Foreign food taken and made their own?

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Korin_Mari

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Ramen has become so wildly popular over the past few years and izakaya food (Japanese bar food) is super trendy (and if you're in NY, expensive). But if you really think about it... Ramen isn't REALLY Japanese. It is NOW, but it wasn't originally. Originally, it was Chinese. And honestly, a lot of izakaya food came from somewhere else too. There is of course, nothing wrong with this. It happens with any country that has been occupied, lost a war, or interacts with different countries. To list a few, Japanese curry was derived from British navy food (which obviously came from India), doria probably came from Italy somehow, and Japanese people mix all sorts of odd things with spaghetti. I don't know where half of my favorite Japanese comfort food comes from. All I know is that it is listed under "yoshoku" or western food. It's all food that they've adopted and changed to match their taste.

I was wondering what food other countries have taken and made their own in this way. Anything in your home country?
 
Tex-Mex would be a good example in the US.
I believe spaghetti was originally invented by the Chinese and imported into Italy.
 
British curry house (Anglo-Indian/Bangladeshi). So good.

Such is its popularity, in 2001 the then Foreign Secretary (Robin Cook) declared Chicken Tikka Masala the national dish.
 
Oh, almost forgot one of my favorites: Indo-Chinese...very popular in India.
 
Tomatoes started in the americas and aare pretty prevalent in italian cuisine.
On the other side pizza in america (chicago, nyc) has been made our own as opposed to italian.
 
Check the Russian/Eastern Europe/Balkans/Arab cuisines. It is a giant mix, with just enough innovation to make stuff interesting.

The way dishes travel trough cultures is fascinating. Where I live there is Russian Salad, in Russia it is known as French Salad - it was brought to Russia during the Napoleon wars and so on.
Pita, dumplings, flat breads, dips - almost any item is absolutely traditional and representing the soul of the nation and digging deeper you find that it was borrowed from somewhere else.
 
Chilli made its way to Sichuan, Thailand, and other South East Asia countries.

More than half of Thai street food is Chinese in origin.
 
General Tso Chicken

General Tso's chicken is a sweet, slightly spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in American Chinese restaurants. The dish is most commonly regarded as a Hunanese dish, although it was unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diaspora before it was introduced by chefs returning from the United States.

The dish is named after General Tso Tsung-tang, or Zuo Zongtang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman, although there is no recorded connection to him. The real roots of the dish lie in the post-1949 exodus of chefs to the United States.
 
Zwiefel said:
Oh, almost forgot one of my favorites: Indo-Chinese...very popular in India.
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There's an indo-Chinese place in Austin that's supposed to be quite good. It's called Chicken Lollypop.

I haven't been, but people here love it. It's in the back of a convenience store in north Austin.
 
Zwiefel said:
I need this. right. now.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taco_rice

It's nachos with rice instead of chips!
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The thing with taco rice is that all the ingredients are available in the states, so that you can make the real deal back home. So is it considered of foreign origin made with domestic ingredients in the US then as well?

Another one is 'tuna mayo' onigiri. Basically a rice ball filled with tuna salad. Quite a good snack actually.
 
We have some good Poutine here, co opted from Canada.

Also, currywurst is a strange hybrid!
 
Jamaican Chinese Food - Jamaican/Chinese (Miami,Brooklyn), Hawaiian Plate Lunch - Japanese/Portugese/Hawaiian/American (Hawaii), Yaka Mein - Chinese/Japanese/African Anerican (New Orleans), Delta Tamales - Latin America/America (Mississippi Delta)
 
Fish Tacos in Baja. Japanese Tenpura (I purposely put the "n" in there because that's the correct sound in Japanese, not "tem") brought to Mexico by Japanese farmers and adopted by Mexicans in Baja as a filling for tacos.
 
mhlee said:
Fish Tacos in Baja. Japanese Tenpura (I purposely put the "n" in there because that's the correct sound in Japanese, not "tem") brought to Mexico by Japanese farmers and adopted by Mexicans in Baja as a filling for tacos.
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And brought to Japan by the Portuguese. Good call on the correct pronunciation Mike.
 
Castalia said:
Food on the island of Mauritius is quite a hybrid of African Creole, Indian, Chinese, French, British given the history there. All the food is delicious but it is up there on the list of eclectic cuisines.

http://www.mijorecipes.com/category/easy-mauritian-recipes/

http://ile-maurice.tripod.com/index.html


I was lucky enough to spend about two weeks there in 2010. Yum!

:hungry:
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Wow, that's awesome! I wonder if I can find Mauritius food in NY. I've never even heard of this place before! So curious.

ecchef said:
And brought to Japan by the Portuguese. Good call on the correct pronunciation Mike.
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Interesting! I didn't know tenpura was brought by the Portuguese. I was always curious, when Japan started frying things. I know castella is Portuguese.
 
Mucho Bocho said:
General Tso Chicken
General Tso's chicken is a sweet, slightly spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in American Chinese restaurants. The dish is most commonly regarded as a Hunanese dish, although it was unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diaspora before it was introduced by chefs returning from the United States.
The dish is named after General Tso Tsung-tang, or Zuo Zongtang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman, although there is no recorded connection to him. The real roots of the dish lie in the post-1949 exodus of chefs to the United States.
Click to expand...

In January, a documentary was released about this dish--it is called "The Search for General Tso." I recommend it as worth watching (ideally while eating some of the dish!)
 
Cows were brought to the US and not much is more murrican than red meat
 
Chinese egg tarts where a take on English and Portuguese egg custards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
ecchef said:
You need to get down to our neck of the woods!
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Wait Dave, where are you? I thought you were in Okinawa.

By the day, I love tuna mayo onigiri!! Oh man, have you tried the tamago kake onigiri? You can find it in Seven Elevens. It's SO good.
 
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