Thread: How Americans pretend to love ‘ethnic food’

Doesn't it depend on the region you are in China, regarding your opinion on Chinese food.?

Originally Posted by CaptainNemo

Originally Posted by Chico

People who understand food and pretentious twats.

So you're a fat faggot then?

Keef cooks ?

Originally Posted by redhaze

Chinese in the states is dogshit, some exceptions notwithstanding

Chinese food in China isn't that great either. You have to really look for fresh, healthy Chinese food. Most of it is smothered in oil which is unfortunate.

Canada has a huge selection of ethnically diverse food. I always go back to Canada mostly for the diverse food I can get. In regards to price, you can get a variety of restaurants selling Greek food for example and they are priced differently. It depends on the city and the province. Japanese food is the most expensive.. sushi for example.
I tend to eat Greek, Middle Eastern food, when I go back to Canada.

Good interesting read here for the foodies, and the change in cooking food.

How Snobbery Helped Take The Spice Out Of European Cooking

My father usually starts off his curries by roasting a blend of cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, anise, cumin and bay leaves. Then he incorporates the onions, garlic and ginger — and then tomatoes and chilies and a touch of cream.

The North Indian cuisine I grew up eating is about melding together distinct, disparate flavors and building up layer upon layer of spice and seasoning. Much of European cuisine, by contrast, is about combining complementary flavors — think potatoes with leeks, or scallops with white wine.

A recent study tried to explain the divide in Eastern and Western culinary philosophy through some nifty data crunching. Researchers from the Indian Institute for Technology in Jodhpur looked up the ingredient lists for more than 2,000 Indian recipes. They then analyzed the chemical components of these ingredients, looking at the compounds that, when combined, give foods their taste.

They concluded that what makes Indian cuisine so exquisite is its tendency to bring together lots of different ingredients with flavor molecules that don't overlap.

That's quite different from how Western cuisine works — previous research has shown that it relies on pairing ingredients that, at the molecular level, share lots of similar flavor compounds.

While some have praised the new research for revealing the secret to why Indian cuisine is so delicious, this notion of layering many contrasting flavors and spices isn't unique to Indian cooking.

In fact, most of the world's cuisines tend to follow that principle, says Tulasi Srinivas, an anthropologist at Emerson University who studies food and globalization. And up until the mid-1600s, European cuisine was the same way.

In medieval Europe, those who could afford to do so would generously season their stews with saffron, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Sugar was ubiquitous in savory dishes. And haute European cuisine, until the mid-1600s, was defined by its use of complex, contrasting flavors.

"The real question, then, is why the wealthy, powerful West — with unprecedented access to spices from its colonies — became so fixated on this singular understanding of flavor," Srinivas says.

The answer, it turns out, has just as much to do with economics, politics and religion as it does taste.

Haute Cuisine And The Price Of Pepper

Back in the Middle Ages, spices were really expensive, which meant that only the upper class could afford them. But things started to change as Europeans began colonizing parts of India and the Americas.

"Spices begin to pour into Europe," explains Krishnendu Ray, an associate professor of food studies at New York University. "What used to be expensive and exclusive became common."

Serving richly spiced stews was no longer a status symbol for Europe's wealthiest families — even the middle classes could afford to spice up their grub. "So the elite recoiled from the increasing popularity of spices," Ray says. "They moved on to an aesthetic theory of taste. Rather than infusing food with spice, they said things should taste like themselves. Meat should taste like meat, and anything you add only serves to intensify the existing flavors."

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THE SALT
Frogs And Puffins! 1730s Menus Reveal Royals Were Extreme Foodies
The shift began in France, in the mid-1600s, adds Paul Freedman, a professor of history at Yale University. "It was a way to also show off the wealth of the French provinces," Freedman says.

The rest of Europe soon adopted this new style. "It's a redefinition of what elegant is," Freedman says. "It's sort of like — in fashion — for a while having more frills, more jewelry was fashionable. But then someone said that a basic black dress with some pearls is much better."

A Philosophical Shift

European ideas about diet and medicine began changing in the 17th century as well.

"In the Middle Ages and in antiquity, Europe had had a theory of humors that was similar to medical philosophy in India," says Rachel Laudan, a food historian and visiting professor at the University of Texas, Austin.

Both Indians and Europeans believed that certain energies circulating within the body affected both general health and mood. And by eating the right foods, people believed that they could balance out these bodily energies.

"So, for example, if you were slow and lethargic, you could be pepped up by eating hot spices," Laudan explains. "But if you were impetuous, you would want to eat more cooling flavors."

With the rise of Protestantism in Europe came another theory: that digestion is a matter of fermenting food. "Now the theory was that you want to eat things like fresh vegetables and greens, and fresh herbs that can be rapidly assimilated in the body because they ferment easily," Laudan says.

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THE SALT
Dining After 'Downton Abbey': Why British Food Was So Bad For So Long
With this new way of thinking, spices lost their medicinal value. It's not that Europeans rejected flavorful ingredients altogether, Laudan says. "It's just that they began using a different set of ingredients."

And there was another shift, Laudan says: "There was a shift in the nature of sauces."

