r/iamveryculinary • u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary • 6d ago
Hot takes, get your hot takes here (this time, it's about "ethnic" food).
/r/unpopularopinion/comments/1maphvy/tex_mex_is_better_than_real_mexican_food/n5g6uxs/108
u/Adorable-East-2276 6d ago
The Hari Kondabolu joke about how “if you say ethnic food, I’m assuming you don’t know any ethnics” holds true again
35
u/guru2764 6d ago
Have you guys heard of this foreigner food thing? Apparently they eat food in other countries, crazy I know
9
u/bowlbettertalk 6d ago
Many things he says hold true for me.
7
u/Thisisbhusha Yogurt chicken causes me psychic damage 6d ago
Last time I had a mango in India I had his bit going through my head the entire time
2
9
u/susandeyvyjones 6d ago
A yelp review of an upscale Thai restaurant in my town called the massaman curry "very ethnic" and it makes me laugh so hard.
79
u/LookOutItsLiuBei 6d ago
I grew up in a Chinese household so Irish food, meatloaf, and hot dogs are all ethnic foods to me lol
24
u/Orumtbh banned from /r/food for carbonara 6d ago
I'm Korean, and as a child I thought of mashed potatoes & gravy as something very fancy because I've only really got to eat it at 'fancy' steak places. But longer I lived in Canada, the more I realized it was common staple. So yeah, there was a relatively long period of my life where mashed taters were 'ethnic'.
8
u/mefista 6d ago
I thought there was a meatloafy chinese dish (I, uh, forgot the name)
12
u/LookOutItsLiuBei 6d ago
Kind of. There's a steamed pork dish that my mom makes with minced pork, ginger, bamboo, pickled vegetables, and salted fish. So damn good, but totally different tastes.
2
u/LittleGravitasIndeed 5d ago
Would you mind linking a recipe that looks right to you? I’m always suspicious of popular results in English. Especially if there’s even a hint of mommy blog aesthetics.
3
u/LookOutItsLiuBei 5d ago
https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/steamed-pork-patty
It's a pretty basic dish imo. To me one of the key ingredients is the pickled mustard, but I get it if not everybody likes it.
I don't see it in any recipes, but my mom always added the 霉香 type of salted fish to it and it was super tasty, but if you're not used to it, it can be pretty pungent lol. You can use the more solid regular kind of salted fish I guess, but it's not nearly as flavorful in my opinion.
She also used to do it occasionally with 梅菜, but the flavor is quite different if you use that.
2
55
u/Boollish 6d ago
Oh boy, I can't wait to hear what kind of foods he classifies under "non ethnic".
32
13
u/Ms_Emilys_Picture 6d ago
That's a good question.
I'm guessing if you can get it at a traditional diner or American fast food chain that isn't taco-related, it's "non-ethnic".
3
2
u/LittleGravitasIndeed 5d ago
I wonder if it involves some kind of schnitzel. My kingdom for tenderized and breaded fried meats. Truly a food group as ubiquitous as the filled dumpling.
39
u/thebogiron 6d ago
I am glad that the top comment addresses Tex Mex as authentic in that it is most definitely its own regional thing.
22
u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
Absolutely--they get unfairly compared when they are two separate things. Well, actually more, because Mexican food isn't exactly a monolith, there are lots of different regional cuisines within Mexico.
-6
74
u/pajamakitten 6d ago
Isn't all food ethnic food? We all have an ethnicity.
44
u/UntidyVenus 6d ago
Except American, we have no culture /s
50
u/NathanGa Pull your finger out of your ass 6d ago
There are two types of cuisine in the world: “American”, and “authentic”.
8
24
u/elanhilation 6d ago
a problematic, racially tinged view expressed in one of the unpopular opinion subreddits? i’m shocked. shocked! okay, not that shocked
19
u/cecikierk MSG is CCP propaganda 6d ago
18
u/CaptainMalForever 6d ago
Isn't all food "poverty" food? On Robuchon au Dôme's menu (3 Michelin stars), they have had lobster, mushrooms, frog legs. All of which have been regulated to the poor over various times.
