Same here. Grew up in a metropolitan area, and growing up in an ethnic family, I was always exposed to a lot of foods. The downside is my taste buds get bored easily, and I can sound whiny when I complain about my terrible first-world problems like having to eat the same thing two nights in a row.
I never thought about this much until I visited a little, little town in OH a few hours from Indianapolis and Chicago - it was smack dab in the middle of farm country. Outside of 2-3 chain restaurants nearby and maybe a local pizza/hamburger joint, there was nothing else, except your local Walmart and grocery store. I had fun visiting them, but I don’t think I would have lasted beyond the 3 days I stayed due to the food.
I did something wrong in a former life and have been sentenced to a culinary wasteland.
There is one Vietnamese, one Indian, one sushi and 5 horrible Chinese restaurants in my area. In addition there area a couple of Greek restaurants and then the rest are chain restaurants.
I reserve eating out for travelling with the exception of the occasional pizza.
Um, are you aware that we eat things other than beef here in Texas? That’s such a stuck in the 1950’s PR about us. You want to become really spoiled - and maybe more educated - on the subject of culinary cultures and diversity, may I suggest that you visit Texas? And not the set where they shot “Dallas”?
I agreed with you. However, yesterday I realized something while I was driving. There are several counter-examples. Here is one example. I consider where I live (New Jersey) has rather poor Mexican food. Yet, there are plenty Mexican immigrants, so much so that if you look behind a Chinese restaurant kitchen or a Italian restaurant kitchen, you will likely see 50% Mexican as the line cooks. So the significant number of Mexican immigrants do not seem to translate a huge number of Mexican restaurants in my area.
Another example, Japanese restaurants. There are plenty Japanese restaurants around, yet most of they are operated by Chinese or Korean (as opposed to Japanese), so it seems the number of Japanese restaurants correlates with Chinese/Korean immigrants instead of Japanese.
I know people eat more than just steak in Texas, and I have been in Texas a few times before. Twice this year. In fact, I just arrived San Antonio, Texas today.
I think either you are being funny and I don’t get your joke, or you have completely missed my point.
If I had written: “I just came back from Japan in a 10 days trip. Let’s try something beside sushi”, I bet zero Japanese get offended. Of course, Japanese do not just eat sushi. In fact, sushi is not something most Japanese eat on a daily basis. However, the statement can be interrupted that I had some of the best sushi in the world, and if you treat me to sushi in US, then I will likely get disappointed.
"Everytime I came back from SF or Toronto eating their Dim Sum, I tried
to avoid Dim Sum in the east coast for awhile because they just don’t
taste as good – in my humble opinion.
some of this also has to do with what immigrants are able or wish to do when they get to their new homeland.
in boston, most sushi places are also owned by chinese but their chinese-born chefs have trained in japan. we have a very small japanese immigrant population and most of them work in tech. they’re urban and educated, unlike a lot of rural migrants from elsewhere, with poor english – who are more likely to have low-skill jobs like dishwasher.
Well Chem we have those also. & (relatively) cheap gas prices because of it. But if you get off the Turnpike there’s a lot more in NJ than what you see from the expressway. Drop by sometime & I’ll be more than happy to take you around to some really terrific farms. & I’m in sort of the middle of the state. Down south there’s even more.
We have a wholesale food business & almost all of our produce comes from our county & two adjacent counties.
Agreed…In my glacial slow migration further southward {NYC,Jersey city,East Brunswick,Monroe} I’ve come to love the diverse food culture and consider the turnpike my conduit to great food destinations in Jersey from Cuban and Peruvian in West New York,Japanese and Korean in Edgewater and Fort Lee, Filipino and West Indian in JC,Portuguese and Brazilian in Newark,South Asian and Chinese in Edison,Mexican in Lakewood and Tom’s river…The thing is everything is right here if you’re willing to explore and travel and the Pike is the conduit.
The wife and I love the fact that withing an hour’s drive we can dine in one of the greatest restaurant cities in the world as well as the burgeoning food scene that Philly is becoming.
I’ve been thinking lately about the up- and downsides of diversity. The upsides are plenty and obvious: tons of choice, exciting flavors, novelty. I wonder also, though, if there’s a natural balance in regional cuisine that goes missing when you have lots of choice, and many of those choices are the tasty bits rather than, say, the “boring” (I don’t mean really boring, but comparatively unspectacular) everyday dishes (for example, “Italian” meaning a pizza versus a vegetable/bean stew).
This came to mind because I had family friends visiting from Madrid; they ate, let’s say, 99% traditional Spanish food when at home. They were surprised by the diversity of food we ate when they were visiting in California – let’s say, Vietnamese one night, Indian the next, Mexican next. On the other hand, when I visit them, I’m always surprised by the codification of food rules (“We don’t really eat X dish in the afternoon”) which I don’t think I have as much, as an American.
Living in London I was very spoiled. Having been in India for over 3 months now I realise how spoiled. Getting a bit fed up of the food now as there is only really Nepalese momos or bad versions of Chinese food outside Indian dishes. There is some variation between North and South India but there are North Indian restaurants in the South and vice versa so it all feels a bit homogenized. I did manage to have chicken schnitzel and chips the other day and it was a very welcome change.
