I grew up in an all American town, and I loved it. It was the kind of place where comfort food ruled the day. When we wanted food that was more “ethnic” for a change, we went to the Wong Family Chinese joint, ordered the Poo Poo platter and maybe a few spring rolls and felt as if we were being exotic. Why not? It was the only game in town. Boy, have things changed.
I have been lucky enough to have travelled quite a bit and experienced the cuisine of other countries though sometimes only at street level. I have had fish tacos on the beach in Ensenada (hello Montezuma); spent the night in a pimped out Land Rover on the border Milawe and Mozambique where the only game in town was stale beer and goat curry; had Singapore street noodles on the streets in Singapore; and fell head over heals for goat cheese at a Bistro in Antibe; mmm… but I digress.
Having opened my eyes through travel, I have started to notice a trend of food migration. God bless America where people come from everywhere and bring their food with them. The coastal cities have for a long time been rich in culture and food, but try to find Pho Boa (Vietnamese Spicy Soup) in the Midwest during the early nineties and you would be lost. But now we are going through a period of culinary syncretism that I feel the need to celebrate.
One of our fears when we came back from South East Asia was that we would not be able to find our favorites foods in Phoenix, Arizona. To be fair, it’s not like we found much good Tex-Mex over there. But, we were pleased to find that a number of good local joints had popped up that served their own renditions of those Vietnamese soups and noodles.
If we think about it, this has been the way it has always been in America. The earlier immigrants of German, Irish, Italian, Greek, and even Chinese brought with them their food and recipes. Now, we look at variations on those foods as uniquely American. We turned schnitzel into chicken fried steak and vienna sausages into our beloved hot dogs.
Due to new immigration and the migration to Middle America, we are getting a taste of new types of ethnic food. The good stuff exists, but sometimes you have to work a little harder to find it. Local joints that stick to the old world recipes keep it authentic. Think about how rich our future in food will be if we can help these folks succeed and we celebrate their foods. Reach out to new tastes and new opportunities, be adventurous, and demand the authentic; and then we will all be a part of the new American cuisine.
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