 March 10th, 2011
05:00 PM ET
5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe. When you hear the term "Asian cuisine," what do you think of? The kicker is: there's no right answer. For some, their mind lingers on the fresh sashimi of Japan. For others, on a steaming bowl of Vietnamese phở. One thing is for sure: the continent's culinary culture is certainly not summed up by white take-out boxes and fortune cookies - and Danielle Chang, the founder of LUCKYRICE, thinks it's high time to recognize how diverse Asian food really is. Five Misconceptions about Asian Food: Danielle Chang 2. Fusion is a nasty word 3. Asian food must be prepared by Asian chefs 4. Asian food should be cheap 5. Asian food = Chinese food Is there someone you'd like to see in the hot seat? Let us know in the comments below and if we agree, we'll do our best to chase 'em down. |
  Recent Posts
Jesus Christ ice pops made from frozen, inadvertently blessed wine. No, we can't believe we typed that, either. http://t.co/8eLcJriH 10:23 pm UTC, May 18 2012
Our @kittenwithawhip is moderating Restaurant 101 @GoogaMooga Sun. 11:15-12:30 w/ panelists @asytsma @kkrader & @mylastsupper. C'mon by! 9:34 pm UTC, May 18 2012
If you had Zuck-style cash, where would you take your pals for IPO dinner? We're thinking we'd just rent out New Orleans. You? 8:23 pm UTC, May 18 2012
RT @ChefBradleyO: @eatocracy In its honor, a twice-baked blue cheese souffle, for your consideration: http://t.co/swcaPfNX 7:50 pm UTC, May 18 2012
RT @qualityrye: Writing a four-star review can be as stressful as a goose egg b/c if you get it wrong, you've wasted your readers' hard-earned $$ @eatocracy 5:11 pm UTC, May 18 2012
 |
 |
|
© 2010 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Help | Advertising Practices
Danielle – you are sexy. I would like to eat your bok choy.
Thanks for putting together 5@5 – Danielle Chang – Eatocracy – CNN.com Blogs I'm enjoying your posts. Would you consider a guest article on a site I help run? Do you feel which you could contribute? You may look at our post styles at http://veronicamars.hu/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=78403 and surely we would be thinking about having you post an write-up or two on our blog, what do you feel? At any time you are interested let me know through the contacts page on our website.5@5 – Danielle Chang – Eatocracy – CNN.com Blogs is an fascinating name for a blog, keep up the great work, thanks, from Adara Heath
The best bargain at a Chinese restaurant is a whole Peking Duck. We had one the day after Christmas and it fed both of us that evening plus we had leftovers for Pork Fried Rice and Hot and Sour Soup with enough left over for a meal with Asian Slaw and Duck Pancakes.
you mean you ate a half duck and all that other stuff? I bet he needed a wheel barrow to take you home.
make sure you're not eating dogs and cats next time you go to an Asian restaurant..!!!!
I used to live in a suburb 20 minutes from Chicago. When I needed Asian ingredients for a dish I was cooking, I had to go to the "Chinese" aisle at Jewel (major grocery chain). Apparently the folks at Jewel think it's correct to categorize Vietnamese rice noodles, Korean kimchee, Japanese seaweed, and Filipino coconut dessert under "chinese."
u want expensive-REAL sharkfin soup=4250.00 per bowl: REAL bird's nest dessert soup per small bowl=$300.00: suckling roast pig not older than 1 month=$187.00 per pig[small] ; abonone whole=$560.00 or u don't know abt CHINESE food.
Here's one I've always heard: Asian Food is good or better for you than other ethnic dishes. Not true. As far as Asian food should be cheap...it should. Yes, there are "expensive dishes" but alot of asian techniques are cheap and delicious.
Westernized Chinese food is cheap and not healthy at all. It's only catered for the non-Chinese palate. On the other hand,
traditional Chinese cuisine is more delicate which is aimed for health maintenance and at the same time to satisfy the very discriminate taste of the Chinese palate. If you want to experience real Chinese food, go to restaurants that cater to Chinese people, but you'll have to open your mind and taste buds to unusual food and flavors.
Sorry lady, you have no idea what you're talking about. She got 1 out of 5. I agree that Asian food != Chinese food. The rest is complete BS, please stick to writing about what you obviously know best – eating at P.F. Chang's and Pei Wei.
And please go back to what you obviously do best – Suckling at your grandmas teet in her basement.
I don't know what she's talking about either and my Asian grandmother is probably rolling in her grave...no HER asian grandmother is probably rolling in her grave. First, if you were in any other country than US Asian food is Indian. You want anything else it is Oriental. There is a reason why Asians tend to go to restaurants with lots of 'black' haired people eating and stay away from places once it is over run by I'm sorry 'white' people. The food changes and I've seen/taste this in NYC. The palate of a westerner is just not the same as Asians and the choices also changes. Secondly, there is a difference in cooking let say when you go to a Chinese Viet owned restaurant vs a Viet owned restaurant. The later is close but not quite. I've had better Asian food in little holes in the wall in NYC than all of Mr. K's will ever serve other than the gold plated bowls, gold plated chopsticks, gold plated rice bowls with nifty covers on them. Authentic to me means something that I'm eating taste like how my mother, grandmother, auntie Wong would cook. Yes, you can go to Spice Market and pay the $15 for the 3 pork & leeks dumplings but I'll go to the shop in Chinatown for 5 for $5.00.
in san fran a bowl of pork bone porridge n free chinese tea is $7.00 plus tips=$10.00; a chinese bento box of roast duck and rice with 1 stick of veg is $6.99 take out; in chinatown during happy hours a set of plate of mee hoon with rice sticks and milk tea is $4.60. cheaper still, buy from wet market and cook yourself lunch less than $3.88-– take yr pick if u want cheap.
The bottom line no matter who is cooking the food or where is does the restaurant make money. People vote with their Dollars, Pounds, Euroes or Pesos.
I search for food by avoiding trendy corporate Asian restaurants if there is a line out the door in an working class or Asian neighborhood chances are the food is going to be good! If you want avant-garde Asian the way to go is any of the chefs Danielle recommended.
wat is doosh bag–hot crispy Chinese dessert after the main course served up by Mexican waiters wearing a chinese apron?
Your mammy!
4. Asian food should be cheap
"It's really a shame that New Yorkers have no problem paying $26, for instance, for a bowl of high-quality spaghetti with tomatoes and basil, but not so for a similarly high-quality bowl of Asian noodles."
Am I the only one who read this part? Thank you, no, I don't require a Happy Ending with my bowl of Asian noodles.
I should retire immediately and start selling spaghetti to New Yorkers! Cha-ching!
Yes... The Cha-Ching Golden Noodle Emporium.
It’s very odd to see the staff at a Chinese restaurant have Chinese food delivered from another restaurant. That’s something to make you think about eating at that restaurant in the future. I say that because I was at a Chinese buffet one day after work and there was animal droppings in the food. Some Chinese restaurants do not care about the quality of their food; only the money.
i own a chinese dump preparing chinese foods in Tampa where my customers don't know the difference in wat they eat n my cooks r mainly mexicans and day raters looking for food and minimum wage. So my staff ordered outside chinese food for their lunch 'cse they are better tasting and CHEAPER.
You are a crank wad doosh bag.
You are so clever. I bet you tried to alphabetise a bag of M&M's.
In Scotland "Curry and Chips" passes for asian food in some places. Good with a couple of pints though.
You haven't had bad food until you have had Italian food prepared by a Scotsman. I had Pizza once fried on top of a grill with "chips".
Why is it that restaurants do not use MSG anymore?!? This is getting really irritating! Every Chinese restaurant I go in I ask if they use MSG and all say no. This is complete BS! Just because people are freaking ignorant and believe in old wives' tales which have been proven to be wrong (check mayo clinic website, for instance.) I cannot enjoy a meal with MSG. Educate the ignorant so I can have extra tasty food again!
Where da gold at?
I think it's under dat tree. I'ma run a backhoe and uproot dat tree. I want da gold. Gimmie da gold!
I want da gold too! Gimme da gold! Gotta have dat gold!
Back again for my opionated matter of the situation... I am here to dispel all myths about cooking. Seriously all you so called connoissieurs of cuisine really and truely actually lack taste buds. Cooking is like dancing, it's like making love, it's like painting a picture and composing a song. The elements to a great party is the music, the dance and lastly by the food....getting my drift meaning if that culture that is preparing the food is not evolved in these things believe me the palate will be affected even if that particular individual can read and write ok.. I have traveled extensively and found out a culture that can't dance not someone who needs to be trained as a dancer meaning it comes naturally it's fluid body movements so bottom line a people who can't sing and dance usually produces bland cuisine. Don't get it twisted that's why it is called soul food like soul music. It comes from the soul....bring on the culinary olympics ...I am ready.
