pass this along

[kaigou]

A year (or two?) ago, there was a conversation online about the experience of growing up as an immigrant, with Mom's homefood for lunch and the reactions of (native-born, white) Americans to seeing the unfamiliar food. I cannot recall where that conversation occurred (community? someone's journal?) but if you do, pass along this link.

Is it Fair for Chefs to Cook Other Cultures’ Foods?, Francis Lam and Eddie Huang. Two immigrant sons hash out what it’s like to have your food shunned and celebrated in America

Some interesting, err, food for thought, in terms of how that childhood experience bears on the adult experience of two non-white American chefs/foodies and the question of -- when a non-American cuisine becomes 'popular' -- who has the right to cook it.

Comments

[ratoncito]

It amuses me to see what the yuppies are putting in their tacos (the idea of Asian Tacos is hilarious), but it doesn't particularly bother me. Growing up, we used corn tortillas to make taquitos out of all kinds of leftovers, including beanie weenies or fish sticks- sort of poor folks' fusion cuisine, I guess, because what we ate was a mix of our cultural heritage with what we were given at the food bank. I find it more annoying when people want me to go try some new restaurant and then ask me if I think it's authentic, because the only authentic I know might have a pig foot floating in it, or spam chunks in the pozole. In other words, Diana Kennedy may be an Brit, but I've learned more about Mexican regional food from her writing than I ever learned at home.

[dsgood]

There's a food truck in Minneapolis which sells pasties: brought to the Upper Midwest by Cornish miners, adopted by other miners, now a regional food and a Finnish-American food.

Among the pasties offered: Thai vegetable.