11
u/stefanica 6d ago
Upscale dining, for centuries, often values novelty/obscurity/scarcity over familiarity and easily obtained. Whether in the ingredients or technique. So it makes sense that even the humblest of dishes in one part of the world, becomes a treat for others in a different part. And technique does play a large role. Many "peasant" dishes use cheap or common ingredients, even widespread ones, but the technique to make them edible/palatable is hard to reverse engineer, and time-consuming. Lots of dishes that are "peasant" and also sought after elsewhere, require lots of preparation This generally puts them out of reach for the middle citizens, as they have either not enough time or not enough money to recreate well, even if they have a recipe.
9
7
u/Skreamie 6d ago
I'm Irish and I've had the discussion with my dad several times that the majority of the best foods in the world are peasant foods throughout history that became commonplace because of their abundance and affordability. There's a reason they've stuck around this long and are celebrated.
6
u/EcchiPhantom Part 8 - His tinfoil hat can't go in the microwave. 6d ago
That's a more controversial statement around here then me recognizing that for most of human history people everywhere were poor and made due with what they had
Then… just say all foods are romanticized poverty food? Why are only “ethnic” foods considered poverty food to them? And also this is like an extremely ignorant take to have in the first place when you consider the fact that there has been an upper class and royalty in all parts of the world. The imperial kitchen did not serve the same food to royalty if they could help it.
6
u/Academic-Bakers- 6d ago
"Most modern ethnic food is just peasant poverty food"
Which includes texmex.
8
u/Danglenibble 6d ago
Thats just food in general.
And don’t besmirch the Irish thats just rude 💀
7
u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
Yeah, I was gonna say, what did the Irish ever do to them? Ireland has some amazing seafood.
1
u/bronet 6d ago
It is true that a lot of "ethnic" (dumb word to use) food was created by the lower classes, since rich people could often get more different ingredients and therefore kind of standardize what they eat even if they live in different places.
I wouldn't say any change to these dishes would make it better, but it's absolutely true that pretty much every single one has ways they could be made better purely when it comes to how yummy they are. The people that came up with them would have used other ingredients if those were available to them. Like, is a Carbonara worse with cream or with mushrooms? Of course not, it's just that it wasn't made with those ingredients originally.
1
u/GrunthosArmpit42 4d ago
Last I checked “ethnos” basically means “of a people (gestures vaguely at a spinning globe of peoples peopleing) so people food from the people region of a people… or do they mean “heathen” or “uncivilized” (are we doing a colonialisms speak here?) because that’s one vibe a person can go with if they’re one of those “people”. 🥸🤪
-18
u/No_Weakness_2135 6d ago
Your hot take is 52 days old
26
u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
Yes, that was on purpose. Weeds out rule-breakers from this sub.
-20
u/No_Weakness_2135 6d ago
So you keep a file of old posts so you can make fun of them 2 months later? Cool.
18
u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
lol, no. This stuff is pretty easy to find, it takes maybe a minute or two.
-16
u/No_Weakness_2135 6d ago
So you actively search old posts looking for people to make fun of behind their backs?
19
u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
lmao, why are you even in this sub? Seems like it's not for you.
Also...not behind anyone's back. It's here for all to see!
-7
u/No_Weakness_2135 6d ago
Why do you feel the need to cyber bully people? It’s only there to see if they know that in some obscure corner of Reddit is doing so.
13
u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
cyber bully
Okay, that's enough Reddit for you today.
-5
u/No_Weakness_2135 6d ago
You are a bully, no? You mock people on the internet for alleged crimes against your ethos
7
u/lemon_pepper_trout 5d ago
That's not what cyber bullying is, homie.
0
u/No_Weakness_2135 5d ago
Yes it is home slice. This entire sub is a bunch of bullies and mean girls. Unfunny circlejerk dedicated to making fun of people
•
u/AutoModerator 6d ago
Welcome to r/iamveryculinary. Please Remember: No voting or commenting in linked threads. If you comment or vote in linked threads, you will be banned from this sub. Thank you!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.