The influence of immigrants on food

C

Camper6

Well-known Member
Location
Northwestern Ontario Canada
We have a lot of Asian students and Asian immigrants now and it does have an influence on our food choices. I'm leaning more into spicy foods now. I do think spicy foods cuts our appetites as far as weight is influenced. It think you are more satisfy with less with spicy foods.

I just made a hash brown potato dish. I added the Asian influence.

Basically these are spicy extruded potatoes, and quit spicy. I just add them to dishes to make it spicy, even chili.

You can't ignore the influence of Mexican, Indian, and even Italian food. It's terrific.
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My tastebuds have changed so much over the decades. As a child, I was a picky eater. Now, I will eat just about everything, but it was a slow process. My daughter was also a picky eater, and now she's a gourmand, not to mention, a gourmet cook.

As a teen, I was invited to join a girlfriend's family for their huge Chinese meals. Italian meals at another friend's. That opened up a new world of flavours. I particularly like Middle Eastern, Indian, Greek, Asian - but I don't indulge in heavily spiced food anymore. Unfortunately, authentic Mexican is not easy to find here, but there is a place way downtown, I think.

Musn't forget West Indian .. going to The Real Jerk next week. They've opened a restaurant in London, England. I hope they're doing well there. Went to a Jewish bakery cafe last week - always tasty.
 

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I grew up with 'typical' bland American diet, but so did most people (I would think). There have always been Italian and Greek restaurants, and some Mexican in the early days. But yes, things started changing in the 90's and we started seeing Thai and Indian (both of which are my favorites) and 'real' Asian (not buffets) out in the suburbs. And now, there is everything in the Chicago area, New York, and Seattle (the towns I'm most familiar with).
 
My favorite food is Italian n I make a lot,of different kinds. No I’m not Italian I’m Irish but my family will come to my house when they want Italian instead of a restaurant, I also love Chinese n Mexican but I can’t make either that well, lucky for me we have a great Chinese restaurant in Rhode Island, still looking for a Mexican one😊
 
I like all kinds of food. I grew up with a lot of Italian food, sampled all sorts of cuisine while in Europe, and became fond of Thai food when I was over there. I don't care for real spicy food, and I never cared for turnips....but I enjoy almost everything else...no matter what "nationality". Italian Lasagna, German Rouladen, and Pad Thai, rank high on my list of favorites.
 
I grew up exposed to many, many different cuisines. As a child, I routinely partook of Asian and Italian cuisine, along with that of my people, the Eastern European Jews. In my 20's I got into Indian and Mexican food, and worked in a Greek restaurant, learning how to make dishes of that culture. In my 30's Ethiopian cuisine made it onto my table. Thai food got into my culinary repertoire when I was about 40. I pride myself on my abilities to cook the cuisines of many cultures. I love cooking, so it's all good!
 
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RadishRose said:
I cannot agree that typical is bland. The coastlines were and are, rife with many different cuisines other than what the English brought.
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:eek::eek:
I'm wounded , right in my heart... 😜

I'll have you know our food is among the best in the world....


https://evanevanstours.com/blog/whats-british-food-really-like/

We're a hugely cosmopolitan country.... we have the best of so many different culinary experiences right here.... especially Indian, Chinese , Italian and West African * jamaican ,..not to mention Vietnamese, Japanese, Polish, French, Mexican and a multitude of others as well as our own home grown British Fare...

I invite all of you who believe that old adage about British food being terrible to come to one of our food Fares this year... :love:

https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/food-and-drink/the-coolest-food-festivals/
 
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hollydolly said:
:eek::eek:
I'm wounded , right in my heart... 😜

I'll have you know our food is among the best in the world....


https://evanevanstours.com/blog/whats-british-food-really-like/

We're a hugely cosmopolitan country.... we have the best of so many different culinary experiences right here.... especially Indian, Chinese , Italian and West African * jamaican ,..not to mention Vietnamese, Japanese, Polish, French, Mexican and a multitude of others as well as our own home grown British Fare...

I invite all of you who believe that old adage about British food being terrible to come to one of our food Fares this year... :love:

https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/food-and-drink/the-coolest-food-festivals/
Click to expand...
What the English brought back then, became what the English here got used to and it was very limited. There wasn't much food around anyway. It all became usual fare and went west with the early pioneers and kinda stayed that way. And yes, it became bland.

While British food was evolving into the fine cuisine it is and not just for royalty anymore, middle America remained stuck for awhile . Sure the coastlines enjoyed the immigrant spices and cuisines just as you borrowed from your neighbors.

Please don't imagine slights on the UK when none was meant.
 
I grew up in a small town, so did not have a lot of opportunity to try foods of different cultures growing up. I had my first Chinese food at about age 10, on a trip up to Canada with my parents. Got my first Mexican food when visiting Southern California at age 12. We did not even know what a taco was at the time.
But now, I am really open to try different foods. I have not always liked what I have tried, but have had different experiences.

