"Debbie Deutsch" > wrote in message
. 97.132...
> (Ripon) wrote in
> om:
>
> >>
> >> The thought of bagels in Bangladesh is very strange to me - I don't
> >> think of Bangladesh as a place where high risen oven-baked breads (as
> >> opposed to griddle-baked flat breads) made of white wheat dough are
> >> common, or as a place where there is a significant Jewish community.
> >> Maybe you got bagels from Bangladeshis who were exposed to them in
> >> the US, in which case your bagels are probably more like new American
> >> bagels than the ones of my childhood. Or maybe they are yet another
> >> generation of mutation, and come in flavors like garam masala, jeera,
> >> and hing (warm-flavored mixed spices, cumin, and asfoetida for folks
> >> who don't know what those are), just as those flavors are added to
> >> pappadams. Actually, hing bagels would be a lot like onion bagels
> >> and might be pretty good...
> >>
> >> Debbie
> >
> > Strange.. why is that. All kinds of bread are available here from
> > french to bagles. Bangladesh is a fast growing economy that means many
> > foreign investors live here. When a foreign company come, with the
> > company there local food chain also follow. We have many different
> > foods here from Japanese(East) to American(West). The city is very
> > multicultural. The people who opened the bagles shop, actually is a
> > french frenchise. Here we even have big super market like American
> > Giant or Fresh-field. All sorts of foreign food are there from frozen
> > to fresh Australian vegatables and fruits. From world famous Pizza Hut
> > to Swiss famous ice cream shop Move-in-pick.
> >
> > Derek and DMH Starbucks is opening next year. So this year be
> > astonised but next year- please don't LOL.
> >
> > Ripon
> > (From Bangladesh)
> >
>
> Ripon,
>
> Just as everyday Americans don't go shopping at the Bangladeshi (and
> Indian and Pakastani) groceries here, I didn't expect that Bangladeshi's
> would do significant amount of shopping at foreign groceries either.
> Even the most cosmopolitain people usually stick to what they grew up
> with for everyday food, at least in my experience. Foreign food is a
> nice exception, but not staple fare. At least that's the case among
> people who I know.
>
> Debbie
>
That depends on what you would call foreign. Most Americans are not from
Mexico or Texas, but many of them eat Taco Bell. Pizza, foccacia, pasta, and
other Italian-based foods aren't really foreign in the US anymore. In the
70s bagels were still foreign to most Americans- they aren't now. Sushi
(usually of the cooked variety) can be found in many places around the US-
most people no longer think of it as 'bait'.
What this means is that some people did have to pick up food in ethnic
groceries, or eat in ethnic restaurants, and they would have to do it as
more than an exception for certain foods to catch on. Once there are enough
people who like a food to the point of some version being sold in a regular
supermarket (even just regionally) it's on its way to acceptance among
larger numbers of the population.
Part of this, I think, has to do with how many people in urban areas live
next to immigrant enclaves. I eat a lot more Japanese food (to the point
where eel has become a staple on my menu, and I almost always have soba
noodles in my freezer) because there is a burgeoning Japanese neighborhood
near me, with at least 3 markets within walking distance. I see lots (and I
don't mean that as an exaggeration) of non-Asians shopping in these stores,
because the produce and meats are very fresh, and come in portions suited
for students (I live near NYU in Manhattan). The Japanese restaurants in my
area also have an admixture of non-Asian and Asian college students, as well
as older people of many ethnicities; most of the older people are locals who
are used to eating various ethnic cuisines, since New York's East Village is
filled with places that serve good, hearty home-style dishes from various
parts of the world, and living in that section of Manhattan is popular with
bohemians of various stripes as well as perpetual students like me, all of
us tending to live on the cheap.
Just as many students who passed through NYU and Columbia, as well as other
local colleges returned to their native states with a taste for real bagels,
cream cheese, knishes, and other cheap foods that were culturally and
financially accessible when they were young, many students in my area are
now developing a taste for okonomiyaki, soba, real ramen soup (not just the
packaged kind), and yakitori that they will probably have for the rest of
their lives. These will be the people most likely to flock to Japanese
restaurants when they get back home, and to start combing 'Oriental'
groceries in the areas in which they settle. The students who live out in
Flushing, Queens (home of one of the US's larger Korean populations) will
probably develop a taste for bibimbop and kimchee. I won't be shocked if
ten years from now, ex-students who once lived up near Columbia aren't still
looking for tacos that taste like the ones they found in NYC's growing
Mexican community, or if they start making Cuban sandwiches at home (the
Dominicans make some of the best). Pad Thai is becoming so ubiquitous in NY
that it's turning up on Burmese, Korean and Chinese delivery menus in my
area - I would not be surprised if the dish became an American staple within
20 years, rather like fried rice, because it has great potential for
adaptability, and isn't as daunting as Night Market Noodles or curry dishes.
After all- one of the reasons spaghetti and pizza became popular outside of
the Little Italys around the US is because the foods were cheap and
non-challenging enough for hungry students and locals to wash down with
cheap beer on a semi-regular basis. Many of America's most popular
'semi-ethnic' cuisines- the foods that end up on mall menus and at chain
restaurants- are recreations of cheap foods found near colleges and poor
neighborhoods around the country that spread out among the general
population. This may explain in part why some dishes pass into the American
(and world ) lexicon of regular food while others do not. From what I've
seen the foreign dishes that tend to become popular are easily adaptable to
whatever ingredients are on hand, can often be made at home without too much
fuss (or can be easily bought from someone else), and have enough
recognisable ingredients that the dish doesn't scare people away. Once my
relatives understood that pizza was 'really' just bread and cheese with
stewed tomatoes, they were willing to eat it. I suspect the same thing
happened when average Americans saw tacos as cheeseburgers in a different
form, or as Sloppy Joes with a different kind of bread; menudo, on the other
hand, would be a much tougher sell for most folks, because most Americans
don't eat animal stomachs and the cleaning process and food texture make it
too daunting.