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1. In case you missed it… at Addicted to Race on 20 Oct 2006 at 2:15 pm

   […] Foods that aren’t really “ethnic:” Most of you probably know (I hope!) that fortune cookies are about as Chinese as as a Burger King Whopper. But there are a lot of other foods marketed as “ethnic” that actually aren’t at all. […]

Comments

1. Lyonside wrote:

   What a fun post (now I’m hungry..)!

   Some of these foods are definitely not very nutritious, which maybe should be a red flag for something “ethnic” possibly not being authentic - “traditional” foods tend to be higher in vitamins, protein, etc. because they were the foods that sustained populations over time.

   I wonder, though, where people draw the line between authentically traditional or not. The use of tomatoes and potatoes in Indian cooking always puzzles me, and my Indian friends consider it authentic because they’ve always eaten it….

   But aren’t tomatoes and potatoes “New World” plants, and would have only become a part of the Indian diet in the last 200-300 years, max?

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 10:37 am ¶

2. gatamala wrote:

   ditto on potatoes & tomatoes - the same goes for some chilis that may be used. I don’t think there is a line.

   As for the Navajo frybread, my Arizonan friend calls it Indian bread. We NCians call it elephant ears or funnel cake!!! The beef version sounds like a bastardized sopapilla or gordita (not the TB kind).

   I think everyone has not-so-healthy food - usually fried or very fatty - which are unfortunately yummy! The problem is when a culture changes: vehicle dependence (vs. walking), process foods/ frozen veggies being cheaper than fresh ones (WW2/shift from ag to urban?), slavery…

   I’ve always wanted to know if there is a culture that does NOT have a variant of fried dough/bread? Anyone?

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 12:22 pm ¶

3. Lyonside wrote:

   >I think everyone has not-so-healthy food - usually fried or very fatty - which are unfortunately yummy!

   I agree, since it can be an easy source of calories and fats in lean times/winter/drought. But I think the quality of fats changes with the times. I.e. there’s a difference between the leaner fat of wild game (say, used for pemmican), and the processed lard and corn oil (Crisco, for example) that was/is shipped to the reservations. Likewise, the changeover from cornmeal and wild grains to processed bleached white flour…

   The only “funnel cake” I know about is the PA Dutch variety, which is sickly sweet, deep-fried in oil, and covered w/ powdered sugar (mmmmm…) - I didn’t think frybread (or the NC stuff you call funnel cake) is that sweet.

   >I’ve always wanted to know if there is a culture that does NOT have a variant of fried dough/bread?

   I think it’s always existed, since the first hunter-gatherers pounded grain and baked bread in the same fire with a v. fatty haunch of meat.

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 1:17 pm ¶

4. Nike wrote:

   Mmm. I love frybread! But I’ve never heard it referred to as Navajo frybread. I thought it was just something from the rural area I grew up in, which was mainly settled by Europeans generations ago, and thus American food that may have been based on something European.

   And frybread and funnelcake are two different things. Frybread is usually a hunk of semi-sweet dough cut into smaller chunks and served with honey (I’ve never heard of it being served with powdered sugar before, or as a savory instead of a sweet), while funnel cake is really sweet dough poured through a funnel into oil so it can fry and then covered with powdered sugar.

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 3:26 pm ¶

5. Jeff Stevens wrote:

   What about McDonald’s “Asian Salad”? I mean his has fruit and stuff in it so it must be from that grand homogenous country of Asia.

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 4:42 pm ¶

6. tmk wrote:

   Great post!

   I was always wondering about the fortune cookies… it didn’t really seem like a Chinese concept.

   You know what else is not really “ethnic” at ethnic restaurants? Their decorations! Do people pay attention to the rather stereotypical and excessive ornamentations?

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 4:45 pm ¶

7. Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:

   Jeff, don’t forget the crunchy Oriental noodles! Clearly that’s the hallmark of Asian-ness.

   And the rest of you… why did you have to bring up funnelcake?!?! I have such a weakness for that stuff.

   Speaking of fried dough, one of my favorite Chinese treats is called you tiao in Mandarin or yau tza gwai in Cantonese. They’re fried dough sticks, in both sweet and savory varieties, served with congee. It’s sort of a breakfast thing, traditionally. Delicious but yeah, so bad for you.

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 5:21 pm ¶

8. Yori Kim wrote:

   I’m not chinese(Ya’ll know i’m mixed.), but i am partially asian, and so how come Whenever I go to a chinese food resterant i always get a fortune cookie-heh, must have gotten acusstomed to american idea’s.
   Also (not speaking of food.) the ‘ethnecicity(not sure if i spelt that right.)’ of the stereotype-aka all east asian’s at asian-food resterants have chinese accents no matter if what part of east asia-;. :.

