Why are ethnic foods trendy now?

[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”.

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.

or maybe she knew that most of her followers wouldn't like "ethnic' cuisine, but if you package it as a new American cuisine, then they would accept it, which is also ignorance at play.

[Anonymous]

Some people need to find some actual problems.

Globalization, urbanization and human migration patterns to the US have lead to a country that's more diverse than it was in the 80s. When I was growing up you couldn't even buy a mango and Snapple Mango iced tea was considered "out there" -- I'm 37 but grew up in a red state. I remember, as a teenager, the first time I was exposed to avocado. Now, in my home city you can buy all sorts of things from Amazon (or other places) as well as locally.

And thank heavens for that. If some white ladies are making pad thai instead of whatever nasty jello mold would have been popular in 1975, I am all for it. Some "American" food tastes good. Some uber authentic Chinese food tastes good, and some Americanized Chinese take out also tastes good. Call it what it is, don't pretend to reinvent the wheel when you cook a curry, and like what you like. Instagramers are annoying regardless of what they're "selling" so I hear you on that but I don't think that's about the food.

But as far as "ethnic" food being trendy -- come on now. Your average white suburban housewife has been ordering takeout made by people who came from other countries for decades at this point -- Mexican food served in the US doesn't resemble what it looked like in 1995, even at most Chinese restaurants they have both a "Chinese" list and an "American Chinese" list, and depending on where you live there's at least one major group of immigrants who have brought their cuisine into the local community (DC has had it's Ethiopian food for a loooong time).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
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

Pp I agree with what you’ve written. I guess I was thinking about this from the perspective of a home cook who in no way monetizes their cooking or tries to take ownership of the recipes. I think it’s great for people to expand on their cooking skills. I also do see how it would be deeply troubling to watch people who made fun of your family’s cooking growing up present themselves as an authority on that same food as an adult.

Yeah. I have no idea what OP's thing is. I just wanted to provide some broader context about why some of these discussions are happening.

I agree that home cooks aren't really the issue.

DP here. I agree with both of you. And I'd like to recommend the Netflix series High on the Hog, about the African American roots of American food. It's a truly lovely docuseries - beautifully produced, emotionally touching, and celebratory of food and people.

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an Italian I am deeply offended that pizza is cooked all around the world using pineapple as a topping. Don’t even get me started with chicken fettucine alfredo and carbonata with heavy cream.. (insert eye roll emoji here..)

Wah, wah, they’re not being authentic, wah, wah.

[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”.

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.

It was hilarious to see Roman pretending she didn’t know what dal was and behaving like she was learning something new. I’ve ignored ever her since she dissed Marie Kondo and only saw this because some Indian food bloggers I follow on Insta pointed it out. She’s clearly a competent cook and has a successful paid newsletter so I don’t know why she would do this.

[Anonymous]

I’m an immigrant. I would love if more people enjoyed my country’s food so I would have more options in this area. Come on rich white people, Brazilian food is good. Get to it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Maybe your traditional Thanksgiving food was originally inspired by soul food, but that is not universally true since we all actually eat quite different things on Thanksgiving. Except turkey, you would barely recognize the Eastern European food at my mom’s Thanksgiving or the Italian food at my mother-in-laws.

[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”.

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.

[Anonymous]

Here's the original "gentle lentils" newsletter by Alison Roman. You REALLY have to just have it out for her to be offended by it. She's specifically talking about a recipe for people recovering from surgery, not creating a new name for "dal." her question about terminology was whether "dal" is the name for both the legume and the stew made out of the legume.

https://anewsletter.alisoneroman.com/p/gentle-lentils

[Anonymous]

People can cook whatever they want with whatever spices they want. Are you trying to say white people aren’t allowed to cook anything outside of Taste of Home, Paula Dean, Joy of Cooking, Betty Crocker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
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

Pp I agree with what you’ve written. I guess I was thinking about this from the perspective of a home cook who in no way monetizes their cooking or tries to take ownership of the recipes. I think it’s great for people to expand on their cooking skills. I also do see how it would be deeply troubling to watch people who made fun of your family’s cooking growing up present themselves as an authority on that same food as an adult.

Yeah. I have no idea what OP's thing is. I just wanted to provide some broader context about why some of these discussions are happening.

I agree that home cooks aren't really the issue.

DP here. I agree with both of you. And I'd like to recommend the Netflix series High on the Hog, about the African American roots of American food. It's a truly lovely docuseries - beautifully produced, emotionally touching, and celebratory of food and people.

NP, but agree with this thread and thank you for the rec! That sounds fascinating!

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Some people need to expose themselves to other cultures more or at least other types of food other than your standard burgers, pb&j and what else? bean casseroles?
I do not see an "ethnic person" eating pb&j over other real food as interesting.

[Anonymous]

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”.

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.

Don’t act dumb. She only “apologized” once people told her it was inappropriate. Looks like you do the same as her.

You would like people to apologize *before* they are informed they did something inappropriate? Or you expect them to never make a mistake?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be impressed if a white person could cook good Korean food. Then, I'd ask to be invited over for dinner.

-Korean American

I can prepare two excellent Korean dishes (though neither requires a great deal of culinary expertise): Kimch Jjigae (just need to get gook kinchi) and I make a delicious marinade for beef (I use flank steak). When should I expect you? As compensation, I'd like you to teach me two more Korean Dishes.