Every culture takes/mixes foods from other cultures and makes it their own. I think the difference with the US is that there isn’t an ancient history to form a basis.
2 North American 4 you has been created
Submitted 3 weeks ago by FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works to [deleted]
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Comments
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Every culture takes/mixes foods from other cultures and makes it their own.
Perhaps more importantly, every generation remixes their parents’ and grandparents’ food.
French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Mexican food aren’t the same as they were 50 years ago. Lots of new dishes were invented and remixed, sometimes from imported influence. It’s not like chefs sit around and refuse to do anything different from how they learned. They do invent and innovate and tweak recipes. That’s, like, the job.
ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
That is an interesting point and I want to add three cents to it.
Sometimes diasporas preserve the original recipes better than the country of origin. An example of it are some Polish dishes that were preserved closer to the original than in Poland, because when Poland was under USSR occupation there were severe food shortages and some recipes had to evolve or were literally forgotten.
(IIRC that was just a few cakes and pastries, but hey, it still happened!)
BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
way to brush off thousands of year of native american dishes :/
Urist@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
In significant swathes of the US the natives were more or less successfully exterminated so there’s no clear cultural line from ancient natives to the people living there today.
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Stop it, you know what I mean. I’m talking European colonials which formed the basis for the modern US, even if it shouldn’t be that way. They stole Native American food too. The combination of these things formed the basis of “American” cuisine, but it wasn’t long ago in a historical sense.
MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
Most of what constitutes “traditional” American cuisine is broadly based on European traditions, with British, French, Italian, and German influences being the most dominant. Though many of the recipes have changed and evolved over time, you can still see the influences pretty clearly.
Take the classic Thanksgiving dinner, for instance: although many of the ingredients (such as sweet potatoes and turkey) were unknown in Europe, the way they are prepared is still very similar to how Europeans prepare traditional holiday roasts.
Also, a “proper” meal generally consists of a chunk of meat, veggies, and carbs, usually all prepared separately, or sometimes as a casserole or a stew. Stir-frying is not that common, for instance, but frying, roasting and baking is. If you look into the history of any particular American dish, its roots can often be traced back to the exact wave of immigration that went on to popularize it.
Depending on the region, however, you may also find Native American influences, such as Creole, Cajun, Tex-Mex, etc.
Goatboy@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
I’m glad someone brought up Native American influence. It’s more widespread in American food than people realize.
altphoto@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
Ketchup as close as we know it comes from the Philippines right? So there goes that whole thing.
frog@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Yes. I view Chinese American food as American food. Sweet General Tso’s Chicken, orange chicken, fortune cookies, crab rangoons, etc. Basically anything they overly sweetened.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Which I see as a positive
fell@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
My wife is Australian, but we live in Germany now. Last year, she was craving “Honey Chicken” which is ubiquitous at chinese takeaway places in Australia. None of the chinese places in Germany knew what I was talking about. Turns out Honey Chicken is a purely Australian invention.
frog@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Sounds good! Is it close to orange chicken or General Tso’s chicken in the USA?
dariusj18@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
We have honey chicken commonly in the US too. It is essentially orange chicken without the orange flavor/color.
TheRealKuni@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Sounds delicious though.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Fuck all of you. Go to New Orleans in a week when crawfish season starts and eat some mud bugs, some blackened redfish, jambalaya, gumbo, cajun crawfish etouffee, etc. Best food in the world.
doingthestuff@lemy.lol 2 weeks ago
That’s a no for me. Although I do make a version of jambalaya with no seafood and extra spicy. I love the heat and the seasonings but I’ll pass on crawfish, shrimp and anything else that filters shit as a food source.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
So you won’t have vegetables either then
ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Out of all the dishes you mentioned, only Gumbo is a uniquely USA dish.
Jambalaya is an African recipe with an ingredient change to match what was available.
Mudbugs are eaten everywhere where they are present, and I personally think that Polis Zupa Rakowa is the best usage of that ingredient. If were talking about the mudbug boil, every cousine I know of that has access to them have similar recipe.
