McDonald’s in Japan is a whole 'nother thing too.
the second time I was in Japan I decided to hit up a McPuke’s just to see. The “classics” (e.g. Big Mac) are pretty much the same as here, but they do a lot of different specialty things unique to Japan. I forget what it was called, but it was a burger with “wasabi” dressing, a few interesting toppings, on a semi-hard roll. It was actually pretty good.
My experience is the people who have the most problem with “inauthentic” dishes are first generation Americans who are trying cling to a culture they have never experienced first hand. Their parents are usually more cool with “Americanized” food.
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It’s such a weird attitude, Chinese food in Singapore has elements of Indian and Middle Eastern food and is amazing; same with Chinese food in Indonesia and the Philippines which each fuse with local elements, but in the US people feel the need to point out that its different. No shit.
in my experience it’s usually younger white people.
I’m going to have to disagree with you, regarding my experience. A burrito, from what I understand, originated in northern Mexico. It is a flour tortilla and one filling. There were countless food trucks in Juarez selling burritos. One didn’t really find burritos in restsurants because they were more of a get meal on the run thing. The south typically uses corn tortillas more and serves more of what Americans recognize as “street tacos” (usually two corn tortillas, and a filling plus topping such as cilantro and onion).
That said, of course you can put anything in a burrito, especially when at home, but I have never seen a “Chipotle” style burrito served in Mexico. I can’t imagine my mom or any of my friends moms making a burrito the size of a baby - huge tortillas, rice, beans, filling, cheese, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, guacamole.
And yes there can be an authentic (insert generic food) in that it is served or specifically not served in a particular way. Technically, you’re right. You can add anything between two pieces of bread and call it a sandwich. That doesn’t make that sandwich authentic to a cuisine’s usual rendition. It reminds me of a Korean pizza place with “American pizza” … it had corn and mayonnaise on it. I can’t think of a single American that would look at that pizza and think: yes, this is exactly how American pizzas are. So, yes, it’s Pizza. It’s not authentic American pizza.
My experience is the exact opposite. In my example in post above, I’m totally fine with Chipotle style burritos… I just know they aren’t authentic. Most Mexican families I have known, the first generation kids are totally fine eating foods from both cultures and the fushion between. It’s the parents that are very difficult and are extremely picky eaters.
In the first place, the whole story of seeking a “recipe” for tortillas is ridiculous. There are no secret ingredients in a tortilla whether it is made from corn or wheat. And the claim that they went cruising the streets looking into kitchen windows is also complete nonsense. We don’t like people peering into our windows. If you do that you are asking for trouble.
Their story was simply a marketing ploy for Americans. And it backfired.
The above post ignores the fact that ‘authentic’ Mexican food has been a staple in numerous U.S. states.
I grew up in New Mexico which has a large Hispanic population and where Mexican food is almost a religion. The Mexican food in New Mexico is different than northern Mexico, which is different than Arizona Mexican, and so on. All borrow from each other and have similar dishes but the details vary a lot.
Additionally, burritos are likely to have originated by farm workers in California. It isn’t clear who or where they originated but California or Juarez are likely spots. Juarez is, of course, a border town rights next to El Paso TX.
Slee
Oh, for Pete’s sake.
Food is a big way that people try to share their culture and life and extending family (for want of a better term) with others. It’s easy and friendly. I grew up near Chicago, with at least 2 dozen different ethnicities within an arm’s reach (or a city block, or one degree of relationship away). If I were being especially social, I could theoretically have enchiladas, gulyas, schnitzel, colcannon, spanikopita, sinigang, and pierogi all in one week without venturing more than a mile from my subdivision. And every one of those families were thrilled to share their recipes with me (usually while telling me that their own kids didn’t appreciate their meals as much!). I cook all of those things to this day, plus many more analogues, and I’m suddenly supposed to feel guilty? This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard of, honestly.
And even in public elementary school, I was taught from day one that we should learn a smattering of “other” cultures, that we might help pass their interesting bits along. That admiration and recognition for our diverse cultures what was part of what made the U.S. a cool country. Music class in grade school, and middle school choir, was a mirror to the culinary tidbits I mentioned above. Half the songs we learned weren’t in English, seriously. However, this was (mostly) in Indiana and Texas, you know, so maybe they were just being backwards and patronizing. Or whatever. It was fun, though.
In my adult life, I have studied (what is termed as) Latin dances, learned Italian, French, Byzantine and a smattering of Asian painting styles, more musical stylings from all over (I am very bad at playing a dozen or so instruments :P), other kinds of cuisine I wasn’t exposed to as a youth (classical French, some Japanese, several flavors of Indian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, etc.). I have worn and still wear some of the following, alternating with my “American” jeans, t-shirts and occasional British-inspired (I suppose) suiting…salwar kameez, guayabera, dupatta, kurta, ao baba, sari, caftan, jeongsam, dirndl, babushka, campesina blouses or dresses, and…pajamas. 
I have an overflowing closet, to say the least.
I have appropriated every culture that was appealing to me in some way. And in every case, it was part of learning more about another’s world and appreciating their aesthetics. I was taught from a young age that this was a good thing, and I still believe it. I’ve taught what I know about my cultural heritage, and still do when I can, whenever anyone’s interested.
Who the heck has a problem with this?!
Burritos were being consumed in Mèxico long before farm workers worked the fields of California. And it wasn’t solely in Ciudad Jaùrez but throughout the north of Mèxico. Burritos sonorenses made with tortillas sobaqueras have been a staple for a much longer time than the American variety.
This is untrue, and I debunked it directly, to you, in the Pit where I brought it up as an example of stupid SJW bullshit.
There was no stealing. Recipes can’t be copyrighted, and therefore can’t be stolen. And charges that they were “harassing” or “hounding” anyone are pure projection on your part.
It’s gotten so bad I only eat handfuls of mayonnaise in public.
I can find little info from the articles on the burrito cart, but it did not seem as though their business was affected by the few people who were talking about cultural appropriation. The vast majority of people would not have even heard of it, and the rest wouldn’t care.
Is there a cite that shows that their business actually slacked off after these articles were ran?
Having been in food service for 2 decades, I think the bigger problem is that they attempted to culturally appropriate food service. They thought that they had a cool recipe, and tried to open a restaurant with that. I know a few restaurants that went out of business doing just that.
A recipe is not a business model, and food service is one of the harder business models to keep afloat, especially if you are not willing to work 60+ hour weeks.
So, this is speculation, but I think they went out of business because they were working ridiculous hours and not making enough money to justify it, or even losing money overall, not because customers were down, not because some editorials chided them.
After deciding to close up they decided to blame the articles for their failure.
As far as the editorials go, I don’t think they did themselves any favors by describing themselves peering in windows and such. As a former chef, I wouldn’t care if someone ate my recipes and recreated them, but I would be offended if they came sneaking into my kitchen to steal them that way. If they had just stuck with “We were inspired by the food that we had.” they would have looked much better.
It seems that Poutine is not Canadian
Some people have way too much time on their hands.
Poutine was invented?
I always assumed that it was just some leftovers one night at a bar, and after tossing it all together in a basket, someone decided it was edible.
In any case, I am not sure about some of the facts of the article. I was introduced to poutine when I was visiting canada in the late 90’s by a native torontonian, who did not seem to think it was all that weird a dish. There was a poutine cart that we would stop at on our way up to northern canada to go camping. The article seems to indicate that it really wasn’t taken seriously outside of Quebec until ten years ago.