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 5:40 pm ¶

9. merq wrote:

   “What about McDonald’s “Asian Salad”? I mean his has fruit and stuff in it so it must be from that grand homogenous country of Asia. “

   Dammit, that shit bothers me soooo much!

   Posted 20 Oct 2006 at 8:20 pm ¶

10. Yori Kim wrote:

    i agree with you merq, it bothers the shit out of me too…………….ugh! why is it even considered an asian salad- it’s like putting pepporoni peices on a salad and saying it’s italian-ugh!

    Posted 21 Oct 2006 at 11:21 am ¶

11. ESP wrote:

    What about burritos? NOT Mexican!

    Posted 22 Oct 2006 at 12:40 am ¶

12. Lisa wrote:

    This article isn’t very well researched. While correct about the fortune cookies, it’s wrong about Chow Mein. Chao Mian 炒面 is a very common and popular dish in China, is usually eaten as street or fast food. The version you’ll get of it at American restaurants won’t taste much like real Chao Mian, but that’s true of pretty much everything on the menu. Chinese-American cuisine is very distinct from “authentic” Chinese food.

    Can you believe they left out Chop Suey?!

    Posted 22 Oct 2006 at 1:56 am ¶

13. Lisa wrote:

    Oops, I should have read the original article first. I see it refers to the deep fried stuff. Which is definitely not Chinese, although there is a kind of deep fried sesame noodle snack it resembles a bit. I think that kind of American chow mein is made from fen (thin noodles), not the thicker mian, so double the misnomer.

    I love the global reinventions of Chinese food. Go to a “Chifa” in South America for their saltado, another version of fried noodles unlike anything in China.

    Posted 22 Oct 2006 at 2:07 am ¶

14. Paul D Ward wrote:

    I love Chicken Tikka Masala. I don’t care if it’s fake or not. If it tastes good, I’m gonna eat it!

    Posted 22 Oct 2006 at 5:24 pm ¶

15. Jeremy Pierce wrote:

    If something comes from Chinese Americans, does it seem correct to say that it’s not an ethnic food just because it’s not something they eat in China? It may be correct to say that it’s not a Chinese food when you mean nationally Chinese, but it is an ethnic food in any sense of that term that I understand. Similarly, American versions of pizza are nothing like what they eat in Italy and call pizza, but they are Italian ethnically, since they come from Italian Americans. I think it’s important to distinguish between ethnicity and nationality, so I’m not just trying to be picky here.

    Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 9:29 am ¶

16. Jennifer wrote:

    Very interesting post! To build on Jeremy’s comments, it is common that ethnic foods have evolved after people immigrated to the U.S. Immigrants would have difficulty obtaining the same ingredients they had in their own country - the old world - so they had to adapt their recipes to reflect what ingredients they could obtain here in the new world. These modifications then were passed down to their children, and so forth. At least, that’s what I understand to be the evolution of “Italian-American” cuisine.

    Of course, we can now, with the easy availability of so many international ingredients, go back and cook the “authentic” foods of that country.

    Posted 04 Dec 2006 at 12:07 pm ¶

17. Jen wrote:

    Chicken tikka isn’t fake… as far as I know, bengali restauranters in the UK created it. everyone thinks of a recipe at some point, how does that make it fake? yeah, it was made in the UK by british bengalis… that doesn’t make it totally not indian. it’s just ALSO british. I don’t know, maybe I’m just not thinking clearly. but the way you say it sounds as if mcd’s put it out.

    my mom comes out with new recipes every day and she is a south indian woman living in the U.S…. but her recipes aren’t exactly “all american”, and most people would in fact call her food Indian. But I’m just pointing out semantics now

    as far as foods like tomatoes/potatoes, yes, they are “new world” crops, but then you could just as easily say that fish and chips was not british because the british got the chips from the new world. it’s not necessarily always where the vegetable/fruit/crop is from, but also how you cook it.

    Posted 21 Jun 2007 at 5:49 pm ¶

18. Kerry wrote:

    Fun post, however, the origin of the fortune cookie is widely regarded as Japanese. The original cookie was made of a slightly different dough and the fortune was “pinched” in the cookie’s fold rather than placed inside. I still haven’t been able to find out how it came to be regarded as a Chinese thing in the US though…

    Posted 07 Jul 2008 at 3:19 pm ¶

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