guizot
October 8, 2010, 2:37pm
41
An_Gadai:
It’s a stupid term like world music, ethnic food is just food, world music is just music, *especially *in this day and age.
In the U.S. “ethnic” anything is just code for “not anglo.” It’s a term that is defined only by what it is not.
In other countries, you can say “foreign,” but in the U.S., that doesn’t work.
“World music,” on the other hand, is a useful term to identify music which is not extraterrestrial.
hogarth:
I’d say “ethnic food” is food that is associated with a particular area and is rare and/or unpopular here.
So pizza is not really ethnic food (to me), but Italian-style tripe would be. Similarly, fried rice isn’t really ethnic food, but Chinese-style chicken feet would be.
Maybe “unassimilated” is the word I’m looking for.
This. Once it’s been thoroughly assimilated into the culture, we cease to regard a cuisine as ethnic. And like TBG, I’d regard a typical Mexican, Italian, or Chinese restaurant as not an ethnic restaurant, anymore than I think I’m doing ethnic cooking when I cook spaghetti or tacos.
DCnDC:
Siam_Sam:
There’s no option for Southeast Asian. Cuisines like Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian, for example, should not be grouped in with East Asian.
I don’t see a South Asian option either. It’s not just India in South Asia.
I was trying to be as general as possible. I didn’t want to have to list every country in the world. And frankly, even though you and I may know the subtle (or not so subtle) differences between Asian cuisines, most people lump it all together.
Just seems odd. You didn’t go with a general “European” cuisine.
(Most people aren’t even aware Britain has a cuisine. :D)
All traditional cuisines, yes, but not modern fusions, nor deracinated fast food versions.
Real, good Italian food remains as ethnic as ever.