's not it at all. Either you didn't read the article, you lack fundamental reading comprehension skills, or you are so stubbornly wedded to your narrow view of the world you are incapable of seeing things from a different perspective. I'm not sure which one it is, and I don't particularly care.