Do you pass out tylenol with all that worthless blathering? Cause now I have a headache.
And what myths did you dispel?
Here, have some stfu cookies to help you dispel some myths.
CaramelCreoleQueen is a culinary hag.
h
aa
ggg
aa
h
My wife if Laotion and I am Italian. I can tell a significant difference when she cooks w/ ingredients from our Asian Market and 'Asian food' from restaurants. My concern will always be quality control. It is within the culture that (I've heard this a million times) "Nothing goes bad". Even true asian markets have food, on ice, for weeks. And it's not noodles folks. We are talking pigs blood, fish, ant larvae, frogs. I like the meals, but the 'after' picture is def better than the before.
There good are bad cooks in all restaurants. I've had horrible food in Chinese, Thai etc. restaurants, depending on who is cooking. Most Asian restaurants Americanize the food making it bland and tasteless; they also serve a lot of the same dishes. Many authentic dishes are not on the menu because they would be considered too weird for Americans or the taste is too odd. Americans have no concept that most countries have regional styles of cooking just as we have in America. Some people think Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese food is all the same.
You are correct, SOME people have no concept that there are differences in food not only by country, but by region, city, etc. within a country. Please don't say "Americans have no concept" – SOME have no concept, but not all.
UH YEA OK.... BUT FORGOT THAI FOOD!!! MOST PEOPLE LOVE THAI FOOD EVEN MORE THAN VIETNAMESE FOOD. CORPORATE AMERICA FOR LUNCH/DINNER THEY LOVEEEEEEEEEE THAI FOOD, THEY SAY ITS ADDICTING TO THEM LOL
26 bucks for a bowl of spaghetti? I'm assuming this means a family style size bowl of spaghetti.
With one bottle of ketchup, I could become the Queen of England. With one big push-back bate of mustard greens, I could become the Prime Minister of the Sudan. With one case of Moon Pies, I could become President of the World. I have a suggestion to stop all the wars around the globe. Airlift and drop 3 piece KFC to the opposing troops.
Biggest misconception about Asian food is that it is only Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian etc.
Asia also has Lebanese, Indian, Turkish, Arabian, Armenian and many others.
Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese...same difference. All Chinese people look alike!
It'd be less confusing if you adopt American usages of the terms:
Asian - means East Asians, such as Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Mongolians, etc.
South Asian – refers to Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodians, Indonesians, Malaysians, etc.
Middle Eastern - means Lebanese, Turks, Arabs, Persians, etc.
Armenian is "Eastern European."
We also do not consider Indians or Pakistanis to be "Asian." They do not have light yellow skin. They are actually more related to Caucasians - their language is part of the same family containing Greek, Latin and the Germanic languages including English. So we just call them Indians and Pakistanis. The reason you call them Asians is because India used to be part of the British empire and most of your contact with the East was with them. But no more. We Americans rule the world now. You will follow our speech ways.
This is so stupid. Concerning this article which was written with the purpose of debunking all these supposed myths/misconceptions about Asian food, I pretty much disagree with everything except the last point. Not only is there a lack of any tangible evidence, not only is everything that's written here (except for #5) ridiculously subjective, but I question not only the author of this piece and her credibility, but wonder who the intended audience was as well.
Asian food in America was "Americanized" around the early 1900s because, 1) Americans would not eat Asian foods... 2) Chinese (or Asian) restaurant proprietors wanted more business, and not just from the Chinese... So, when you go to an "Asian Restaurant", the food is American, not Asian, with the exception of, possibly, some dishes, the food is ALL Americanized and is generally made with American ingredients.
Danielle Chang is gorgeous.
That's a matter of opinion....
And your opinion doesn't matter!!!
Can I slap your monkey?
My wife is Egyptian, and we had ordered Chinese food for the first time in her life. She ate hers in another room, so I walked in afterwards and asked her what her fortune was. "What?", she says. I said you know, the fortune on the piece of paper inside your fortune cookie. Eyes open wide, and you can guess what she had done. I almost split a gut.
I don't agree with this.
I feel for a food to be terrific and original it requires more than just a talent for cooking; the culture is needed. I've lived all over the world and no matter where I go food in its own country always tastes the best. Korean food from actual Korean chefs usually is the best since they grew up and understand the "feelings and emotions" that go along with the food; something I or another American probably couldn't understand.
And none of those chefs emigrated to other countries? But I guess when they cross the border their chef talents go out the window.
i don't know anybody who believes any of those 5 things must be true. but then, i was expecting this to be an article about food that is actually prepared in asia, not about asian restaurants in america. oh well, swindled by the headline again.
10 thoughts
1. I can't believe someone gets paid to write something like this. CNN often = tabloids.
2. Why does it matter if a food is authentic? If you like it then eat it. If you don't then don't eat it.
3. Why does food discussion turn into a thread for closet racists?
4. I like frozen pizza.
5. I've had really good Sushi made by Koreans but I've never tried from a Mexican. But then again, does the race/ethnicity of the chef really matter?
6. I thought msg wasn't good for you.
7. Soup dumplings are the best.
8. Pasta in NYC is too expensive.
9. Please stop romanticizing things unnecessarily.
10. ...
msg= not good for you in the way milk is not good for those who are lactose intolerant. If you are in good health, moderate MSG is ok. My wife is Laotion and it is in most of our meals. It adds a great flavor.
I like the smell of my farts.
"I want da gold!" wants to smell your frozen pizza farts.
Frankly, some of the best sushi I've ever had has been made by Mexicans. Including my own.
My heritage dictates that I make mean Florentine and Oaxacan dishes, but the truth is my wok just loves me too much.
If all food were thai food, I'd be pretty happy.
So in other words, be prepared to pay outrageous prices for non-authentic Asian food prepared by someone culinary school geek rather than a fair price for authentic Asian food prepared by someone who has lived in and experienced the culture. Sounds like pseudo chic snobbery to me.
Okay, let me get to some points here... it seems some people here believe that the Chinese food in the United States is not authentic Chinese....that is really an insulting remark I believe. Why? The vast majority of Chinese restaurants are run by Chinese people, who came from China, where they obviously eat Chinese food . These people grew up in China or their grandparents did or their parents and all learned the art of Chinese cuisine, so when they come here and open a Chinese restaurant, how is it that their food suddenly becomes unauthentic? I myself have been to (and lived in)Beijing, and also went to Xian, and to many different places in Yunnan, and while the food there is different in certain respects to the chinese food i eat here in the states (which granted, is often made by people of southern chinese descent, in a region which also has its own uniqueness), i would not dare call the chinese food here unauthentic. and about the whole regional differences/not just calling it chinese food...While regional differences exist, these places are in china, hence, they are chinese food, just like in the united states.. there is louisiana style, soul food, west coast, east coast, but at the end of the day it is all still american cuisine.. concerning the whole "if it's not an asian chef than it's not authentic"..to paraphrase storm from an episode of x-men "that kind of statement is so pathetic it's almost quaint". be real people, culinary skill is just that, a skill, no matter what race you are
cooking is not just simply a skill, it's an art of understanding, and race matters
Race certainly DOESN'T matter and it definately is not an art.
So sick of everybody thinking their stupid little task they can perform without feeling like an iTard imbecile is an 'art form'.
Pathetic shallow people will always try to toot their own horns.......just so they can hear them, since no one else will.
Very lemming like and typical for 99.9999% of the lemming wanna be humans on this planet.
Wow, that's a little harsh, don't ya' think?
Whaaaaaaaat ? This article (by Danielle Chang) was such a waste, and has more overly extended the misconceptions ! I dint know India, Arab and Thailand were not part of ASIA anymore ! I think those cuisines are now regarded as European (LOL-or may be South American-LOL). If you want to test your taste-buds and taste the delicious, you should try Indian, Arab and Thai Cuisines.
authenticity is very important to being a classy asian food. Fusion is an excuse use by losers. Asian food can be prepare by any professional chef who knows and are well experience with asian cuisine and is true with any other international food. In terms of price, its the raw materials that make up the price. Lastly, asia is a continent not china.
well said!