Blackened redfish is uhhh… Hot pan with spices to pretend its grilled (ingenious, but not a unique dish foodrepublic.com/…/origin-why-redfish-banned/)
Crawfish etouffee - huh, I think its also like a prooer unique dish. The cooking method and igredients seem to be unique enough that its visibly distinct from any other similar dish.
Courtbullion on the other hand is too similar to French one that I would call it a variation of it, instead of an unique invention
(Does that make sense? I’m not trying to diminish other foods but to showcase how unique Gumbo and etouffe are)
maplesaga@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
What else is there to do there?
LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
When I think of New Orleans I think of Mardi Gras where I can flash my tiddies and earn colorful shiny strings of beads. But imagine my surprise when I realized I could buy colorful shiny beads at the Dollar Tree and not even have to travel to Louisiana and expose myself.
Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Jazz!
rustyj@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They told you all the best stuff honestly. If you’re into alcohol you’ll have no trouble finding it. Amazing city though. The food culture there is incredible.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Uhhh. What else is there to do In NOLA? You absolutely have to go if you’ve never been. Just take Ubers and reasearch where you go stay. There is soooo much to do! It’s literally the funnest place to be, even if you hate Mardi Gras or the French Quarter. There is just all kind of stuff to do. Art, crab fishing, deep sea fishing, see alligators, voodoo shops, more drinking and partying than anywhere else, giant aquarium, Decandence and Pride parades for lgbt, naked bike rides, giant parades for St Patrick’s day, voodoo fest with lots of bands, Jazz fest, festivals and parades for random shit if they run out of excuses, daiquiris beers and hello shots available in drive thru, vampire balls, vampire bars, PRI football games, pro basketball games, cemetery tours, ferry to cute East bank or whatever, French market in quarter, walk around French quarter and party, take railcar to Irish are and party, go to beach 25 min away, etc.
Ha ha. Holy shit, what is there to do in NOLA?
Retail4068@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
America has, by a long shot, the most diverse and some of the best food on the plant. Go to one of the big three and you can have 3 star Michellin from every continent or some of the best street meat shit you’ll have on the same day.
b_tr3e@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
America certainly has the most diverse kitchen because it’s a whole fucking continent. It has grasslands, mountains, coasts, lakes, everything and each microclimate you could imagine. I doubt, OTOH, that you’ve ever seen a Michelin rated restaurant from the inside.
Retail4068@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
👌
Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I’ve been to one and two star places, never three stars (some day…). America has incredible food if you know what to look for. Some of the best Korean, Chinese, and Indian I’ve had in particular. It’s also a giant country with many immigrants, so it’s kinda obvious that it has good food. And southern food is great too.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
meanwhile everyone in the world, who traveled to the US, will tell you that even the produce has no flavor.
US food is objectively terrible compared to other nations.
DagwoodIII@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
USA is big. Like, really, really big.
The food you get in New York City and Waco, Texas don’t have a lot in common.
Retail4068@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
👌👍 /r/IamveryCulinary
Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
This depends. In my experience anything processed tastes horrible because of chemical and sugar overload. But you can get great ingredients! Much better than here in Germany anyway.
And there are many more diverse great restaurants than in most places in Germany, ngl. In the US, you can go to any small town and find a great homemade style Korean place, or something like that. No such luck in Germany, they’ll serve you 14€ frozen pizza.
(In my experience anyway. These are large countries, so none of this is rule, just personal experience)
The winner is no questions Italy, though. Best pizza I ever had was in 8€ in an Italian town with ~5000 inhabitants. Unbelievable. Only good restaurant there, though, but I’ll never forget the experience.
Pudutr0n@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Umm… it’s not mexican, chinese or italian but also american food doesn’t exist?
I can’t tell if this was the joke or the meme just wants to shit on americans for stealing and mangling everyone’s food…
Also, jalapeño poppers.
NateNate60@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I think the joke is that Americans like to adopt foods or cooking techniques from other cultures, then change them to fit local tastes. This is how a lot of “traditional American” foods came to be. There is also a stereotype that American cultural practices (gastronomy included) is “not real” or doesn’t exist because it comes as a fusion of cultural practices innotjer countries. The meme is poking fun at people who may hold this belief.
