Gastronomic diversity is growing in the United States thanks to the multiplicity of immigrant communities within the country, but not only that, their traditional food has been modified and "Americanized" due to their needs.
“A lot of foods come from different kinds of immigrant communities and they’re not just part of it, they’re adapting and changing,” said Quincy Surashmith, editor-in-chief of Feet in 2 Worlds and producer of the second season of the podcast A Better Life?.
During a panel organized by Ethnic Media Services To discuss the influence of ethnic communities on the country's diet, as well as the importance of preserving and recognizing authentic food, the expert explained that there are many foods that do not exist in "their countries of origin" but were created by immigrants living in the country.
Such is the case of foods such as chop suey, fortune cookies, California rolls, among other dishes, which change due to the immersion and cultural influence of those who prepare them day by day and who also try to match the recipes using substitutes for the original ingredients of the dishes.
"Fortune cookies, I think, are a classic American food because you don't find them in China. I mean, they're a Japanese invention and they're not even something that's baked every day," Surashmith said, but she said that doesn't make them any more or less authentic.
The United States has become one of the most diverse countries due to the number of immigrants living there, which not only implies differences in language, music and lifestyle, but also in the way of eating and cooking the dishes of each of the communities that exist.
Surashmith also commented on the importance of taking into account that there are immigrant families who are raising their families and supporting their communities, which is why they sometimes cannot preserve the original recipes of the food because "they make what sells."
Award-winning food and travel writer Kayla Stewart once noted that “a lot of people assume that African-American food is macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and fried chicken — foods that are absolutely a part of the way we eat, but they are by no means the only ones we eat. And oftentimes, those particular dishes are used as ways to insult us for a stereotype that has existed for centuries.”
He also noted that many of the dishes consumed in the U.S. today have their origins in African-American cuisine.
Foods such as macaroni and cheese, okra, sweet potato pie and black-eyed peas have their roots in Africa and are frequently consumed in various parts of the country, including New Orleans, where jambalaya and gumbo are especially popular.
"I think New Orleans is the best food city in the U.S.," Stewart said, because it is the birthplace of Creole cuisine, which would not exist without African Americans, as many of the dishes cooked today come from African and African-American slaves.
Finally, she pointed out that “black culinary figures have been left out of the American narrative. It is blatantly unfair, but it also affects the economy because in many ways they have been oppressed in the food industry.”
Silvana Salcido pointed out that there are also political issues in food, since since she was little she realized that her uncle's bakery became a small center for the immigrant community that lived in the area.
He added that the Mexican food consumed in the U.S. is not authentic, but rather is food "out of necessity," since during his childhood he observed how in the bakery where he grew up, immigrants exchanged boxes of tomatoes and peaches for bread.
"There is a white supremacy that has taken over that food, there is an appropriation because that food was developed from the Mexican culture of the Chichimecas," said Salcido. He also commented that the best innovations in barbacoa come from the creativity of cooks who were enslaved, however the US has appropriated this.
Salcido also said that since he opened his restaurant, he has had a hard time changing the perception that Americans have about Mexican food, as they expect "tortilla chips and salsa" or "crunchy tacos."
It is certainly essential that recipes from immigrant communities, as well as those who prepare them, be recognized not only for the economic contribution but also for the cultural contribution they represent for the United States.
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