Why are ethnic foods trendy now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I look at my Instagram feed and am met with beautifully displayed and watered down versions of Asian, middle eastern and and African cuisines. The girls making these recipes are not immigrants or POC but young, white rich women who “learned to cook in their kitchen and are foodies.”

I look at their recipes and it makes me a little sick. They’re using ethnic spice mixes and combinations of sauces that have so much history and context regarding the regions of the world in which they originate. I think of how white people used to eat pb&j now eat chicken curry and Korean tacos and naan.

As a POC it bothers me that our culinary heritage is discarded while a random white American person takes the basic idea and adopts it and presents it as their own.

So frustrating!

Are you really a POC? I don’t often hear POCs call international food “ethnic.”

[Anonymous]

Because it tastes good! My elderly relatives who only eat “American” and southern food don’t know what they’re missing.

[Anonymous]

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.

+1 Heaven forbid people appreciate cultures other than their own!

How many people making these recipes know what part of the world they originate from? Do they know the cultural context?

The main relevance of food around the world is sustenance. Historically, food is shared and evolves between cultures as populations migrate or trade. Why is that suddenly problematic? Or should everyone only eat only what their direct ancestors ate and exactly how far back should individuals with mixed ethnicity go? For instance can people of Italian descent eat noodles or only people with Asian ancestors?

[Anonymous]

all food is ethnic food. everyone has an ethnicity.

[Anonymous]

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”.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

This has to be a joke. I’m an immigrant and POC…I love and try to cook food from other ethnicities.

[Anonymous]

When I lived overseas, some of my friends would try to make me “American food” so I would feel at home. They all loved it and would have so much fun at our dinner parties. I would smile and choke it down because it was terrible - not really American because it infused the flavors of the local cuisine, which are delicious in their own right and in their own context. However, I appreciated that they were trying to make a connection with me. Food has always traveled from one culture to another and it is a great basis for learning about other people and other cultures.

[Anonymous]

As an American of Irish descent, I’d like to formally apologize to all the Italians out there for feeding my family their cultural foods on the regular without properly educating my children about the language, customs, religion and ancient history of the Italian/Roman people.

[Anonymous]

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.

She only acknowledged dal after several commenters on her Insta called her out. And she acted like she’d never heard of the dish before.

[Anonymous]

Americans are the only ones who care about this bullsh*t.

I find it funny that when you travel to Japan, they love it when foreigners wear kimonos and there is a while industry dedicated to it. Better stop those South Americans from appropriating Italian food, which is incorportated in Peruvian dishes. So is Chinese. Why did the Vietnamese appropriate tons of French food? Heck, the bahn mi requires it. How about complaining about all of the pastry shops in Asia that make Western style dessert with Eastern accents to fit Asian palates? They don't stay entirely true to their European hertiage.

Good grief. This is why people find progressive zainy, out of touch, and intolerable. They are the self appointed moral gate keepers for everything.

[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.

She only acknowledged dal after several commenters on her Insta called her out. And she acted like she’d never heard of the dish before.

Ah, ok. So despite the edit and apology, you’ve cancelled her for life. Got it.

[Anonymous]

What does Alison Roman, or any other person who makes a profit from their cooking, have to do with what a home cook makes for their family? And why wouldn’t you want to encourage people to appreciate other cultures?

[Anonymous]

Is it really surprising, though? They water everything down.

[Anonymous]

Lentils are not owned by any ethnicity:

lentils are a legume, seeds from a family of plants called fabaceae, which also includes peanuts and chickpeas. The oldest evidence of lentils takes us to ancient Greece and Syria, about 13,000 years ago. Seen as a food for the poor or lower classes, lentils were used to used to make soups, bread, and a type porridge.


Lentils were introduced to the Americas by Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the early 16th century.


18th century lentil soup-English recipe! https://regimentcooksite.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/18th-century-lentil-soup/