Who pays 26 dollars a day for spaghetti with tomatoes and basil. maybe 8 dollars but not 26. New Yorkers must have too much money and should give rest fo the country their money.
interesting read but I must say living in Japan...Okinawa....has truly opened my eyes to some of the best food ive ever had Tastes that im yet to see replicated anywhere else
Most Asian Restaurants have three disgruntled illegal aliens from Mexico cook all the Asian dishes...I guess that is why they call it fusion cooking...
Love the "I have ate..." comment. English grammar at its finest. And, regarding the claims of travel to various Asian destinations, it's no wonder Americans are viewed as ignorant. I HAVE EATEN foods from many different Asian cuisines.
Rice!
Intriguing!
Do you know the difference between "authentic" Asian food the Americanized variety of that Asian food?
A cup of sugar.
I'm a straight, white, 27 year old male... what kind of an Asian cook does that make me?
My husband.
ahhh and what about MSG?
I lit a fart on fire once. Flame shot right up the hole. Boom.
THIS PIECE - REALLY? ASIAN FOOD DOESN'T MEAN CHINESE??? WHAT AN EARTHSHATTERING ASSERTION!!!! WHAT A WASTE OF SPACE. GIVE THE CNN READER A LITTLE BIT OF CREDIT.
I finally learned how to make hot & sour soup properly. Now I shop at our local oriental grocer, all the time. Authentic, or not, it is Good to try new things!
I also have learned to make hot-n-sour soup, except vegetarian-style...And, I believe it's better than I normally find in most restaurants (True, no pork or beef/meat stock, but w/ a good vegi stock, and extra shrooms....!) And yes, going to a good Asian market, and searching for "auhentic" ingrediants, is so much fun! Wish I could read the labels better, but you get the point.
As far as purists, in any cuisine, the one true "authentic" dish to you may not be the next person's "authentic" anything. One other poster on here got it right: the place next door, or across the street, or across town, or in a totally different place altogether, may have the "authentic" dish....The discovery, and the enjoyment of the meal, is what's most important.
Lay off. She put in the time to write an article and the least you could do is show a little common courtesy. If you didn't like it, why did you read it?
And you are an idiot. Did you read that these are misconceptions? Maybe read the article before you go around mongering your hateful words.
ASIAN is pronounced CHINESE
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Chinese food is familiar anywhere in the world because, their taste is quite universal and because only the Chinese can be so patient with starting a business anywhere in the world and they cling to each other to provide capital for business. The Chinese are also adept in "tweaking" their cooking to taste Chinese, more soy sauce! Have you ever seen a mom and pop diner, american style, anywhere in the world, or a mexican restaurant anywhere in the world, these cuisines can be universally acceptable but funding from within their culture, can nowhere to be found, and you can't tweak the tastes of these foods.
What about the Misconceptions that 1/3 of all meals in a Chines restaurant is really made form cats
Well, why don't we all just go to the Luckyrice festival and judge for ourselves to see if non-Asians can cook Asian? I was checking out the line-up and it looks pretty good to me, especially the Night Market under the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo. Here's the website y'all: http://www.luckyrice.com.
Really...? This is news worthy?? This needs to be on the front page of the news?? CNN really needs to prioritize.
I want to go to only japanese restraunts owned by japanese chefs simply because japanese food is very delicate (people can enjoy it with five senses) and I believe that japanese chefs perform the best. I mean "not every japanese chefs are good," but the probability of that I can meet real japanese food is much much higher for japanese chefs than othet national (south korean or chinese etc.) chefs.
Chinese or korean foods cannot make money so much, so i understand that those national chefs want to provide japanese foods.
and theres nothing about the misconception that the chicken is actually dog?
It took a couple of visits to convince my waiter that I wanted my Thai food cooked with the spices she would serve her family, but I no longer have to ask. If my face doesn't flush and/or I don't sweat, it wasn't hot enough.
Your article really sucks. There are so many good foodies out there who should be writing here instead of you. Really, reading this article has been really annoying. Not sure what's your target audience, but for sure anyone who knows about food would prefer to go have lunch at the Olive Garden to reading your dumb insights.
Your article really sucks. There are so many good foodies out there who should be writing here instead of you. Really, reading this article has been really annoying. Not sure what's your target audience, but for sure anyone who knows about food would prefer to go have lunch at the Olive Garden to reading your dumb insights.
Then, after you read it, you might have instead considered indulging in some stfu stir fry and moving the freak along. Why waste your time and effort lambasting an article that, clearly, wasn't targeted at you?
I love Asian food and have travelled considerably in Asia, particularly Eastern and Southeastern Asia, but Thai me up any day! Thai cuisine is varied, always full of flavor and very healthy for you.
after eating one hour hungry again so not true
P.F. Chang's China Bistro....thoughts?
microwave food – awful. about as Chinese as Taco Bell is Mexican.
Ick.
Ate there once with a friend. If it was a neighborhood place, I might go there more. But it was rather alsoran, so I won't make the effort. Decor was cool, but I'm there for the food and it wasn't that special.
1. Good Asian food must be authentic – By "authentic", most of us mean that dishes that can be truly related to a specific region and are not "adapted" to the tastes of locals. OF COURSE ingredients and talent play a big role in the taste of food, but I have been to numerous restaurants in North America, Latin America and Europe who claim to serve Chinese, Korean, India, Thai food etc but they don't dare to make the dishes the way people who really live in those regions would make it. Your argument here is flawed.
2. Fusion is a nasty word – Fusion is a beautiful word and fusion food is even better. Just that I dont like to have an American, French or Peruvian entrepreneur create some sort of szechuan pepper + foie gras combination and call it fusion. Fusion food is not created in a restaurant, it is a natural product of peoples and cuisines coming together. Again, your argument is flawed
3. Asian food must be prepared by Asian chefs
Not sure who told you that, but in NYC, where I live, some of the best Asian dishes are prepared by people of all different ethnicities, especially by Americans who migrated from south of the US border. Most NYers would be of the same opinion, yes, I know because I have lived here for more than 12 years.
4. Asian food should be cheap
Asian food is normally more affordable, very likely because there's a lot of competition
5. Asian food = Chinese food
Whoever says this, must not be very savvy of food in general, period.
I love CNN, but your posts are so annoying and ignorant.
I think you totally failed to comprehend the idea of the post. It's called 5 Misconceptions about Asian Food, not 5 Truths....
Do you get it?
Misconception #6: Charlie Sheen cooks food.
This is incorrect. Rockstar Vatican assassin warlocks do not cook food. They will it.
I have never found consistency in Asians restaurants. I LOVE Japanese food and if the restaurant is Asian owned I would never eat there unless they were Japanese. It's common sense. Most of these cooks UNLESS you are at a HIGH END restaurant are NOT the cream of the crop. They can cook the basics. Ever eat at a REAL Chinese place that Chinese people eat at? You would not like it if you westernized. My wife is Filipino and I hate every meal at get together unless her mom is cooking.
People who disagree have not been around the world and SEEN the difference. Or, they are eating at buffet's and think that it all taste great....
Most of the "Chinese" restaurants, in my area of the US, that I've been to were places I was taken with two friends who were from China and here on work visas. I couldn't read a thing on the menu, I may have been the only "white" person in the restaurant and my friends ordered in Chinese. I tried everything – yum! Unlike your comment about being western and not liking the more authentic style foods, you are wrong. Everything I had blew away the food that passes for "Chinese" in typical Chinese-American restaurants.
I find it so amusing that so many people are caught up with authenticity. First, there is no "authentic" food in countries outside of their own. We have different workers, different ingredients (even though they can be imported), different training – even different WATER. But I'd like to point out that there are places that are extremely close to being authentic (especially in places like California where there is a huge amalgam of Asians). I've been to various parts of Asia and am Asian myself so I can testify that I've been to damn near authentic places.
But aside from that – is authenticity THAT important?! It may be prepared by a Korean in a Japanese kitchen or a French chef preparing a Chinese chef – it may not be the farthest from authentic, but it could be the most delicious food and you people would just grumble that its not authentic! Food is to enjoy and share love – not to analyze.
Fine, just don't call it Asian then! I have no problem with the term Fusion (and some of them are pretty tasty)! Just don't hijack my identity!
....relax. no one is trying to hijack your reality.
authentic food --even in the country of origin one restaurant preparing the same dish can be DIFFERENT from the next restaurant across the street. California is the bedrock of chinese migrants and so chinese foods in usa is the best here –but not REAL chinese food.