Slightly OT, but have any of you watched Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern? He has tried some interesting cultural foods. Some of which I would not mind trying. I liked the shows where he went to different regions of the US to try regional foods. Do any of our US people live in the state (forget where, sorry) that eats Liver mush? THAT seems interesting
 
hollydolly said:
:eek::eek:
I'm wounded , right in my heart... 😜

I'll have you know our food is among the best in the world....


https://evanevanstours.com/blog/whats-british-food-really-like/

We're a hugely cosmopolitan country.... we have the best of so many different culinary experiences right here.... especially Indian, Chinese , Italian and West African * jamaican ,..not to mention Vietnamese, Japanese, Polish, French, Mexican and a multitude of others as well as our own home grown British Fare...

I invite all of you who believe that old adage about British food being terrible to come to one of our food Fares this year... :love:

https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/food-and-drink/the-coolest-food-festivals/
Click to expand...
I think here we have a clear cut case of before and after. In age I mean. If you are in your eighties as I am then you would agree that English cuisine was bland at one time. I spent some time in London and Portsmouth in the late fifties and remember looking desperately for an ethnic restaurant because the average English restaurant was severely inadequate for anyone non-English. Generally speaking English speaking Canada was just as bad!

My God, they even hated garlic, the queen of spices and screwed up their faces in disgust if they came near an Italian/Greek-Canadian immigrant! And I still remember Atlantic Canada's favourite dish: the boiled dinner! Dump salt beef, potatoes, cabbage, turnips into a pot, cook until done. Take out of pot and salt! Add a bit of butter. I learned to like it by dumping almost a pound of butter on my meal! :) Slight exaggeration!

English food that I loved: Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mash, Roast Beef dinners with Yorkshire Pudding. But, now, just like in the U.K. we have a multitude of ethnic restaurants. At least in our bigger cities. But I wouldn't call that Canadian cuisine. Canadian cuisine is what we cook at home NOT what we eat in restaurants. Not much has changed there except that now we LOVE garlic! :)
 
Marie5656 said:
I grew up in a small town, so did not have a lot of opportunity to try foods of different cultures growing up. I had my first Chinese food at about age 10, on a trip up to Canada with my parents. Got my first Mexican food when visiting Southern California at age 12. We did not even know what a taco was at the time.
But now, I am really open to try different foods. I have not always liked what I have tried, but have had different experiences.

Slightly OT, but have any of you watched Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern? He has tried some interesting cultural foods. Some of which I would not mind trying. I liked the shows where he went to different regions of the US to try regional foods. Do any of our US people live in the state (forget where, sorry) that eats Liver mush? THAT seems interesting
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I don't know about liver "mush", but Jewish food often features chopped liver. It's kind of like a pate'. It's good. I don't eat liver anymore beacuse it is the organ that filters all the toxins. He could have been in the greater NYC area, NJ, etc If he was speaking of "chopped liver"

"Liver mush", I dunno.
 
OK, I checked. Livermush is a "thing" in North Carolina. They even have a Livermush Festival. Briefly, from Wikipedia : Livermush is a Southern United States pork food product prepared using pig liver, parts of pig heads, cornmeal and spices. ... Though sometimes considered the same as liver pudding, livermush generally contains more cornmeal and is coarser in texture.

It is made into a loaf, sliced and heated a bit on the stove top. Eaten in a sandwich usually. I thought it looked a bit like SPAM
 
hollydolly said:
:eek::eek:
I'm wounded , right in my heart... 😜

I'll have you know our food is among the best in the world....


https://evanevanstours.com/blog/whats-british-food-really-like/

We're a hugely cosmopolitan country.... we have the best of so many different culinary experiences right here.... especially Indian, Chinese , Italian and West African * jamaican ,..not to mention Vietnamese, Japanese, Polish, French, Mexican and a multitude of others as well as our own home grown British Fare...

I invite all of you who believe that old adage about British food being terrible to come to one of our food Fares this year... :love:

https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/food-and-drink/the-coolest-food-festivals/
Click to expand...
How can you beat fish and chips street food? You can't.
 
Marie5656 said:
OK, I checked. Livermush is a "thing" in North Carolina. They even have a Livermush Festival. Briefly, from Wikipedia : Livermush is a Southern United States pork food product prepared using pig liver, parts of pig heads, cornmeal and spices. ... Though sometimes considered the same as liver pudding, livermush generally contains more cornmeal and is coarser in texture.

It is made into a loaf, sliced and heated a bit on the stove top. Eaten in a sandwich usually. I thought it looked a bit like SPAM
Click to expand...
How interesting! Makes me think of haggis with cornmeal instead of oats. It makes me also think of liverwurst,
 
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