"Frogleg" > wrote in message
...
>
> From "Tea" earlier in the thread: "But I would suspect
> that most Chinese food in the US is horrid- just as most food in the
> US is horrid."
>

"Most" isn't "everything". And it sounds to me like Tea has a problem with
the US, anyway, so I wouldn't put too much faith in his/her statement.
However, I would go so far to say "most" of the food in Canada, and likely
the US, ethnic or otherwise is mediocre. I've not been to all the
restaurants in Canada or the US but I do tend to arrange travel
itineraries/sight-seeing around food and restaurants. A lot of food out
there is just not very good (in my opinion, of course). It seems the
general population is quite happy with mediocrity and sees no reason to
demand otherwise. Just look at Perkin's and Appleby's and the like.

>I must say I like "Thai-American" or "Chinese-American" or
> "French-American" food.

Why is that a bad thing? I don't have a problem with that at all.
Sometimes my friends drag me out to another Thai restaurant they've been
raving about and ask me if it's good. I usually end up saying, "It might be
good food, but it's not Thai" (and in fact, it's not usually good at all but
I don't tell them that). I think it's important to understand there is a
difference between (fill-in-ethnicity-here) food and
Americanized-(fill-in-ethnicity-here) food. That way if you (general you)
ever visit Thailand or whatever country, you'll know what to expect, or what
not to expect.

>And probably "distinctly inferior to the
> original Thai-American." Which proves I go out of my way to seek out
> bad food. Talk about a no-win situation! I should just eat (and
> discuss) tuna casserole, Taco Bell, and hot dogs. Because I'm a dumb,
> ignorant, no-taste American.
>

Proves? I think you're being quite hypersensitive here.

>
> Oh, gee whiz. Now I have to inquire into the specific background of
> cooks? The restaurant (where I had lunch yesterday) is a tiny place in
> a small shopping strip. It is labeled a Thai restaurant and grocery,
> named after the wife of the husband (Caucasian in apperance)/wife
> (Asian in appearance) owners/cooks. 'Though I have been going here for
> some 10 years or more, I've never been so rude as to inquire about
> specific ancestry. The travel posters on the walls are for Thailand.
> Does that count?
>

No, it doesn't count. FWIW, we often ask about ethnicities when we go to
"ethnic" restaurants. Not in a confrontational way, but just sort of as an
aside. Once, my mother was talking to a waiter at a Japanese restaurant and
asked him, as an aside, if the cooks were Japanese. He said, "Yes." Then
she started talking to one of the sushi chefs about food and asked, "Are you
Japanese?" and he replied "No, I'm Vietnamese." Turned out the restaurant
was Vietnamese owned and run, but they were passing it off as "authentic
Japanese". Now, my mother used to work with immigrants and she has a very
good eye for identifying various ethnicities (Sudanese vs Eritrean, Laotian
vs. Thai vs. Vietnamese, for example). She knew she was being lied to by
the first waiter but he probably thought "She won't know the difference,
anyway" so he passed everyone off as Japanese, likely to make the restaurant
appear to be more "authentic." It was not and the food was not.

I should add, that it is entirely possible that the owners and cooks had
lived in Japan and studied Japanese cooking, but it is not likely. Most
Vietnamese people I met in Japan were working in factories and construction
sites, and had not assimilated into Japanese culture at all (and were not
really "allowed to" assimilate).

>
> I've also heard Chinese-American food dissed because it's all
> Cantonese. Until much became Szechuan, and then *that* became
> non-authentic. So one can visit and eat in China and have "correct"
> dining experiences, but not if you only visit in Canton or Szechuan.
>

I've never heard anything like that.

>
> I think salt is pretty standard. :-)

But different salts have different flavours. Iodized table salt vs Malden
sea salt vs grey salt, etc. If you do a side-by-side taste test, you'll
notice the differences.

>Is the fruit-dipping mixture
> made with palm sugar? (I have some, but it's pretty solid/syrupy.) I
> am well aware of the variety of chiles (and flakes) available. I was
> thinking of using (oh, geez -- the jar only says "product of Thailand"
> without pedigree, or specified variety) the chile flakes I normally
> carry around to ginger up bland food.
>

I'm not sure. I would guess palm sugar, but I've never had fruit dipped in
seasonings so I wouldn't know. I've never been allowed to eat from food
carts (except some fried foods), unless you count the food stalls at
department stores (which sell stuff you can buy from carts, but in a cleaner
environment).

>
> The thin end of a wedge! I didn't/don't say "this is good Thai food,"
> I say, "this food tastes really good to me." I *like* what is
> represented to be Thai food in the US. If I have to say, "I like a lot
> of food that is cooked with or accompanied by rice noodles or rice,
> and sometimes with coconut milk, lime juice, chiles, fish sauce,
> basil, cilantro, chicken, fish, pork, chicken, lemon grass, cucumber,
> different soy sauce..." every time I mean Thai, I'm gonna wear out my
> kybd. :-)
>

I don't think it would be a hardship to say "I like the Thai food I've had,
but I don't know how 'Thai' it is" or something like that. What's wrong
with adding a (short) disclaimer?


> Don't mean to be confrontational, Rona. I'm just debating. I *know*
> you care about food. Your trip pics were great, particularly the food
> close-ups!

It's always fun to take pictures of food!

rona

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