I mean, yes, P.F. Chang is pure crap, but have you been to Chinatown in SF? or any other grungy hole in the wall in many of the Asian districts across CA? These places are owned by Chinese people, the chefs are Chinese (unlike a lot of others which use Mexicans) and every thing about the restaurant SCREAMS Chinese. Dim sum in SF? Everything down to the rude/comical service is true to form.
Authenticity still means something, Danielle. And that's true for every cuisine. Let's not keep finding excuses for our laziness and ignorance. One can't make a decent BBQ if he hasn't immersed himself in US for some time. Same token, you need to be in Asia to know what's Asian.
Having read most of the comments here, I am extremely disappointed mostly by Ryanzzzz. Intentionally or not, you come across as being very arrogant and very opinionated. It is your opinion and nothing more. I sincerely hope that you don't believe that all of your words are the final word. Granted, you and I are entitled to our opinions but you seem to be basing all of your generalizations on media-related fanfare and banter over the years. I happen to be German, can you guess the type of comments I get? My wife is Filipino. Once at an athletic club she was given soiled towels while finishing her own shower from working out there. Do you get my drift? To call all Americans stupid is ludicrous. For me to call all individuals racist for assuming that my wife was cleaning staff because of her ethnicity is equally ridiculous. Do you see my point? It is frustrating but it is the world we live in. To end this, I must say that Thai food is the favorite for my wife and I. She's grown tiresome of Filipino cuisine – and is open to trying new things prepared my people that specialize in whatever they create, regardless of race, color or language. We've traveled and we've tried many things. If it tastes good and it is clean and safely prepared. That's all that should matter.
most logical post here so far. If u r hungry–go to your favorite restaurant-chinese/phillippo/indian/japanese/malaysian/cambodian/burmese and order your meals. u can't compare–waste of time and gray matter. If u want REAL food, and have the time or money to catch a plane and fly to beijing –good luck to u.
I love Asian cooking it is one of the best out there and that comment about $26 for a bowl of spaghetti is ridiculous but true. Cuisine like everything else in the world is marketed and priced according as to who made it. I am from Haiti and with nothing we can make some serious culinary delights but do u think a Haitian restaurant could charge $26 for a plate and get it...there would be an outcry while a German restaurant could charge a month's rent in some places for boiled potatoes, schnitzel and boiled or steamed dumpling with no flavor and no problem. That's just the way of the world right now. Creole cuisine which is part of American soulfood is possibly one of the best in the world but do u think our chefs get the financial rewards ? If there was such a thing as culinary olympics many nations would be just elementary.
Another misconception, "Good Asian Cuisine" isn't always written about by "Authentic Asians".
All you posters who have never been to Asia, or have only been to Asian on guided tours, you have no idea what "real" Japanese, Korean, Chinese,...food is. 90% of all Asian restaurants in the US can barely even be classified as Asian food. The flavors in Asian cuisines in the US have been altered to suit Western tastes, especially Chinese food. I grew up in Japan and currently live in China for a few years now, and the Chinese food being served in the US is only the Cantonese style, but nowhere close to the real thing in terms of taste and ingredients.
I have to agree. MANY ethnic cuisines were altered and "Americanized", in short, MUCH weaker in multiple spices.
We Americans have a global reputation for having a bland palate.
I've ate REAL Indian food, traditionally prepared, though the cook WAS going to go easy on the spices.
I've ate REAL Chinese food, from three different provinces, as China has well over 20 different cultures, hence different cuisines.
I've ate REAL Japanese food, courtesy of a friend from Japan.
I've eaten several varieties of Arabic cuisine.
I've eaten Iranian food, the Iranians were surprised to see an American eating the raw garlic and onion appetizer with them.
The neat thing about all those many spices? One uses WAY less salt! AND they FILL the dish with flavor!
When I redeployed home, I sent a LOT of different spices home, some of which are EXTREMELY difficult to get here.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll have a cup of saffron tea...
wat is yr defination of REAL? food is REAL when u r hungry–I m now in the GOLDEN COUNTRY of plenty–the us of a. Asian foods r like those served up by YAN can cook? or muslim food served by Mohd bin arrang or Indian food prepared by Samyaurgan? Real food of any kind is wat is served by those restaurants where they put up a sigh to say-chinese-indian-malay-indonesian or wat ever. Have u seriously checked the kitchen, count the cooks and identify them or go through the pot and pans and run thru the fridge or cupboard to count the different types of herbs or spices or chilles –food prepared different styles and name them is no no real Asian?Chinese/India cooking like mummy does.
Asian foods is so general–u check out and order Chinese food duing the evenings? or during breakfast , lunch and high noon? Chinese food is unique for CHINESE when u sit down for Chinese breakfast food like hot soy bean milk with fried batter sticks and sticky rice. u go to dim sum during lunch and eat wt u like from the cart driven to your table and during dinner u have sweet and sour pork or hungchu fried rice and steam fish nd pakchoi. so if u have chinese food daily and don't know or ate chinese foods during the 4 intervals u r eating RUBBIS chinese food. lol.
japanese working in China–good combination–hats off to you. Japanese food to me is the best asian food in JAPAN not outside japan. So is Chinese/Asian foods r best in the countries of origin not in africa, paris or usa. Don't be presumious–many here have been to Asia -lived a length of time in Asia or married asian wives. All the mistake is to compare foods cooked asian style with asian foods found in that part of the world. No one here talked about asian foods cooked at HOME–not asian/chinese restaurants–totally different argument that home cooking is different to restaurant cooking.
I'm assuming the article is about Asian food consumed in restaurants...so that's why I am commenting as such. I know how home-cooking is really the truest way to experience the flavors of a nation's cuisine. The main problem is you can't find the variety of a nation's cuisine unless you are in that country. Sometimes, I'm craving BBQ spare ribs, but in China I really need to go look for it, and even still, it's not like what I've eaten in the US.
Can't speak for Chinese or Japanese, but as far as korean food is concerned, most korean restaurants in US serve very authentic Korean food. The quality may be bested by the ones based in korea, but in terms of authenticity in ingredients and cooking methods, they are no different than how the koreans in korea make it.
how all the dog that is eaten?
catch a puppy[usually in villages or construction sites] in summer and feed it until good and fat–near winter time or cold weather, just do wat u do with pigs or goats or chicken–cut to bits, marinate in wine and herbs for 48 hours n boil in a large pot filled with goodies like shark fins , albones or medicine and plenty of wine and simmer for 3 hours and u can enjoy dog meat soup with plenty of small talk. lol
Thai food is the BEST Asian food I have ever tasted. Granted, only had it in America and Canada, but what I've had is absolutely to die for!
It is pretty good. No doubt! :) Hopefuly one day you'll get to go to Thailand. The variety there is amazing. There are so many foods there that we just can't get here.
So what about "eat Chinese food, and in an hour you'll be hungry again"? Is that a myth? Why isn't it here??
It's not a myth. Chinese food (as served in the U.S.) has lots of refined carbs (rice and flour, mainly, but also sugar and cornstarch in sauces) and many fewer proteins than Americans are accustomed to. That combination causes an insulin spike followed by a crash a few hours later, which leads to pangs of hunger as your body tells you to build up blood sugar.
chinese food is so good though... chicken chow mein.. chicken fried rice, pinapple chicken, do i really care what the real 3rd world eats? you people who are so educated on 3rd world cuisine should let everyone know what they really eat... what real asian food is, anyone ever walk down the street in hong kong, i wouldnt even feed my dog some of that stuff...
Poor you. You are really missing out with an attitude like that. Open up and try it. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
There is a BIG difference between street food and fine dining. DO explore that difference some day, it might save you some food poisoning...
New Yorkers are paying $26.- for a bowl of spaghetti?! Cheapest and easiest to make food there is. Are they insane? Only in NYC!!!
I've paid more!
I can somewhat see what the writer was referring to when she said that a lot of people think Asian food only means Chinese food. Growing up in a small town in NC, I was very isolated and the only thing available was Chinese food so it was easy for me to think it was all the same. Since I moved out of the "pit", I am VERY happy to discover the completely different Asian foods out there. Had Thai tonight! YUM!!!