I originally signed on to Chowhound just to talk about all of the terrific mom-and-pops in the immediate area of my home. Within a couple of miles, I have an incredible array of choices in cuisines and price points. And I live pretty far from the center of town.
Within minutes of my front door I can be eating Bosnian, TexMex, MexMex, Gulf Mex, pho, crawfish, etc., etc., etc.
If I’m willing to travel fifteen or twenty minutes, there’s not very much that you could request and that I couldn’t find. Give me a restaurant full of people, speaking Bosnian, (or Portuguese or Malay), twenty minutes from my pillow and I’m a happy guy!
That goes for groceries also, not just restaurants. I have great choices in grocery shopping and usually hit multiple stores in a week.
Yeah, I think once you’re used to a certain level of selection, it’s hard to turn back.
I read that New York Times Magazine article on “Blue Zones” – the areas in the world where people have the longest lives, and was struck by the amount of sameness in the day to day diet of the groups they studied. Of course, there are seasonal changes to what’s available and also occasional feast days, but there was an overwhelming routine to the diet that probably leads to their health outcomes.
Me, I think I’d love the Ikarian diet of goat milk, legumes, dandelion greens, homemade bread – then after about two weeks, I’d kill for a curry.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
25
Agreed, Chem.
In the UK, we had fairly significant Jewish immigration to certain urban areas around the late 19th/early 20th century. In the 1960s, there was fairly significant Caribbean immigration. Neither community made much impact on British food and the British restaurant business. Then along came the Chinese and South Asians - and both did. Now we have significant immigration from Eastern Europe which, as yet, is not impacting on restaurants - probably because these folk do not see themselves as permanent settlers here. Maybe when numbers of them do stay, then we’ll see Polish restaurants.
It is interesting how the type of diversity depends on location.
Countries like India a still quite singular in the food but you do see it changing. Top restaurants for the rich are Italian or Japanese in the top hotels, whilst western style fast food is pretty strong in the middle class malls. The same is true in China, Japan and the rest of Asia. Maybe Japan is an interesting example of where Asian/Indian food diversity is heading.
I have lived in quite a few countries and none of them are the same. Access to ingredients is far from uniform. Even tying to cook English classics in France was far from simple with regular shops just not stocking some of the ingredients, let alone trying to source fresh Thai or Indian ingredients.
Every country has its own diversity in food, as Harters said often based on immigration, but now probably based on TV and film, and travel. We see so much more, we travel so much more, and we want to taste what we see and experience whilst on holiday.
I read the book - it was interesting but it is impossible for me to project myself into any of those lifestyles only to synthesize the variety into my own but that is not exactly how it works I think - perhaps the simplicity of the limited choices - which also equals limited stress plays a part in the longevity. Definitely as an American urbanite I have been conditioned to expect variety and choice in just about all life decisions - choice is great but also creates stress.
You raise some thought provoking points for me, here.
With respect to Jewish immigration, there are arguments that fish and chips was brought in the Portuguese Jews, iirc. Some elements may come in in different ways, or perhaps are so embedded and more familiar that they don’t resonate so much.
I’m also thinking about what you wrote about Polish restaurants. This is interesting, but it also makes me wonder how successfully such a thing could appeal outside a community. Or seem worth the expense. As such, a restaurant may not be the best investment.
So what do you make of Polish shops? There are many in my neighbourhood and filled with prepared foods and imported goods. What does this say to you about longevity? (I’m genuinely asking what you reckon.)
I enjoy the diversity a lot, but in a different way than mentioned here. I like to cook in phases. So all food from the Spain cookbook for a week. Then the Turkey cookbook for two weeks. Thai cookbook for a month. I sort of feel like I’m immersing myself that way. I know, it’s weird. Growing up eating only Pakistani food, I had to work really hard to retrain myself to enjoy simple food. Now when it’s mid-summer and farmer’s market produce is great, I’ll go a month eating just tomato-mayo-bread sandwiches, steamed corn, slaw, etc.
Mail order and gardening really help. In Baltimore, some things I have to order or grow myself. Until a few years ago, I couldn’t easily purchase Kaffir lime leaves or galangal in Baltimore. But the situation is improving very rapidly. Now we even have umeboshi plums.
You’re Punjabi, right? (Sorry, if I am mistaking you for someone else on the board.) If so, then that’s probably the reason. A North Indian aunty always tells us, “You Punjabi people cook everything the exact same way.”
Same here. I wish I had the skill to write my thoughts on the subject.
Also, for me, about 5 years ago was the pinnacle of the perfect balance between diversity and consistency. Presently I’m of the opinion that if you really love a food, learn to make it at home. Right now, I can’t even find a consistently good Pad Thai in all of Baltimore. I have to make it at home. Also, this city is growing like crazy, so a 20 minute trip a couple years ago, is more than half an hour now. And with a 35% chance of getting stuck behind construction, it’s difficult to be forgiving on consistency. Even our last two visits to Sripraphai in Queens were just okay. One day I’ll learn to make the crispy catfish at home.
Just some raw, random thoughts I wanted to throw out there.