"Indian sauces — and many sauces in the world — are basically purees with flavors and spices," she says. "In Europe, they go over to sauces that are based on meat stock."

For Indian and Asian chefs, the sauce or curry was the star. In India, Jains — and many Hindus — don't eat meat. And in general, most Indians believed that meat was unclean and inelegant, so the goal was, in part, to cover up the fleshiness of meat by thoroughly infusing it with spice.

"In Europe, meat was considered the manliest, strongest component of a meal," Laudan notes, and chefs wanted it to shine. So they began cooking meat in meat-based gravies, to intensify its flavor.

The Modern Palate

To a large extent, the move toward subtler flavor pairings was permanent. And the results of this shift have been scrumptious. French gastronomy has long been prized as the epitome of culinary expression (though its supremacy is no longer a given).

Liberte, Egalite, Gastronomie? France Rallies To Defend Its Food's Honor
THE SALT
Liberte, Egalite, Gastronomie? France Rallies To Defend Its Food's Honor
But hints of the older, medieval way of cooking still remain in Western cuisine.

"Think of a barbecue sauce — very medieval," says Ken Albala, a professor of culinary history at the University of the Pacific, in that it's sweet and sour and full of an array of spices and flavorings. "We do like contrasting flavors."

In the last century, Westerners adopted a few Asian ideas about spice and contrast as well. After colonizing India, the British developed a taste for curry that they still haven't shaken. The Brits often serve their fries with curry sauce. And chicken tikka masala — an Anglicized version of a North Indian curry — is so popular in the U.K. that in 2001, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook declared that it was Britain's national dish.

The big data crunching is interesting, Albala notes, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

"What's been done so far is very superficial," he writes in an email. "And it doesn't account for all the cultural, social, economic, political reasons people eat what they do."

...^helping the handicapped: How Snobbery Helped Take The Spice Out Of European Cooking : The Salt : NPR

Originally Posted by Chico

Doesn't it depend on the region you are in China, regarding your opinion on Chinese food.?

Yes, it does. Food in the north tends to be more oily and Beijing is famous for Peking duck. Food in Shanghai is more sweet. And then you have the spicy food of Sichuan.
You get other varieties as China is huuuge. Hong Kong has its own variety as well..tends to be more westernized.

Originally Posted by bnice2me

Hong Kong has its own variety as well..tends to be more westernized.

Cantonese which was the first introduced to the states.

Originally Posted by aging one

Originally Posted by bnice2me

Hong Kong has its own variety as well..tends to be more westernized.

Cantonese which was the first introduced to the states.

Guandong food including Cantonese food is oily and bland as a rule.
Hong Kong food the same. The Chinese food in HK has not been 'westernised'.

Jeez, you must have eaten at some real shit holes in Chungking mansions.

Originally Posted by bnice2me

Originally Posted by Chico

Doesn't it depend on the region you are in China, regarding your opinion on Chinese food.?

Yes, it does. Food in the north tends to be more oily and Beijing is famous for Peking duck. Food in Shanghai is more sweet. And then you have the spicy food of Sichuan.
You get other varieties as China is huuuge. Hong Kong has its own variety as well..tends to be more westernized.

I'm starting to wonder if you peeps have eaten proper Chinese food.

Originally Posted by Chico

I'm starting to wonder if you peeps have eaten proper Chinese food.

I've eaten Cantonese food in China and it was awful. The cat soup was particularly vile.

Hong Kong is much better for Cantonese food.

Cantonese food is a lot better in HK I agree.

^ Also in San Francisco and I don't mean Americanized Cantonese. It ain't cheap, either, in a good restaurant.

Originally Posted by Chico

I'm starting to wonder if you peeps have eaten proper Chinese food.

Some of it is good, but the majority of it is really crap. In Taiwan at the very least this is the case. I don't have much know how about the mainland, but I would guess its just as bad or worse based on what many others have reported

Originally Posted by misskit

^ Also in San Francisco and I don't mean Americanized Cantonese. It ain't cheap, either, in a good restaurant.

Is The food more based on seafood though in San Francisco.?

Not particularly. A lot of great dim sum there.

I've had some of the best Food in HK on Lantau, Lamma and Cheung Chau.

The westernised version in the UK is exceptional.

I thought I was missing something here, so went and had a look for Michelin starred Chinese restaurants in HK, not that Michelin means much these days as the stars can be bought.

A Foodie's Guide To 10 Michelin Star Chinese Restaurants In Hong Kong

From the world's first Michelin three star Chinese restaurant to the world's cheapest Michelin meal

The anonymous Michelin inspectors descended on Hong Kong to prepare for the release of Asia's second Michelin Guide, Tokyo being the first, in 2009. The European fine dining guide, often leaning toward French restaurants, awarded a number of stars to Hong Kong's Chinese restaurants of varying styles and price ranges, using their time-tested methodology. Though there were concerns about a European guide grading often misunderstood Cantonese and other Chinese cuisines, the restaurants in the list below are worthy of their 2012 red book nods.