Good Chinese food must be prepared by a chef who looks sinister and determined. Good Japanese food must be prepared by a thin and moderately deranged chef who exudes confidence. I have never eaten good Korean food - please note that this is neutral comment rather than a slight. Good Thai food can be prepared by street vendors in Bangkok. Frozen ethnic food is inedible.. and this includes the Italian varieties... and frozen pizza is disgusting, regardless of who produces it. The whole world wants to eat an ultra prime beef steak, except vegetarians (all of whom look as though they are dying from malnutrition). Kosher poultry is totally sublime and needs no seasonings; the other stuff is borderline yukky and requires huge blasts of seasoning to cover up the terrible reality. Farm raised fish is dangerous. Wild caught seafood is the only way to go, provided that the species is not on list of mercury or other toxic nasties of the ingestible variety. There are no safe limits when it comes to poison. Cereal that contains iron - grind some up, put a magnet into the dust, and you will be able to extract and see iron particles clinging to the magnet. It is not a bad thing, just proof that there is iron in it. Surprised? Nuts and seeds - always go organic and pray that it is so. Ditto vegetables. Bacon is wonderful, provided that it is free of nitrates, nitrates, added salt, and other artificial nasties - Coleman and Apple-something come to mind... go for the the leaner slabs. Salami - always buy hard salami (lower fat, less salt) and microwave it - voila! - delicious and close to ordinary bacon. Man does not live by healthy foods alone. Avoid ice cream made from hormone-laced cows. Exo-hormones can raise hell with you. Ben and Jerry's is okay, as is Bluebell. Haagen Daz is a no-no. Check things out. Make intelligent decisions. There, I have just extended your healthy life span by a whole bunch. You are welcome. - L.Q. Squarf, Flamekeeper of Western Civilization, Consumate and Omnivorous Genius, and All-Around Nice Guy
asian or for that matter european or indian foods is mother's cooking. real asian food r from CHINA-all r copies or bootleg by so all asian cooks. If asian foods re cooked badly -don't complain that asian foods are bad. If u r a traveller, the BEST Indian [asian] foods is in LONDON not India. China the birth place of Chinese foods can be a multi-choice from Beijing to Shanghai to Canton to Dialan to Beihai to shenzhen.–if u really want to try asian foods-marry an asian and let her mother cooks it. lol.
I have had Indian food in London as I have had Indian food in India. I had food all over that country from Kolkata, to Delhi, to Mumbai, to Rajashtan and Kerela and Tamil Nadu. I can tell you first hand that the food in India is much, much, better than London. There is no comparison.
By the way, and don't let your head get too big, but Chinese food is by far the best food on earth. The diversity and flavors are absolutely mind boggling.
I totally disagree with the author. I consider myself a foodie and an Asian food specialist. Not only do I cook all types of Asian dishes (my specialties are Chinese, Malaysian/Thai/Lao, and Indian) but I have been to Asia three times and have visited almost all of East Asia (the only places I haven't visited are the Koreas, the Philippines and Burma). My fiancee is Vietnamese to boot.
Anyways, the food over there, and the way it's prepared is very, very different than over here. It's pretty much impossible to find anything authentic outside of Asia. The food is so much better over there and there is so much more variety. You can't even compare. The biggest reasons are the all ingredients they use and the cooking techniques.
By the way, the best food I have ever had in Asia was in Guangzhou (China), Georgetown/Penang (Malaysia) and Hanoi (Vietnam). Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!!!
so is macdonalds or kfc or pizza hut–leave USA and u will find that these american fast foods r not real american fast food in India, Malaysia, China< japan, etc.. –so goes ASIAN foods–u r not asian n so u don't cook asian foods but copy the style of asian cooking. I am from that part of the world n I know u aint no asian cook.
I don't see why your trying to discredit me. I am very much a student of Asian cooking. My Hongkongese friend and his parents taught me some techniques, as my university friend from the outskirts of Beijing. My Vietnamese mother in law also taught me how to make an authentic Pho (great broth). My best friend, who I work for, is Indian and his mom taught me various techniques as well. I also took a cooking course in Lao. I also am very, very experimental when I travel and I eat everything thing from chicken's feet, to duck's bone marrow, to lung soup, to black chicken and much, much more. I'm not afraid of street food, hawker stalls, and fine dining. I may not be perfect, but I'm pretty good for a white boy. :p
Mark, you're only learning. You'll never get it completely, that is the joy of cooking, learning new techniques and improving.
I'm only a half century old now and can cook with many different culture's techniques and DO frequently fuse the parts of one to another to create something new that ALL enjoy.
Unfortunately, we here in the US have a rather bland palate, with few spices.
Thankfully, I thought ahead and shipped a LOT of good spices home when I was redeploying home, as did many other troops I looked at.
dear whity–u r no CHINESE-so u are not cooking chinese./asian foods even if u hv an asian wife or m-i-law. I M A CHINAMAN n bred to tell u that u can eat dinner with the in-laws or go to fancy restaurants in Guillin or Deli or Bali or Kaula Lumpur , that don't make u a real Chinese or real Asian cooking real chinese/asian foods. We r chinks with small eyes and like rats in the streets of Shanghai or Canton or mumbai. lol.
You are no Chinaman. An authenic or genuine Chinaman doesn't talk like you. It takes one to know one. You are
a phony. Stop pretending to be someone else. I tell you what you really are. You are an authenic and genuine
racist.
Asians should stop eating weird stuff if they want to excel like Jews!
jews–lol. now u r talking. jews eat people? people eat people.
We are said to eat any creature in existence. That's not true!! I'm against dog-eating! Dogs are friend of mankind. No ands, not buts, unless humans are starving and there's nothing else to eat.
or chinese bears' paws-chinese goose tongues-or chinese bull ballocks-or chinese cats-or frogs-or turtles-or fish lips-or chinese humpbacks. hinese eat anything including tree barks, see worms, locusts, spiders or worst when mao's time each other.
This thread about Asian food in itself is interesting as it discusses Chinese, Japanese and Korean as the Asian Foods. It seems to be overlooking Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Philippine, Indonesian, and of course Indian, which is part of Asia too. It is easy to find good “Chinese”, Japanese or Thai but unless you live in California it's pretty difficult to find good Indonesian, Cambodian or Malay.
only a ignorant liberal hippie would ask for "authentic" Asian food.
....Lamp
Me too!
you all
folks, people forget that india is part of Asia too. Therefore, indian food is also asian food and not just chinese food
Another big one is fortune cookies as pictured for this article. They actually don't even have fortune cookies in China. I lived in Beijing for a few years and never saw one. No one there had ever heard of them either.
The fact that I cannot, apparently, e-mail this article is testament to the pretentiousness of the buffoons running this site.
Erm – there's a Share button with an e-mail option right under the article.
Well played:)
今天晚上我的中文老师教了我怎么包饺子! 很好吃!!
I learned how to make dumplings tonight! They are so good...they aren't too different from ones you get at a restaurant. I do think they taste better; probably because I helped make them.
my grandma makes the best dumplings and they taste nothing like the ones sold in restaurants. But my grandma is from the part of china where dumplings were invented.....so that may be why.
And all foods become "cheapened" when it comes to the U.S. for the sake of economics. Most restaurants don't succeed after all. We have olive garden, moby dick, taco bell, panda express, mcdonalds etc all of which are basdardization of the original cuisine. It doesn't bother me because I like anything that tastes good. If you want "high quality" cuisines you CAN find them....you just have to be willing to pay. Just because there are more fastfood-type chinese restaurants doesn't mean there aren't pricy ones. The pricey ones won't have the dishes you're used to having such as "orange chicken" (a dish people in China have never heard of like half of the "chinese foods" we have here).
Americanized chinese foods are cheap, low quality, but delicious. Authentic chinese foods are also delicious but also tend to be more expensive and only found in asia. The really "authentic" chinese foods are served by restaurants most of us can't afford and based off recipes known only imperial chefs of bygone times.
That said, chinese people who come to america have trouble recognizing what's "chinese food" because it resembles nothing like the real chinese food they know. My grandma had panda express and she had NO idea it was supposed to be chinese food LOL. I like panda express though. I think it's yummy, just in a different way from authentic chinese food that most americans have not had the pleasure of trying.
chinese or asian foods in America can be north or south pole. If u seek the best asian foods, visit chinatown in New York or San Francisco where the cooks are illegal chinese or wives of chinese migrants.. But if u ask for Asian/chinese in Rourke or Sweet charity, it is food with chinese bosss or an asian menue with chinese names for food owned by mexicans . lol.
Some of those cooks are 3rd & 4th generation San Franciscans.
I would guess you've never been to San Francisco's Chinatown – or Oakland's.
misconception about asian food #6: americans are stupid, ignorant, fat, and boorish.
i agree, many are.
many chinese restaurants in america are grungy takeout joints with fortune cookies too. and they are chinese-owned, so...
"Susur Lee, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Anita Lo, for example – are masters at employing Western techniques with Asian ingredients."
