Based on the current cultural appropriation construct, this would be just fine. And that is the fundamental problem with the whole concept; it basically goes in one direction. This thread treats it equally across all cultures, which is not what cultural appropriators say and teach.
Therefore, a Japanese person using French cuisine would be fine. However, a white European creating his own version of Japanese food would be called inappropriate cultural appropriation.
Even the article that prompted this thread centered around a Oklahoman selling Mexican food. Does anyone really believe that the article would have been written about a Mexican selling Oklahoman food and that there being some deep cultural concern about that? Of course not. In fact, if the reverse article were written, it would have been assailed as offensive to the Mexican who is just trying to be a good, descent person and make a living.
I wish I could remember the thread, but a post was made with a link to an article,which purported to explain why it is not cultural appropriation when it comes to taking from white, European culture. It centered around that fact that only the majority culture can appropriate from a minority culture - a one-way street theory, which is nonsensical, as it is illogical, as any culture can freely borrow from another, and have been for as long as humans have existed.
As an aside, way too many sushi restaurants have sushi chefs that are clearly not Japanese. Many are in fact Hispanic. Is that a cultural misappropriation?
BTW, what the heck is “Oklahoman food”? (Insert flippant joke of choice here as response).
I can honestly say that both my grandmother and my mother were not very good cooks. I think it was more of a generational thing ( i.e. relying on salty, processed food to enhance otherwise good meats )
My husband is Swedish and I also make some of the foods from his country better than his mother can…again, due to her relying on pre-packaged mixes than making from scratch.
Techniques , tools and practice .
There is not a single food that my mother or grandmother ever made that was “from our culture.” Never. We are Americans. We make and eat (or buy) whatever food suits our taste. We are not trying to recreate a Bavarian town or Polish shtetl or famine-torn Ireland here just because our ancestors willingly left those countries. There’s simply nothing to pass down. That’s ok. Plenty of other memories made other ways; it’s not a requirement to have family dishes from Ye Olde Country.
I can confidently say that I cook more authentic Indian food than some of my Indian friends–they said it, not me!–and better Chinese food than some Chinese people I’ve known.
Maybe, in some cases, we love(d) grandma’s cooking more for the feelings of comfort and nostalgia than for the food itself. “Family” can make burned food bearable and turn decent food into four-star cuisine.
Frankly a lot of “family” recipes are things our grandmothers ripped out of magazines or Betty Crocker years ago. They aren’t this oh-deep-heritage-of-culture that gets fetishized.
If your grandma comes from a place that has a spectacular history of food culture…maybe. But my maternal grandparents are British and my paternal grandparents had full time cooks. So not a lot to choose from there. I envy my Mexican neighbors who have granny come by every Christmas to make tamales.
I have heard from more than one American of Italian descent, about going to Italy and being shocked to find that Italian food is clearly different than Italian-American food; and what they grew up thinking was food from the old country is just a mishmash of Italian cuisine and “American” comfort food cuisine (which is also a mishmash of different food cultures).
Italian food is highly regional. Most “American Italian” food is red sauced based and is derived from the folks who came over from Sicily and Naples. About 20 years ago we did an agritourismo stay on a farm in Umbria. We ate with the family. The wife bitterly complained that she had to make food to her husbands regional taste. He was from a village in Tuscany. It was fifteen miles away.
So true, @musicamusica! Food in Italy can very not only by region but by town. I love true Italian cooking but whenever I travel either to Italy or other places, I always remark how happy I am to be an American where we draw from and have access to so many cuisines for culinary variety. Even the best cooking in Italy gets repetitive if you stay in the same area and the same season for a period of time. I love Moroccan food but there are only so many tagines I can eat in a few week period.
I adore Moroccan food as well - have you ever had chicken bastille or a real moroccan vegetable cous cous? To die for. My favorite tagine is the moroccan lamb with apricots. Love the custom of lounging on floor pillows eating out of a communal bowl.
@HarvestMoon1 Yes! Chicken pastilla/b’stilla is one of my favorites. Love food with a sweet/savory element. I like couscous as well although many of the traditional Moroccan versions cook their veggies a little too mushy for my taste. The best tagine I ever had was a lamb dish with a variety of dried fruits - dates, figs, apricots. Plus, all the little dishes of moroccan vegetable salads. I’ve learned to cook a lot of it (appropriating! ) and its time consuming to make by American standards!
