# Formerly exotic foods becoming native **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633 "2010-10-09T19:56:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/21 "2010-10-10T07:07:44Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > It’s because Europeans often used pewter plates and bowls when they first encountered tomatoes. The high acidity of the tomatoes leaches lead out of the pewter and renders the meal poisonous. That’s bullshit. You learned it from the [“Life in the 1500s”](http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.asp) email hoax or from a site that repeated its claims. In fact, > [@Melissa Snell](#): > > …lead poisoning is not a quick process, but is a slow accumulation of toxins over time, and its effects would not have been associated with any one particular food. > > Furthermore, the tomato – which originated in South America and was evidently cultivated in Mexico long before the arrival of Europeans – did not make an appearance in any European cuisine until it came to Spain in the early 16th century. The Spanish and Italian peoples adopted it wholeheartedly into many recipies, and there are no known instances of any claims in either region that the fruit was poisonous. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/22 "2010-10-10T08:41:16Z")
Soybeans are not native to North America, but they certainly are growing well and are in everything, and in the last few years they have become eaten more by them selves instead of just processed and added as an ingredient. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/23 "2010-10-10T12:37:46Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Vanilla. Now so ubiquitous that the very name is synonymous with “plain”. Anyone who thinks vanilla is plain should be sentenced to live a year without vanilla in anything. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/24 "2010-10-10T13:31:10Z")
The French were among the last Europeans to adopt the potato. The French peasants resisted every attempt to get them to farm it. It wasn’t until times got really rough in the late 1700’s and their wheat, rye, and other above ground foods got trampled or looted by passing armies that they saw the virtue of an underground tuber. Once they started eating the potato, its culinary appeal was obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/25 "2010-10-10T14:03:27Z")
[Potato](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU9ydGj3n5U) (_Blackadder_) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/26 "2010-10-10T14:22:06Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > > [@DCnDC](#): > > > > Chili peppers, native to the Americas, quickly spread around the world following Columbus’ Caribbean “discoveries,” and are now deeply ingrained into the cuisines of virtually every culture in the world. > > I’d like to read more about this. No chile peppers in the Old World before Columbus? Yes, _chiles_ are a New World crop. More info [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_crops). _Chiles_ & many other interesting plants–from the New World & the Old–are members of the family [Solanaceae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae). Some of these plants are toxic (or even hallucinogenic). Even the agriculturally important plants have toxic bits; don’t make tea from potato or tomato leaves! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/27 "2010-10-10T14:39:21Z")
> [@](#): > > And I am pretty sure the onion did not originate in Vidalia, Georgia, but it was perfected there. If by “perfected” you mean “eliminated the entire point of eating onions in the first place”. Why would anyone want an onion that doesn’t taste like onion? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/28 "2010-10-10T14:52:18Z")
Tacos in the United States. Believe it or not there was a point where those living far from the border would have had no idea what a taco was. Taco, is that Greek? I know I don’t even think of tacos as being a foreign food these days. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/29 "2010-10-10T15:03:26Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Tacos in the United States. Believe it or not there was a point where those living far from the border would have had no idea what a taco was. Taco, is that Greek? I know I don’t even think of tacos as being a foreign food these days. I remember my stepfather’s parents visiting us in the mid 1970’s in Los Angeles and they had never heard of a taco. They weren’t from Hicksville either. They lived in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/30 "2010-10-10T15:08:24Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@Odesio](#): > > > > Tacos in the United States. Believe it or not there was a point where those living far from the border would have had no idea what a taco was. Taco, is that Greek? I know I don’t even think of tacos as being a foreign food these days. > > I remember my stepfather’s parents visiting us in the mid 1970’s in Los Angeles and they had never heard of a taco. **They weren’t from Hicksville either. They lived in Chicago**. Make up your mind. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/31 "2010-10-10T15:13:49Z")