Sorry then it's not authentic. It might be tasty but not what a real asian person would prepare. I just got back from China and the food is nothing like the lame "Chinese" food we get here in the States with a few minor exceptions. Granted I live in Seattle and the Chinese food here is better than my hometown of Tulsa but it is so lame compared to the places I visited in China. Keep in mind that those restaurants were not even the best in China, just really good ones. Also, as most people don't realize that China cuisine is in itself quite different. Each region offers unique dishes or twists from other regions. Taiwan also has some unique dishes but most are twists from the mainland. So if you are going to call some dish Taiwanese then you might as well call all other dishes from China by their respective regions as well...otherwise its all Chinese.
As an aside, everyone knows (I hope) that fortune cookies are not chinese. They were invented in San Francisco in 1894 to be served at the Japanses Village (Japanese Tea Garden) in Golden Gate Park during and after the Midwinter Fair by Makoto Hagiwara. Mr. Hagiwara asked his baker, Ben-Kyo-Do, to produce the Japanese "Tsuji ura sembei" or sembei cookies served at Shinto shrines during the New Year celebration. Sweetened to appeal to Western tastes, the cookies were served, often gratis, with tea by the Japanese Village's kimono-garbed hostesses as welcome refreshment to visitors.
See http://www.sfcityguides.org/public_guidelines.html?article=41&submitted=TRUE
That would have been a much better point for the article to have covered than the crap that they did mention.
Indeed! Especially since Los Angeles recently tried to claim the fortune cookie originated there. C'mon!!!!
How about elaborating on the fact that there is no such thing as Chinese food (Cantonese, Sichuan, Beijing, Shanghainese, just to name a few of the big distinct cuisines). This is of course similar to Italian food or any food culture that is geographically diverse and spans centuries. I think what people want from authenticity isn't just based on the fact that it is old school and inflexible. People are actually talking about chefs that are educated in a culture and its cuisine. For example, Asian food isn't just soy sauce and the now popular sriracha in everything. Or another example, the ever ridiculous thai this, or vietnamese that, which means peanuts and some fresh veg. Both of those food cultures deserve much more than that, and many chefs either just dabble in some "Asian" flavors and think that's enough authencitiy, but really is doing an injustice.
I agree with you that Asian food shouldn't be considered just as cheap eats. However, I think your analogy to spaghetti and meatballs and soup noodles is misguided. The reality is noodles is cheap food in Asia. The difference is you have vendors who have dedicated their whole store/life to a particular product like artisans. You rarely get that in the States when it comes to Asian food. What I think is missing is real top end Asian food that is made from top ingredients, by highly skilled artisans, who aren't merely doing "fusion" food.
Food in USA tastes different than in the original countries, vegetables and meat are 100 natural and food has a better flavor!!!
Food in USA tastes different than in the original countries, vegetables and meat are 100 natural and it has a better flavor!!!
When I think of Chinese food, the first thing I think of is MSG...
Them and most anywhere else these days. I like the taste of a little umame in my food. But look no further than a Tex-Mex restaurant. They use considerable amounts of it in enchiladas and beans for example. But in Asia, especially in Japan where umame (and the word comes from, although in the US many use MSG) is used heavily there is no intolerance to it. But then again many hate and can't tolerate dairy.
mmmmmm delicious MSG!
Yup, MSG is definitely used, but there's nothing wrong with that. I use it myself. It's works wonders. lol!
I have never heard of any of these misconceptions nor has this article been of any value.
Just like your response! Go figure!
what about the one where if you eat Asian food you'll be hungray again an hour later?
i was wondering the same.
Only if you choose the dishes that are very high in carbs. Your body burns them off much faster than dishes lower in carbs.
Americans burning off carbs? Since when? ;-)
fucking yum!!! :)
By the way, I'd like to make a point that all that crap that's drenched in sweet syrupy sauce that you get at the local dingy Chinese take out place on your corner is not really authentic (I know, it's one of her points). but essentially a concoction invented by the cooks to please the appetites of fat boorish Americans who are used to a diet of McDonalds and greasy hot pockets. It's a shame that's what Americans think of when they think of Chinese cuisine, which is a lot more diverse.
I was amazed to have sweet and sour pork prepared for me in Shanghai three weeks ago, turns out it is an authentic dish for that region. It was picked by the locals as one of the specialties. Chinese cuisine is so different from region to region, and restaurants in the US end up with dishes from all over the country.
Are you sure it's not an "authentic dish" of that region because america exported that dish there? Shanghai was a pretty "multicultural place" when foreign powers were in control in China. Sometimes reverse cultural diffusion happens.
there r sweet n sour pork in Canton, hong kong , singapore, johore, jogjakata, ho chee min city san francisco. it is the roughest food alive n not some thing special. bits of pork saturated in flour , thrown into boiling oil and serve with a sause of sugar and sour oil. cheap stuff n u r taken for a ride–pork wise.lol.
My oldest joke is that I EAT in 27 languages. :)
I was also amazed when I took a tour of different cities in China, and the food provided at the restaurants in the itinerary were similar to the Chinese restaurants in the US. Of course, most of the tourists at the restaurants were westerners, so figured that the restaurants were catering western taste or what westerners are comfortable to eat as Chinese food. Since I wasn't in a group tour, I asked my tour guide to take me to where the locals dine, and the dishes were totally different. What I saw was that some restaurants have adapted for the westerners' taste.
Again Ryanzzzz, have you ever been to a "western" restaurant in China (or other Asian countries). I have, and the Chinese restaurants here in the US have a much more varied (and fairly close to authentic) menu. Obviously, you haven't been to China or if you have, only one area. There are many kinds of cuisine, and the "American" style Chinese food isn't that different from areas like Shanghai and Jiangsu Province.
Uh, no, but that's not what the article is about and that's not what we're talking about. Yes, many Asians are completely ignorant about "stuff," like democracy, but we're not talking about them, we're talking about us.
r u for real? a chinaman like me don't agree with u–chinese food or asian food is where u r borned that gives the varity or spark. u can copy lighning in a bottle. american asian food or chinese food is brought to usa by asians by migrants who cannot be barbars or laundry workers or railroad collies but cooks. and guess wat? they cooked food they are familar with n if u r a chinese it is chinese food –bad or good , it is the billions who taste and compare wat they r not used to. asian or chinese foods can become american foods. gee.....
I've had incredibly good Chinese meals in China, Hong Kong, Taipei, Jakarta, Singapore, and it isn't that the food is that different from here, it is that it tastes 1,000 times betters. It is because they have a system of getting fresh produce and meat from the farm to the restaurant quicker. The food is fresher, and they use less oil. At American Chinese restaurants they use highly processed ingredients, fill the food with inexpensive items like celery and cabbage, but that is because, as the article points out, we expect to pay $6 for an entree, and most of the food at the supermarket is heavily processed. There are gourmet Chinese restaurants in America that do sell quality meals, but I believe that the article is correct, people don't feel they should have to pay much for Chinese food. And it is sad because in Taipei it tastes about a trillion times better.
The problem Ryanzzzz is that you confuse ignorance and stupidity. You claim that most Americans are stupid for not knowing the diversity of Asian foods when it is in fact ignorance. I bet most Americans know that what they are eating is Americanized Asia food; they know the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Indian food but they don't care as they are satisfied eating what they have.
Jason,
No, I'm not confused between "stupid" and "ignorant," I just think the context of this article is confusing and causing comments to be skewed. This article, unfortunately, is too low brow for foodies, and too "lite" for your average boorish American.
No, you are not stupid if you can't use chopsticks or don't know the difference between Malaysian and Vietnamese food. You are STUPID if you decry the concept of raw fish as gross and smelly as you bite into your Big Mac or if you ask the staff of a Chinese restaurant if they cook dog and cats (which happened very often to my grandparents who owned a restaurant in Wisconsin in the 70s).
For those prissy PC folks who take offense to the word "stupid" really need to grow some thicker skin.
I'm American and I know the typical "Chinese" food we find in all too many "American Chinese" restaurants isn't "authentic", is tailored toward American tastes and I do not care for most of it as I don't like swimming in gooey sauce foods. I think there is truth to what a poster above said, there is always going to be a certain cross-section of population in any country who may not be aware of the food and culture of other countries – this lack of knowledge isn't reserved for Americans only. There is no need to get so angry with everyone here. People ask questions, that may be "stupid" to you in order to learn, not just to be rude.
