Me too. But to give you a polite and “moderator acceptable” version, I’ll just refer you back to my post yesterday (which you’ll find 9th one down).
Very well said. It is sad to think of something as universal as food being used as a tool of oppression, and as an American I must admit it would never have occurred to me to think of anyone doing so. While we obviously have our fair share of problems with racism, anti-immigrant sentiment and the like, no one here says no to a taco truck. Even small towns like the one I am from (99% white when I was growing up and not much more diverse now) have a reasonable variety of restaurant ethnicities available, even if they are partially or mostly staffed/run by white people.
1 Like
I think the abuse of (culinary) patriotism is similar to the abuse of the work nationalism. What is wrong with being proud of where you came from and where you are?
I’m a melting pot guy. My mother’s family goes back in the US at least two hundred fifty years to roots in England and Germany. My father’s parents came from what is now Ukraine. That piece of the family is Jewish and there is some culinary heritage there. I had what may be the only Jewish grandmother on the planet who couldn’t cook so I had to explore that on my own. My mother wasn’t much of a cook either and it isn’t as if the Catholics have anything to put up against matzo brei, or at least my matzo brei. My wife’s family is Italian and I dove into that in a serious effort to suck up to her family; my lasagna is now the preferred variety in the family. My late sister-in-law was Thai and I learned a great deal from her. I won’t bore you with personal connections to Tibet and Nepal. Other than putting butter in their tea they have some interesting contributions.
Perhaps it is the effort it took to learn to cook and the diversity of interest but I simply don’t see how the generic concept of culinary patriotism is bad. @Harters (John) can vouch for my interest in classic recipes for Branston pickle simply on the basis of a year spent working in the UK and falling in love with ploughman’s lunch. I’m proud of my lasagna and will not engage in discussions of ricotta v. bechamel that don’t recognize that tomatoes did not exist in Italy until the mid-sixteenth century. My breakfast comfort food gets a good reception despite not looking at all like what you would find in the villages of Ukraine or Belarus in the fading years of the 19th century. My Thai peanut sauce requires sitting on the floor with a huge mortar and pestle starting with peanuts. My yogurt is based on a recipe from a Tibetan Buddhist Rinpoche (I have neither a yak nor yak milk so had to take liberties). Momos. Kielbasa and sauerkraut with sauteed apples.
I consider all an exercise in culinary patriotism. I stand with John that those words should not be misused. This article denigrates a concept that instead deserves respect.
1 Like
Nicely put.
We should, perhaps, remind ourselves that we’re discussing the phrase “culinary patriotism”. It’s not a phrase used by the Italians in that article to describe themselves but, rather, a term coined by the American author of the article. Google will only find you a virtual handful of other mentions - this thread is the third Google hit - so it is hardly an established phrase in any context. It therefore comes with his perception of European food culture and that negativism is shared by some contributors to this thread.
A cheap eye-catching phrase to be sure - but one I’ve decided to include in my forum profile.
2 Likes
Because “food patriotism” is counter to what the idea of the United States is supposedly about, though that vision is becoming tattered.
I don’t have knowledge of my heritage beyond 140 years back or so, which only tells me about small town life on the plains.
Our family recipes are a hodgepodge of food that reflect that.
Sometimes I like being American precisely because it is an idea, a concept, and not a
weight holding us down.
2 Likes
Well…Americans. What can I say. Insert any random rant about media here and take it as given.
I’m not sure where you get that statement from. Are you suggesting that a Texan and a Tennessean in a bar in South Carolina discussing the merits of barbecue is unAmerican? That a Hispanic immigrant working in a commercial kitchen suggesting finely diced peppers instead of packaged red pepper flakes on a dish might be worthwhile is unAmerican? That a second generation German immigrant bringing bratwurst to a neighborhood backyard potluck, and showing his/her hosts that apple and caraway completely changes sauerkraut is unAmerican? That said German inviting their Korean neighbor over to compare 'kraut and Kim Chi is unAmerican? I suggest that these examples and many more are essentially American.
Let’s not forget Indian food in the UK that has taken on a life of its own, as Chinese has in the US.
Integration trumps (ha!) assimilation and we all gain. That is American food. Well - that and hot dogs and hamburgers.
No. But it might be if a participant in the conversation announced that barbecue is REAL American food and pizza is not, and therefore Culinary Patriots should avoid pizza because eating it would be culinarily unpatriotic.
2 Likes
I’ll go with Hell. Italian food is good, I can crush a pizza and twirl linguine just fine, but it’s so prevalent in the US that I don’t need to go to Italy for the food. Sure, there are endless regional specialties and slow food ways etc but I have certified VPN pizza a few miles from home. Also Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, burgers, bbq, hippie … I would get so bored eating only one cuisine, no matter how varied the pasta shapes are or how sweet the nonnas making them.
2 Likes
Thanks! That sums up what was thinking, but more succinctly.
Suppose the guy from Texas is first generation Mexican-American and the guy from Tennessee is second generation Vietnamese?
Move from state to state and region to region and there is little consistency in “American” food. Look at the menus of restaurants that identify as New American and consider the food history their. Jeepers, there are more vikings in Minnesota than in Norway; the eat lutefisk there.
A patriotic support for the cuisine of one’s forebears doesn’t mean you won’t eat anything else. The article originally cited, despite some unfortunate choices of phrasing, points out that Italians are indeed eating foods from other cultures.
You are trying to invent your own pleasant definition of the term used in the article, presumably so you can use it yourself and feel good about it. I think that’s a pretty useless exercise that doesn’t add much to the conversation.
1 Like
Folks, please! Focus on the food and try to stay civil. We all know how politically divisive our climate is these days, but do we really want that to carry over to a food forum? 
