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

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Korean PP here..

I can make korean zuchinni pancake, jjangaji, and kalbi marindade (not nearly as good as my mom's though), and kimchee jigaee, too.

Would love to have a Korean food potluck. My mouth is now starting to water.

My marinade is really good - recipe came from a Korean American co-worker, who told me the secret is the pear (which can be tough to find). He focused on the science of it (the enzyme that tenderizes the beef) rather than the traditions behind it. I'll have to go tell him he did me a disservice.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Korean PP here..

I can make korean zuchinni pancake, jjangaji, and kalbi marindade (not nearly as good as my mom's though), and kimchee jigaee, too.

Would love to have a Korean food potluck. My mouth is now starting to water.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Korean PP here..

I can make korean zuchinni pancake, jjangaji, and kalbi marindade (not nearly as good as my mom's though), and kimchee jigaee, too.

Would love to have a Korean food potluck. My mouth is now starting to water.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

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 wrote:

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.

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!