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Cultural Differences In Food


DanCole42

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At a Chinese restaurant in Havana, I was served bread and butter. It would be interesting to do a survey of Chinese food as perceived by different cultures -- Thai, Vietnamese, Peruvian, etc. One could do that right here in Washington.

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Just look at how much they bastardize this very American cuisine. Just think... is this what American "Chinese food" looks like to them? :)

Is a spring roll with duck sauce to someone from China what a Sausage Crust, Mochi Crust, and Cheddar Sauce Crust pizza is to me?

Not really. Spring roll is a spring roll, which is wrapping and deep-frying whatever you decide to put in it. Think of this as fusion cuisine. :)

As a Chinese person, these flavors don't sound that odd. Shrimp is a common topping on pizza in Asian regions and in order to increase business, I guess you have to cater to the tastes in those regions. For example, Lobster roll is always available at McDs in the NE region, but not down here. In China, when I was there this past November, McDs had a Spicy Fried Fish sandwich that was really yummy, and I can't imagine that selling well out here.

Japanese mayo is quite tasty, and I wouldn't mind trying the Rice crust pizza myself, frankly. :mellow: Especially since Rice burgers sell well at that Japanese fast food chain whose name I'm forgetting....

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Well there's also the ketchup shrimp recipe. Unless that was just something that my mom made up and it just TASTES like Chinese food. But I've heard it's a pretty popular Cantonese thing. It has that nice sort of caramelized thing going on. There's also the atrocity of mayonnaise shrimp, which can be done pretty da*** well. But mostly bad. And I LOVE mayo, especially on waffles, pizza and in my hair, to keep it up, slick.

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Well there's also the ketchup shrimp recipe. Unless that was just something that my mom made up and it just TASTES like Chinese food. But I've heard it's a pretty popular Cantonese thing. It has that nice sort of caramelized thing going on. There's also the atrocity of mayonnaise shrimp, which can be done pretty da*** well. But mostly bad. And I LOVE mayo, especially on waffles, pizza and in my hair, to keep it up, slick.
Grew up on ketchup shrimp myself, even though we're not Cantonese. :mellow: Mayo shrimp only works well if you sweetened it. I think last time I made it I added honey to it, which made a huge difference to the last mayo shrimp I had...
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Well there's also the ketchup shrimp recipe. Unless that was just something that my mom made up and it just TASTES like Chinese food. But I've heard it's a pretty popular Cantonese thing. It has that nice sort of caramelized thing going on. There's also the atrocity of mayonnaise shrimp, which can be done pretty da*** well. But mostly bad. And I LOVE mayo, especially on waffles, pizza and in my hair, to keep it up, slick.

Iron Chef Chen (aka the Szechuan Sage) often used ketchup in his sauces. My impression is that it is a rather common ingredient even in some high-end Chinese cooking. As with any condiment, it all depends on how it's used.

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Makes you wonder if there's been a continuum of usage here or if modern ketchup has been readopted by the Chinese in tomato form, because ketchup originated as a fish sauce ("ka-chiap") in China and Malaysia before finding its way to Europe about five centuries ago.

Speaking as a useless ABC, I find "Americanized" Chinese food to be...alien. It's not much like anything my immigrant parents cooked although there are some general plan similarities, and it tends to be too sweet and too starchy. You might conclude that Americans have a sweet tooth, and yet my recollection of American-style pizza in Taiwan (and Russia, for that matter) is that the cheeses they prefer were noticeably sweet. That was 15-20 years ago. Since then, both Hawaiian and barbecue pizzas have become popular here, but at the time I thought it was a really strange flavor profile and would never work here in the US.

Maybe the secret to making any transplanted food more acceptable to the masses is to sweeten it up.

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Japanese mayo is quite tasty, and I wouldn't mind trying the Rice crust pizza myself, frankly. :mellow: Especially since Rice burgers sell well at that Japanese fast food chain whose name I'm forgetting....
Mos Burger!

Ketchup shows up with surprising (to me) frequency in Japanese recipes, like omuraisu (omelet rice) and napolitan spaghetti, which has a ketchup-based sauce. I don't think it's as omnipresent as mayonnaise, though. Contrary to the sweetening theory, mayonnaise here seems to be more tangy and less sweet than American mayonnaise.

I've also been told by local friends that many Japanese love seafood pizza, and have been to a few gatherings involving salmon/shrimp/cheddar or squid/scallop/octopus pizza.

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Mos Burger!

Ketchup shows up with surprising (to me) frequency in Japanese recipes, like omuraisu (omelet rice) and napolitan spaghetti, which has a ketchup-based sauce. I don't think it's as omnipresent as mayonnaise, though. Contrary to the sweetening theory, mayonnaise here seems to be more tangy and less sweet than American mayonnaise.

I've also been told by local friends that many Japanese love seafood pizza, and have been to a few gatherings involving salmon/shrimp/cheddar or squid/scallop/octopus pizza.

Yeah I forgot about those oyster omelets from Taiwan that have ketchup in the sauce. Yum!
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I'm drawing a blank on what it was called and I've been unable to find it, but I had a variation on kecap in Bali which had made the circle from proto-ketchup (soy sauce) into American ketchup and then into this wonderful combination of the two. Definitely a tomato base, with added umami from the soy sauce and then some random sweetness to make it pert. I prowl and glower through the aisles of Asian grocery stores trying to find it, but it would help if I could just remember the name.

Another great example of translated food would be pizza in England. An American improvisation on an Italian dish, ruined completely by the Brits with the addition of sweet corn as a topping.

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At a pizza place in Brazil, peas and corn were both offered as toppings, and mayo was on the table. Fishy pizza happens in New Orleans. When I was at Tulane, all the pizza delivery places had crawfish and shrimp pizzas available throughout Lent. I don't know if they still do or not.

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I'm drawing a blank on what it was called and I've been unable to find it, but I had a variation on kecap in Bali which had made the circle from proto-ketchup (soy sauce) into American ketchup and then into this wonderful combination of the two.

It is called ketjap manis - or sweet soy sauce - it is almost a molasses consistency. I call it my magic ingredient in fried rice, bami and other asian dishes - add a few tablespoons at the end of cooking the dish and it adds a great flavor boost. My indonesian mother in law uses it on almost everything she cooks. I believe Super H carries it.

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It is called ketjap manis - or sweet soy sauce - it is almost a molasses consistency. I call it my magic ingredient in fried rice, bami and other asian dishes - add a few tablespoons at the end of cooking the dish and it adds a great flavor boost. My indonesian mother in law uses it on almost everything she cooks. I believe Super H carries it.

Many thanks, Lizzie. Between that and sambol, I'm a desperate man.

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