People also have a habit of describing the American versions of things to be “not real”, even if it never really claims to be. For example, fettuccine Alfredo in the US is an adaptation of fettuccini al burro (a real Italian dish), but is described as “not real Italian food” because it isn’t actually eaten in Italy. Or that orange chicken is “not real Chinese food” because it isn’t eaten in China. Which, to be fair, is true, but most American diners are aware that Panda Express, Olive Garden, and Taco Bell aren’t accurate representations of food eaten in China, Italy, or Mexico. They’re Americanised versions of food inspired by Chinese, Italian, and Mexican cuisine.
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
Notably, Americans are not the only culture that does this.
There’s a Thai dish called ‘American Fried Rice’ for instance.
American fried rice is a Thai fried rice dish with “American” side ingredients like fried chicken, ham, sausages, raisins, and ketchup.[1] Other ingredients like pineapples and croutons are optional.
At least in any part of America I’ve been to, this is certainly not something you can get here.
aeronmelon@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
If Olive Garden isn’t real, then why are their breadsticks pure joy? :)
zaphod@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Americans like to adopt foods or cooking techniques from other cultures
It’s not “americans” (as in people whose families have lived there for a few generations), it’s immigrants who brought their culture and then adapted it to the locals. You can find this in almost every country.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
All these dishes are Americanized versions of dishes that came from the other countries.
FreshLight@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I was looking for this. Glad I’m not alone.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I’m a white boy but in highschool my best friend was 1st-generation Chinese-American.
His parents owned a Chinese restaurant that I worked at…Americanized Chinese, like everyone in America is used to.
While I worked there his parents also opened up an authentic Chinese restaurant.
Most of the stuff on the menu, Americans would ball at. There were dead ducks and pigs hanging in the window.
But I tried cow tongue there for the first time. It was amazing. And something else with white sauce I don’t remember what it was but it was so damn good.
I had a falling out with him, and the parents lost their restaurants in COVID.
DagwoodIII@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
[off topic?]
Great classic mystery novel, “Too Many Cooks” by Rex Stout. Nero Wolfe is a 300 pound private detective who hates leaving his Manhattan brownstone. He investigates from his armchair, sending his assistant Archie Goodwin to round up clues and bring him folks to interrogate.
Wolfe is a famous gourmand and is invited to give a speech on American food to a group of European chefs.
Interesting novel on many levels.
Burninator05@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That wasn’t the Too Many Cooks I was aware of.
DagwoodIII@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Since the novel was written circa 1935 the estate could sue the producers.
dalekcaan@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
I feel like if you know what typical American breakfast foods are, “breakfast taco” is pretty self-explanatory.
gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How do you get the energy drink and nutrition supplements to stay in the taco
TheRealKuni@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Also, the Taco Bell Breakfast Crunchwrap, steak, with extra creamy jalapeño sauce, is perhaps the greatest fast food breakfast item of all time.
Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
First they say ‘that is not our food’.
Then the say ‘all you do is eat our food’.
Make up your minds.IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
if I plagirise a novel and change things so it is terrible, I still both copied your novel AND said novel isn’t a representation of your work.
kboos1@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
But if I take you novel as inspiration and created a new novel then I’m not eating your novel
DagwoodIII@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
“Exit To Eden” has entered the chat.
The novel, “Exit To Eden” by Anne Rice [aka Ann Rampling] was a pornographic romance that was turned into a very bad movie that added a lot of nonsense for no reason.
9point6@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Tbf the kind of cultural fusion cuisine you get when another culture successfully imports another culture’s cuisine, is super interesting to me. I’d say this stands separately from intentional fusion restaurants, this is more something that happens organically as a cuisine is adapted to the ingredients and tastes somewhere away from where it is invented.
The classic examples are Tex-mex and British curries, but every country has a few things like this. Japanese Italian is a pretty cool experience, not least of all because now I think about it there’s some places that are straight up Japanese/Italian cultural fusion, but others are more Japanese/Italian-American, so this thing can go deeper.
