Why are ethnic foods trendy now?

[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”.

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!!!

[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.

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

[Anonymous]

Hi OP

I’m English and Irish ancestry. DH’s is German and Czech.

Please set up an appropriate weekly dinner menu for me that can be done in 30 minutes or less on a weeknight. Might be a business opportunity for you.

That would be swell. Barring that, it might just have to be a mangle of chicken teriyaki, spaghetti and red sauce, and taco Tuesday.

[Anonymous]

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?

[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, people complain because her food isn't "authentic," AND that she's not calling them by the traditional name of the food she's not making right in the first place?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?

Heck no. My wife is Thai and often puts a Thai flair to italian dishes she makes. It actually turns out quite well. Adds a spicy kick with some bolder flavor profiles to pasta dishes. We give zero craps that it isn't authentic Italian that pays homage to its roots and heritage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Is this a sentiment that many people feel? I’m a white Roman. I enjoy ESG IG snd cooking a variety of foods. I want to be careful about cultural appropriation but I am having a hard time understanding the difference between cultural appropriation and just enjoying something from another culture. I know part of it has to do with how it is presented and whether respect snd credit is properly attributed. But it cannot be that everyone has to stay in their culinary lane. How is that what anyone wants?

No! It's not, enjoy foods from all cultures, they are there for everyone! I love a good PB&J sandwich, I made linguine with Marcela Hazan's tomato sauce last night, it was delicious! I feed hummus to my half Indian/half-Caucasian baby!

I think the only time that I, an Indian-American, would maybe be slightly offended would be if you took a blatantly Indian dish and said you came up with it on your own - "look at this amazingly delicious Delhi-inspired dish I cooked" and it turns out it's just mattar paneer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Americans often cook Americanized versions of foods from other countries. What’s the issue? Most people in most cultures do this- adapt foods to their tastes.

I would never say my pad kee mow is the best and most authentic version out there. I’m not Thai, I’ve (sadly) never even been to Thailand. But my family likes eating it. I don’t know why it would make anyone sad that people are using new (to them) ingredients and spices in their cooking.

Not OP, and I can't figure out what her issue is.

But an issue that is coming up lately with international cusines, especially those from non-Western cultures, is that many white/European-descended chefs are starting to reproduce Americanized versions of traditional dishes without acknowledging their cultural history. Often, these are the same foods that non-white/European-descended authors and immigrants were made fun of for eating. But if a white, blond lady publishes it in the NYT, all of a sudden it's "cool" instead of "gross". Alison Roman is the epitome of this. And many Indian, Chinese, African, etc chefs are irritated by it.

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.

Anyway, since this is DCUM the majority of you will reduce this to "get real problems!" or "does this mean I'm a racist for eating spaghetti?"...but maybe some of you will read this and learn a little more about the heritage of the foods you eat. It can be fascinating, and provides more understanding of our rich multi-cultural heritage as well as more knowledge of formerly repressed communities. For example, it was because of a dish someone once cooked on Top Chef that I learned about the history of the Gullah Geechee: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/bj-dennis-gullah-geechee

[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, people complain because her food isn't "authentic," AND that she's not calling them by the traditional name of the food she's not making right in the first place?

Can we stop talking about Alison Roman, please? Although truthfully, that might answer the question in the subject line -- "why are ethnic foods trendy?" Because people like Alison Roman, Chrissy Tiegen, Guy Fieri, and other "celebrity chefs" or "influencers" claiming to be chefs are cooking and talking about international cuisine (and yes, profiting off of it). This is actually a good thing though -- we should all be enjoying foods from other cultures. I don't think there's anything wrong with changing a dish so that your own family will enjoy it.

I stand by my assessment that I think OP is a white person who started this thread to stir up trouble, though.

[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.

Despite the fact that she actually traveled to India to study the cusiine!!

[Anonymous]

I love enjoying foods from other places and cultures as well as learning about them. The world, and my world personally, would be boring if stuck with only one. When for example Top Chef teaches me about a culture/food, since I recognize which one a PP referenced, I am interested and happy to learn. That said, I am lucky to manage to get nutritious and varied meals on the table to my family each day let alone prepare an essay on the history and origin of the dish/ingredients.

[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”.

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!!!

See, there is a lot of generational/cultural issues here. I'm of mixed minds here: as an Indian-American, I really appreciate "our" food being talked about and discussed so positively. When I was growing up, there were only a couple Indian restaurants and only Madhur Jeffrey. Now look at it! But, it kind of stings to see these beautiful popular women -- they kind who would mock the smells of my house when we were younger-- now getting fame and kudos for their cooking.

By contrast, my mother would roll her eyes at me if I told her what I wrote above. She'd tell me to be happy about how easy it is find these ingredients now. She would vehemently object to Allison Roman's food being called Indian or Indian-inspired, but would be delighted to try something with chickpeas and turmeric.

[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”.

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!!!

See, there is a lot of generational/cultural issues here. I'm of mixed minds here: as an Indian-American, I really appreciate "our" food being talked about and discussed so positively. When I was growing up, there were only a couple Indian restaurants and only Madhur Jeffrey. Now look at it! But, it kind of stings to see these beautiful popular women -- they kind who would mock the smells of my house when we were younger-- now getting fame and kudos for their cooking.

By contrast, my mother would roll her eyes at me if I told her what I wrote above. She'd tell me to be happy about how easy it is find these ingredients now. She would vehemently object to Allison Roman's food being called Indian or Indian-inspired, but would be delighted to try something with chickpeas and turmeric.

I don't think it's purely generational. My Indian immigrant mom probably doesn't care at all about this. My Indian immigrant dad definitely hates this kind of thing. That being said, I don't think that it's because the older generation doesn't care. I just think it's because they experienced so much racism when they first arrived, their expectations of mainstream American culture are very low. Us second generation kids grew up being told the US was a "melting pot" that welcomes immigrants and incorporates new cultures. But our experiences were/are much more complicated.

Now, I know that people will say how the US is far less racist than other countries...and maybe that's true. But that doesn't mean that there isn't racism here too...and we should aspire to eliminate it, not to pat ourselves on the back for being "less racist" than others.

[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, people complain because her food isn't "authentic," AND that she's not calling them by the traditional name of the food she's not making right in the first place?

When she acts like she invented dal yeah, many of us were rolling our eyes.