That is the sad thing about America though. We are a country of meny cultures, but inevitably, those great cultures get Americanized and the beauty of things such as food is lost to big businesses who only wish to find ways to sell more and produce cheaper. Anyone who thinks they've bought ANYTHING authentic from any chain restaurant other than perhaps a burger is sadly mistaken.
@Kim
I don't care about authenticity. Taste is everything.
word!
Agreed. Authenticity is completely overrated. People try to find authenticity so much that they overlook how good the actual food is.
All fairly obvious, even for someone from the boondocks of Louisiana. Most people know at least of Japanese food and many Korean/Thai food (so number five doesn't really happen that often).
This is the most inane food blog. Do most Americans really thing that all Asian food = Chinese food? Give us more credit than that. Come on.
Maybe you live in a more urban/cultured area (I for instance live in NYC). The vast majority of Americans are incredibly stupid and ignorant. As an Asian-American myself, don't get me started on the crap that I've been asked or the stupidy that I've witnessed in reference to Asian culture.
You are a bigot for Calling Americans incredibly stupid. Most don`t live in multicultural areas and don`t know much about Asian food or Asian culture in general. I would say they are ignorant about Asian culture or the Asian- american experience but that doesn`t make them stupid.
Are you a Karate black belt?
Guaranteed few 'Asians' (since were lumping a whole third of the world together, good job with that NYC enlightenment) are about as well versed in American foods as Americans are of Asian foods. And stereotypes like McDonald's don't count. Despite the disparity of wealth, small town USA isn't all that different from something 8000 miles away. Errors, misjudgments, and ignorance are common currency.
I live in North Dakota and trust me I know the difference between Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Thai food. Oh wait no I'm sorry I must not because I don't live in a fancy big city like NYC where bigotry just doesn't exist. We podunk country folk just have to bow to the big city intellect. You are in fact the ignorant one, and you are a bigot. To make such a broad assumption about people is just sickening.
In response, to the couple posts below, I was making generalizations about my fellow AMericans which are very true and not "bigoted" in the racist sense. Some of you need to grow thicker skin and stop being so prissy. For instance, Jared, I never said someone not living in NYC is ignorant to the diversity of Asian food.
Ridiculous comment. I am an American living in Japan. The average Japanese person is highly ignorant of most cultures other than their own. That's not because they are idiots. It's because they live in Japan, practice Japanese culture, and don't bury their noses in 'Western Culture for Dummies' every night. Why should they?
I am sympathetic with you about one thing. It can be very annoying/degrading when others ask questions that, although it might not be intended, are embarrassingly ignorant and demeaning to my culture. But you will find that most cultures are usually ignorant of other cultures.
Dear Antonio, you are completely misinformed by my post as are several others. It seems like just because I claim Asian ethnicity and criticize the general stupidity when it comes to Americans and Asian culture that people then have to respond that Asians can be more stupid and ignorant when it comes to other cultures. So what, we're talking about American's perceptions here, not Asians.
I completely agree. I apologize for those of you insulted, but if you're reading CNN you're most likely in a market with an higher education level and social awareness.
I don't agree that Americans are stupid – that's just another racist comment. But being an Asian American myself, I've come across people (of all backgrounds) in rural areas as well as cosmopolitan areas who are COMPLETELY ignorant and unaware that there are more Asians than Chinese people. As much as you don't wish this to be true, there are plenty of people who live in all Caucasian areas who refuse to open their minds to anything other than what the were grown up with. You can deny it all you want, but it DOES exist!
Jason is wrong. As a Caucasion male whose family has been American since the 1800s, I can state with no trace of bigotry that the majority of Americans are incredible stupid. I always believed that while growing up and later, having had the opportunity to live and work in the Middle East, Far East and South America and observing my fellow countrymen in those places found that I was right all along. And no, I'm not a liberal mush head and I really don't care for all that muliticultural and politically correct crap.
I do wear multifocus eyeglasses and have a problem with the small print on my screen. I'm sure the trolls will point out that my previous post used "incredible" where it should have said "incredibly."
I mean no offense but... my favorite food is Indonesian food, and I highly doubt there are any Indonesian or Malaysian restaurants in North Dakota. I also like Korean and Cambodian, so my guess is that even in Fargo one cannot order Beef Rendang, Martabak, Gado Gado, Amok, etc. You probably can get Bibimbap in Fargo.
Most Americans (especially outside the big cities where asians usually live) are ignorant but not stupid. From what I've seen, if you give a white guy a pair of chopsticks to practice with and enough exposure to asian food he picks it up fairly quickly. The same can be said of fresh-off-the-boat asians who have had little exposure to real western food.
Ignorant = not knowledgeable (for many reasons, lack of experience or exposure, etc).
Stupid = unable to gain knowledge.
@dave – thank you for that small bit of reason, it is refreshing to read amid the petty squabbling. There are many things I DON'T know about many cultures, merely because I am not exposed to them. I try not to insult anyone of any ethnicity with questions that promote stereotypes. Anyone who scoffs at others as "stupid" because of what they don't know obviously has a need to feel superior and will attack others to feel they have an intellectual edge. Unfortunately, all that does is promote negative stereotypes about cultures. As for asian or other ethnic food – I don't care who is making it as long as it is hot, freshly made, and delicious. I'll let the pretentious ones care about "authenticity."
As I said below, I think the context of this article is confusing and causing comments to be skewed. This article, unfortunately, is too low brow for foodies, and too "lite" for your average boorish American.
No, you are not stupid if you can't use chopsticks or don't know the difference between Malaysian and Vietnamese food. You are STUPID if you decry the concept of raw fish as gross and smelly as you bite into your Big Mac or if you ask the staff of a Chinese restaurant if they cook dog and cats (which happened very often to my grandparents who owned a restaurant in Wisconsin in the 70s).
For those wussy folks who take offense to the word "stupid" really need to grow some thicker skin.
You know what? I've been all over Asia, lived there for many years, and do you know what? People in Asia are just as dumb and uneducated as people anywhere else, by and large. As bad or worse than your hypothetical average American. You wouldn't believe the crazy stuff I've heard that people believe about the world outside their borders, so you can take you anti-American attitude and...
As far as the article goes, items 1 – 3 are absolutely correct. I get good Asian food in America because I'm married to a very, very good Asian cook and we grow a lot of our own Asian herbs to make sure it's good and fresh. Getting fresh ingredients is hard. The only way to get seafood that's as fresh as what you can buy in Asia is to catch it myself.
You are a crank wad doosh bag too. Here have some stfu deep fried fish with that wretched condescending attitude of yours. Beotch.
That's one of the points of the blog. But the funny part is: What's the icon on CNN's main page for this article?
Well, no. Her point was that people percieve Asian food as Chinese food. My point is that the American's perception of Chinese food is take-out, which is essentially the crummy fast food version of Chinese cuisine, which is far more diverse and pleasurable.
Well no, you're an idiot of epic proportion. Chinese food sucks and so do you.
Hey Ryanzzz, being in Asia for 8 years (many countries), I bet I have been asked even more stupid stuff than you have here.
So are you saying Asian are more stupid than Americans. I wouldn't know myself, being American and never having been to Asia. Sorry for your pain.
Ryanzzz, just pointing out generalization with generalizations. Not quite sure if you can get that though. Either way, your posts so far have been sadly ignorant whatever place you are talking about.
Uh, apparently you can'y get cynicism. I'm making generalizations about Americans b/c for one, I am one and second, that's what the article is about – generalizations about how Americans generalize things. I suspect you keep on bringing up being bombarded by stupidity of Asians b/c I had mentioned I am of Asian decent and you probably got offended and wanted to retort. What you don't realize behind your faux-cleverness, is that you're the one being irreverent, as well as bigoted, either as much so as me, or more so.
Maybe not MOST, but far too many born and raised in this country are that ignorant.
I agree with you 50%. Americans used to think that Asian food meant Chinese. Today with Japanese cuisine and Thai cuisine widely available throughout America, I think a great many Americans know what edamame, ama ebi, wasabi, soba noodles, etc. are. So, that is a massive difference from 30 years ago. But... We don't yet know Indoesian (absolutely wonderful food), Cambodian, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipina, Burmese, etc. Now, when I go to Indonesia they are very familiar there with Italian, American, French, etc. but not so much with Mexican.
I disagree. I've been to so-called Japanese restaurants that are owned by Koreans. They do not know how to cook Japanese foods. I've always avoided those types of restaurants. The atmosphere is not the same and the food is pretty bad. Now, I only go to Japanese restaurants that are not Korean owned. I don't mind if it's Chinese owned.
I totally agree.