Always been a fan of trying local cuisine when I’ve travelled, but I’ve more recently been trying to add places like the above into the mix, as it’s genuinely always been interesting to me
saturn57@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
Why are all nationalities chads except the Italian is a soyjak?
gray@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
For obvious reasons
RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 3 weeks ago
I think it should be pretty obvious.
arcine@jlai.lu 2 weeks ago
Maybe “American Food” should stop pretending to be from somewhere else, then we would respect (some of) it.
daychilde@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I respect all food that’s good. I wish everyone else did.
Food transcends borders, evolves, changes, gets better. Embrace it and love it.
Love Italian food with its tomatoes? Tomatoes are surprisingly recent in Italy.
A whole lot of foods we enjoy just evolved from different cultures meeting and getting better.
A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 2 weeks ago
Plain hotdog and Cheeseburger, are staple american foods lol.
And deep fried butter.
You guys have your own cuisine, it’s just a lame one.
lovely_reader@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I wonder where this idea originates. As an American, I genuinely don’t know of any restaurant that serves any of this (although I suppose you could special order “plain” things most anywhere in the world). I can’t begin to guess what people eat in the privacy of their own kitchens, but no one I know serves themselves these foods, either. I will say I’ve heard the same lore of “deep fried butter” existing at Midwestern fairs somewhere, but again, I’ve never encountered such a thing irl.
ranzispa@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
Came from Italy and to be fair I didn’t try too much American food, I guess some corn meal and pancakes, meat was really good; but the real greatest thing I found in the US is the HUGE sandwiches they make in the Publix supermarket. Great stuff, loved it.
ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I’ve been thinking of it, and I can only name 3 dishes that were uniquely created in the USA (so no General Tsao Chicken) that were not and old recipe with a changed ingredient because it’s hard to get the originsl (so no Jambalaya):
Gumbo.
Pumkin pie.
Buffalo wings (but I’m not sure if this can be called a dish, as its so simple its more like a snack, and its fast food).
If someone can think of more, please advise - I’m extremely curious.
robocall@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
“You don’t make authentic recipes from our country”
“You keep making our recipes”
I’m confused.
rumba@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
My favorite part was Rick and Morty calling it out as sugar chicken.
thatradomguy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
Idk man fusion kitchens are the best and maybe the only good thing to come out of colonialism. Indonesian-Dutch food slaps. Vietnamiese-French cuisine kicks my ass. Must I bring up Italian coffee or Swiss chocolate? Turkish-German Döner is so popular it is sold basically everywhere now.
All three foods in the meme are delicious
NateNate60@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Well, colonialism did bring tomatoes and potatoes to Europe.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
said cultural exchange happens without colonialism. look at sweet potatoes.
that’s like saying well, without rape, there wouldn’t be rape babies, and implying that we should thank rapist for their lives.
gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Well, there’s also a pretty good music that jazz doesn’t happen the way it did without putting European instruments in the hands of formerly enslaved Africans. Would be a lot cooler world if we could figure out how to evolve our art and culture without crimes against humanity, tho.
Wrufieotnak@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
I want to protest the Döner one. Other countries sell something they call Döner, but the similarity is superficial at best to a real one. It’s a fun little thing I do on vacation in other European countries: try to find a “Döner” and see what travesty they give me
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I miss German döner so much. It’s just not right elsewhere, and I can’t understand why.
PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
Yeah I feel you. The Belgian dürüm variety is actually quite good, if very different. Fries in there and a crazy sauce selection absolutely slaps.
MutantTailThing@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Babi pangang up in this motherfucker
PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
You telling me a Foe Yong’d this Hai?
arudesalad@piefed.ca 3 weeks ago
And every brit is legally required to bring up chicken tikka masala when talking about fusion food.
jballs@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I fucking wish. I lived in France 20+ years ago and loved the stuff. Came back to the US and have been waiting to see a good Döner kebab for over 2 decades now.
PrincessTardigrade@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In the states, is döner kebab basically the same as gyro or shawarma?
TipRing@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I had tex-mex / Indian fusion once and it was surprisingly good.