How about the doner kebab in Germany or chicken tikka masala in the UK? Both are local adaptations of foreign foods that are extremely popular in those countries. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/32 "2010-10-10T15:16:48Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > > [@hajario](#): > > > > I remember my stepfather’s parents visiting us in the mid 1970’s in Los Angeles and they had never heard of a taco. **They weren’t from Hicksville either. They lived in Chicago**. > > Make up your mind. I laughed until I realized, I’m from St. Louis. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/33 "2010-10-10T16:20:30Z")
Wow, thanks so much for the replies y’all. This is such fascinating reading! I had no idea about the coffee, tomatoes (I think I knew that one but forgot), or potatoes (again prolly once knew and forgot). I think the most interesting to me is the new world-old world movement, because for those things we can actually pinpoint an approximate time when one people started using them. Also, no idea that chiles were from Mexico. Cannot imagine Indian food w/o them. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/34 "2010-10-10T17:35:06Z")
Kiwi fruit, once native only in China and called the Chinese gooseberry, i ow a US grocery staple. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/35 "2010-10-10T17:56:47Z")
Gestalt, food history is now a standard academic field: > **[Food history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_history)** > > Food history is an interdisciplinary field that examines the history and the cultural, economic, environmental, and sociological impacts of food and human nutrition. It is considered distinct from the more traditional field of culinary history, which focuses on the origin and recreation of specific recipes. > The first journal in the field, Petits Propos Culinaires, was launched in 1979 and the first conference on the subject was the 1981 Oxford Food Symposium. > Early human nutrition was largely... You might want to get a introductory book on the subject and read about how various foods how traveled around the world. Unfortunately I don’t know of a good introduction to the subject. Can someone suggest one? ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/36 "2010-10-10T18:27:07Z")
[quote=“Chimera, post:10, topic:556633”] > [@Shalmanese](#): > > It always struck me as odd that Tea is considered a British thing. Do you suppose that they had Tisanes in Europe before they had black tea? I always presumed that they must have something other than brandy which they drank warm! > [@](#): > > What we call “Chinese” in the US really isn’t Chinese. It’s American “Chinese”, so in that sense it is somewhat native. Ditto for Italian. But having eaten both the “authentic” form from family dinners and the “inauthentic” Chicago born nitrate laden variety, give me the Olive Garden any day of the week! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/37 "2010-10-10T18:36:11Z")
In the small Scandinavian-American community where I was raised all of social life revolved around having coffee together. It was such a wake-up moment the day it occurred to me that coffee wasn’t indiginous to the Scandinavian countries. To this day common Scandinavian cookery has very little use for spice other than cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon. When I was a child occasionally we’d go into a grocery store which had coconuts or fresh pineapple and that was a real novelty. Even fruit out of season was unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/38 "2010-10-10T18:43:13Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Gestalt, food history is now a standard academic field: > > [Food history - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_history) > > You might want to get a introductory book on the subject and read about how various foods how traveled around the world. Unfortunately I don’t know of a good introduction to the subject. Can someone suggest one? I have several, as this is an interest of mine. _Food In History_ - Reay Tannahill _Spice: The History of a Temptation_ - Jack Turner _Nathaniel’s Nutmeg_ - Giles Milton _An Edible History of Humanity_ - Tom Standage And the classics: _Salt_, _Cod_, and _The Big Oyster_ by Mark Kurlansky. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/39 "2010-10-10T18:56:14Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > > [@beowulff](#): > > > > The Tomato is a New-World fruit. So, all the tomato-based Italian recipes you know and love are less than 600 years old. > > To be fair, the Italians took the strange new foreign fruit and did amazing things with it. And, after they were done with that, they put it into their cuisine. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633/40 "2010-10-10T19:00:21Z")
Those baby corn-cobs you sometimes see in Chinese dishes could not have been there before Columbus, maize being a New World crop. The mystery is why the Chinese don’t seem to use full-grown maize for anything, except maybe kernels in fried rice. Or, maybe they do – I’m judging Chinese cuisine here by what’s on the menu in “Chinese” restaurants in the U.S. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-exotic-foods-becoming-native/556633.md?page=3)