Most absurd comment I read on CNN thread.
Ever been to an American restaurant in Asia? A Mexican place in Finland? I've done that and more and can tell you it's not at all the same as in the home country, even when you're having robot food at McDonald's in Hong Kong. Many capable cooks can handle foreign cuisines well, but Rick Bayless is the only chef that I know who cooks truly great food from a culture he wasn't born into, but he did spend many years in Mexico studying both food and culture. Incidentally, her first three items are provably not "misconceptions."
I find the large chain restaurants to be very consistent worldwide. I think a meal at Outback Steakhouse tastes pretty much the same if you are having it in Jakarta, London or Florida. The strangest one for me is Starbucks. I've noticed the identical light fixtures, green table umbrellas, wall posters, etc. in Australia and Singapore as we have in New Hampshire. The only thing that varies are the food items. Hot Dog Mayo buns in Malaysia, etc.
I don't know, Scott. I was forced to eat at a McDonalds in Moscow, and whatever that red stuff was, it wasn't anything I would recognize as ketchup.
Why in the world would you go to a chain restaurant when you're in a foreign land? How dull...
@Reasonably Picky – When my husband and I travel we always eat the local food, for 95% of our meals and snacks. But we also try to scout out a Burger King for one meal, to see how it might differ from BK in the US. It's just a fun comparison.
that's...just.....insane.
Anyone can make good food if properly trained with the right ingredients. Some hardline japanese traditionalists believe women can't make proper sushi because we have hands with the "wrong temperature" and frankly I think that's just condescension. Plenty of women have naturally cold hands and guys with naturally warm hands.
That was one of the five MYTHS the article was trying to debunk.
My wife loves my cold hands. Especially on her nipples...
@ feeler
That's funny, she said she liked my cold hands too!
so, let me get this straight... you determine the national origin of the owner of a restaurant before you patronize it? seems like a lot of work for a california roll.
Food quality is what you are complaining about, nimrod.
totally agree with you !!!! so many Japanese resturants are run by Korean!! I don't know what is the deal there.. they can never do it right and they can be so mean too..
This is completely absurd and frankly a bit racist. I've been to restaurants with owners of many races that have been rude!
haha! so true! the ones we've been too, the koreans are so rude!
i absolutely agree. the japanese are really mean, and they can't cook. it's better to have food prepared by koreans.
I think Turbokuni is just trying to point out that there are korean sushi type joints (typically not always, are of the california roll, bento box variety), and you have the Japanese sushi which at it's high-end is at another level. No one is saying a Korean person can't make delicious food/sushi, but how can you replicate a the experience and immersion in Japanese culture, apprenticed at a sushi restaurant for years and worked on their craft? Of course there are exceptions, but if you live in California, everyone knows there is typically a huge difference between a korean style sushi joint (fusion rolls etc) and a traditional japanese sushi joint (where you might not even have a soy sauce plate, but the chef would brush on the soy or sauce to control the flavor for the customer)
she doesnt mean every instance it was a broad comment. i go to a korean place owned by phillipinos and its amazing so your statment is kind of invalid.
What a wild generalization to make! I've had plenty of crappy food, but it comes down to how badly the place is run, not the ethnicity of who runs it. So if it were reversed that a few korean-owned japanese restaurants you've tried were better than a few japanese-owned ones you've tried, would you conclude that the japanese suck at making their own food?
Dude...
You're just being racist.
You don't even know us Koreans and you diss our way of making food...
There are some Koreans who are the best in making Japanese foods. GOT THAT!!
If you don't know anything about us then you shouldn't say anything about it because that is just bullshit.
Stop being so opinionated and live your life and don't concern about us.
Because we don't need your fucken insults.....
What are you japanese? from seeing that name Kuni.
Anyways I don't go around insulting other people's culture and the way they cook or do what they want.
Seriously I hate it when people are biased about one side and not the other.....
You're such a typical Korean, always quick to attack everybody else. You people are extremely rude to everybody, including whites, Asians, blacks, and Mexicans. No wonder some people call Korea the France of Asia.
I have no problems with Korean cuisine, but as a Japanese I don't want Koreans making Japanese food. I don't know any Koreans who pull off making Japanese food so I don't where your experience is coming form especially since you're not Japanese. We eat different foods bro so your opinion is meaningless
The Aristocrats!
M.Lee... you prove the very well known Japanese belief that no one in the whole world can ever be as stupid as a Korean.... and yes I know your very rude, arrogant as hell, dumb as a rock people...and no they can't cook Japanese food to save their life..
Tell the Japs to stop making fake "Kimu-chi" = Kimchi imitation.
really, dude, you're very rude! is that what Korean like you is all about? you represent Koreans to say such a thing, and you should embarrass yourself for making such comment.
"The atmosphere is not the same and the food is pretty bad." maybe your going to the wrong restaurants. your probably those bokes that article is talking about. looking for somewhere CHEAP.
"I only go to Japanese restaurants that are not Korean owned. I don't mind if it's Chinese owned."
yes, obviously because Chinese people know how to make Japanese cuisines better. lmao. most illogical reasoning ever.... i guess it figures.... coming from and uneducated idiot.
bwahahahahahaha! your and uneducated idiot!!
This guy is obviously trolling, please stop responding to this non-sense. TROLL ALERT!
Hahahaha what?! As a Japanese person I hate eating so called Japanese food made by Chinese or Koreans.They didn't grow up eating and making that food so the "soul" of the food isn't there, and most of the time it isn't authentic. I don't know any Japanese person who doesn't feel the same way. As for their separate cuisine, if I'm going to eat Chinese or Korean food, I want a Chinese person cooking Chinese food and a Korean person cooking Korean food. It's a misconception that these cuisines are similar cause they aren't. This Chinese chick is way off on that point.
She didn't say that different types of Asian food are similar. In fact, she made the opposite point, that Asian cuisine is fully of variety.
That's odd... I've found the opposite to be true. Chinese-owned Japanese restaurants are usually the ones to avoid at all cost – reasons being that they tend to use cheaper materials (less fresh, lots of cheapo substitutions for ingredients, chinese are notorious for being cheap – ask any non-chinese asian) and dirtier.
Many japanese restaurants owned by koreans are pretty good, they even have many japanese employees and japanese sushi men, there are some big japanese food chain owned by different cultures that are pretty good
Korea was under Japanese rule for 35 years, so it's perfectly logical the Koreans would adopt Japanese cuisine. There just happens to be more Koreans in the U.S. than Japanese, so their restaurants are more likely to be entrepreneurial ventures rather than restaurants of fine dining.
Wow, racist much?
There is a mixture of cultures for Japanese and Korean (look back at history). Japanese food may not carry the food you see in Japan, but also embraces the Japanese food that Koreans are accustomed to.
Chinese-owned Japanese restaurants are by far the worst...
I wish there were more Japanese-owned restaurants...
I totally disagree with Turbokuni's comment. I hate to go to Chinese owned Japanese restaurants. They make Japanese dishes like sweet&sour dish yuk! and stuff that they use (especially sushi/sashimi fish) they use frozen fish and cheap quality. I go to either Japanese owned or Korean owned..not Chinese
Interesting!
Vapid!
Fascinating!
Awesomeness!
Word!!
Really!!!
skreet!
stimulating
Obvious!
Genius!
Delicious!
adjective!
Rovery!!!!
Shrubbery!
Yes! Shrubbery!
C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!
Ni !
Gkacius wins
Feculent!
unrealistic
Yes interesting.
Why is it that all of the Asian restaurants in California where I live have Mexican or Hispanic cooks????
The front of the house may be all Asian but the back is all Spanish speaking.
Duh, I guess you haven't been paying attention. Do you think restaurant kitchens are all filled with highly paid chefs? There is usually one executive chef and the rest are Hispanic migrant workers. By the way, these are the same workers the Republicans want to kick out of the country. Great, fill the jobs with union workers and it will cost you $40 for a sloppy joe
It's because California is rapidly turning into a sub-state of Mexico...that's why. No border control. This is an invasion, not immigration.
Look in the back of almost any kitchen in a major metropolitan area and it's probably filled with Hispanic workers. The restaurant industry is physically demanding and requires long hours at relatively low pay. The executive chef face of the kitchen is seldom reflective of those who prepare your food.
Most jobs are done by Mexicans! Americans are just too lazy. . .
edacious!
Gobbledygook!
Truth, you are a complete loser.
You make Laurel and Hardy look like Nobel Prize winners.
Not! This appears to be a food guide for the Applebees crowd.