Lung King Heen: Chef Chan Yan Tak is at the helm of Lung King Heen, the world's first Michelin three star Chinese restaurant, in the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. Chef Chan has lived in Hong Kong his entire life, starting his career in the kitchen in his early teens, out of necessity and without formal training. Dim sum is steamed to order, live seafood is plucked from a tank in the kitchen, and the occasional gold leaf or other glamorous accent applied to already gorgeous dishes. Signature offerings include wok-fried prawns with dried chilli and shallots, barbecued pork buns and abalone puffs. Lucky inspectors enjoyed the view and cuisine at Lung King Heen 12 times prior to awarding the modest chef 3 stars. MTR: Central.

Bo Innovation: This Michelin two star restaurant serves up what is described as ground-breaking, molecular or modern Chinese in a modern space that is almost totally void of traditional Chinese decor. Guests order off of set menus, but signature dishes include smoked quail’s egg with taro crust topped with caviar and hairy crab soufflé with aged Jiangsu vinegar. MTR: Wan Chai.

Lei Garden: This restaurant chain has locations all over Hong Kong with most receiving one Michelin star. The Mong Kok location boasts two stars. Lei Garden is an upscale but still family-friendly place to try dim sum. Well-loved XO sauce (spicy Cognac seafood sauce) was also developed by Lei Garden in 1981. Mong Kok location MTR: Mong Kok.

Shang Palace: Set in the luxurious Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel, traditional dark woods and silk tapestries decorate this popular Michelin two star Cantonese restaurant. Try the suckling pig trio or double-boiled chicken soup with cordyceps flower. Shang Palace, popular for business lunches and families on Sundays, re-opens in September 2012 after renovations. MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui.

Ye Shanghai: For slightly-modernized Shanghainese favorites (like drunken chicken) in a dimly lit, posh environment, head to Michelin two star Ye Shanghai in Kowloon's Marco Polo Hotel. There's also a location in Pacific Place mall on Hong Kong Island. MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui.

Ming Court: Go for Cantonese served up in a contemporary atmosphere, in line with the rest of the trendy Langham Place Hotel, and the wine cellar featuring over 400 wines from all over the world. Though there is an extensive list of shark's fin and abalone choices, the chef's favorites include marinated pig’s knuckles in loh-sui sauce and stir-fried diced wagyu beef with black truffles and pumpkin. MTR: Mong Kok.

Man Wah: Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong's signature Cantonese restaurant, Man Wah, received a Michelin star in the most recent guide. The impressive beef tenderloin puff with black pepper sauce, wrapped in 96 layers of puff pastry, tops the menu as the most popular order. Man Wah is also one of the only restaurants in Hong Kong that will bake egg tarts to order and has been a local favorite for decades. MTR: Central

Tim's Kitchen: Set up like a private kitchen without fancy table cloths and decor, Tim's Kitchen in Sheung Wan, serves up Cantonese fare that locals rave about. There's a menu, but consulting with the chef in advance is your best bet. Popular orders include salt and pepper crab claws and fried birds' nest. Bring your own wine. MTR: Sheung Wan.

Tim Ho Wan: Go early or be prepared for a wait. Tim Ho Wan is a tiny place (have your Cantonese-speaking friends in tow) that was opened by a former chef at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. Because two people can easily eat dim sum for under $20 USD, this is known as the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world. Order the baked buns (bao). MTR: Yau Ma Tei.

Din Tai Fung: Ranked the number one restaurant in Hong Kong by TripAdvisor, Michelin one star Din Tai Fung now has branches all over the world. Diners enjoy their Shanghai steamed dumplings (xiao long bao), open kitchen, airy dining room and quick service. MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui.

Originally Posted by Chico

Originally Posted by bnice2me

Originally Posted by Chico

Doesn't it depend on the region you are in China, regarding your opinion on Chinese food.?

Yes, it does. Food in the north tends to be more oily and Beijing is famous for Peking duck. Food in Shanghai is more sweet. And then you have the spicy food of Sichuan.
You get other varieties as China is huuuge. Hong Kong has its own variety as well..tends to be more westernized.

I'm starting to wonder if you peeps have eaten proper Chinese food.

Based on a comment by the forum's second most renowned 'polyclueless' poster after you.

R...i...g...h...t

Originally Posted by Chico

Doesn't it depend on the region you are in China, regarding your opinion on Chinese food.?

I thought you were the chef.

Originally Posted by Chico

The westernised version in the UK is exceptional.

Then it's not ethnic, is it.

Are you still smarting from your Kicking, Burger man?

Originally Posted by Chico

Are you still smarting from your Kicking, Burger man?

Don't remember being kicked, douchebag. How about you?

Originally Posted by CSFFan

I thought you were the chef.

At best he is a clueless hack. More like a angry loser relegated to washing dishes.

Originally Posted by bsnub

More like a angry loser relegated to washing dishes

still, I admire his persistence in assuming his food opinions matter to anyone despite...well, you know...

Originally Posted by bsnub

Originally Posted by CSFFan

I thought you were the chef.

At best he is a clueless hack. More like a angry loser relegated to washing dishes.

waiting for your next photo food thread, with you Imaginary girlfriend