I wonder if that’s the same Lebanese butcher that I occasionally go to when I’m up in your neck of the woods (on Washington at Allen St.) 
That’s a good one!
I’m sure all the owners of the local Mexican, Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc. etc. butchers and markets that we all like to visit are happy with our appropriation. They’d have a lot less clients if we didn’t.
Exactly! I was just thinking of how horrified all the mom-and-pop proprietors of the local businesses would be if they knew the arguments that were being made purportedly on their behalf.
I can’t get real pita in my area, but there is a great Greek restaurant about 1/2 hour away from here. I never made the pita or meat before …both were easy and I’m happy with the way the meat came out. If it wasn’t for ethnic restaurants , how would we be exposed to such awesome food ?
How many people on here are from just one cultural background? I have to say, most people I know - and certainly myself included - are kind of just mixtures of a bunch of different things. And many of us don’t even know exactly what unless we’ve done genealogy. And so much is so arbitrary.
My great grandparents emigrated from Riga, Latvia. But at the time it was Riga, Russia. Were they Latvian or Russian? Depends where you stop the clock. Chances are their ancestors wandered around half of Eastern Europe. Do I “feel” Latvian? No, not at all.
My H’s family is supposedly part Hungarian. Well, that probably meant Austria-Hungary. Or maybe a disputed part of Hungary. Who knows?
Contrary to how the culture warriors think, these boundaries have been fluid over the years, not at all set in stone or codified. Just follow the various partitions of Poland, for crying out loud.
@nottelling That’s a BINGO! There are some great Armenian and Lebanese vendors up here. And further afield out by Monrovia/Duarte–
Check out the Tropicana Market, weird name, nothing to do with the tropics, but a really great Lebanese/Greek market.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tropicana-market-duarte
Back in the day I took a Medieval European History class.
We quickly learned that modern nations consolidated the labels by which people were/are known.
As a result, today I would say that I am of (primarily) English, German and Welsh descent; not Angle, Saxon, Celt, Jute, Norman, Norse, Burgundian, Frankish, Alemanni (etc.) descent. (well I am from some of those tribes, certainly, but it’s easier to list the three countries… hehe)
So yes – where you stop the clock can matter a lot in terms of listing your ancestry.
As for difficult recipes – making homemade gyros sounds difficult; my hat’s off for the attempt – I once tried to make Chicken Tikka Masala.
I put a hair too much ginger in it – made my wife and I pucker up just a bit – but really it was pretty decent… not too bad.
That was a couple years ago and I haven’t made it since.
I love Indian food, but that was one recipe – like 12 different spices, the freaking yogurt marinade for the chicken, washing my hands six times, the stove top that looked like a red-orange-on-beige Pollock painting after I was through – that is only ever again going to be attempted if someone very, very dear to me requests it and pays in advance. 
Until then, it’s the local Indian restaurant. Works for me.
Chicken Tikka Masala is my favorite indian dish. Have to have poori with it!
Speaking of appropriation, supposedly Chicken Tikka Masala was invented in the UK by a Pakistani as opposed to being authentically Indian. Whatever it is, I call it yummy.
Regardless, I’m sure chicken tikka masala has made its way to India since then, and, here in the U.S., we are probably getting the third generation version straight from India. So, the Indians are appropriating Anglo-Pakistani culture maybe, but we are probably in the clear.
I think most Indians would balk at our description of “Indian food” since the subcontinent is so vast and has so many different cultures. There are over 100 official languages in the country. I’m sure each group has their own regional cuisine.
Speaking of cuisines morphing when they come to the USA, I read this book several years ago and it was very interesting and at times funny look into Chinese restaurants and food in this country:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Fortune-Cookie-Chronicles-Adventures/dp/0446698970
Logically, if it is appropriation to profit by selling food from another culture, it is also appropriation to even eat any food not of your assigned cultural and ethnic box.
This is very unfortunate for me, as Scottish cuisine relies too heavily, for my taste, on internal organs and blood of various animals. And I will miss pizza and sushi.
there must be a secret committee of clowns who sit around all day and think of the latest thing to be offended by. instead of discussing the latest bizarre claims, demands and complaints…these people should be laughed at and ridiculed. when you feed them (no pun intended) you just further empower them.
@sorghum Stuck with Haggas huh? Bummer:)
My younger son had a friend whose family owned a Chinese take out, he helped out sometimes and then they would feed him real Chinese food.
@mathmom , I am relatively certain I have never had " real " Chinese food. Did they serve him something from the restaurant or something different.
Having spent my entire like on the east coast , I have wondered the same about authentic Mexican food. I have had it at restaurants in California , but still don’t know if it would be considered " real ".
There are very few Mexican restaurants in the area where I live. Several people we know recommended a place just outside of Atlantic City a few years back…we thought it was just awful , overcooked greasy glop.
I agree about American/Italian food. Even when it is prepared by Italians , it isn’t much like what you find in Italy.
My family roots are Irish , Scottish and English …any food I have ever had from there isn’t particularly tasty. My husband is 100% Swedish and for the most part, I find the food there bland and unappealing ( with the exception of their cheeses and baked goods )
Just yesterday, our niece shared a pic on FB of her lunch that to me looked unappetizing , yet her family and friends were enthusiastic !
What they ate in the back was completely different - none of the stereotypical sauces.
I shared a house for a while with a guy from the People’s Republic. He was a fabulous cook. A lot of what he cooked was similar to things I’ve had in restaurants (mooshu pork, steamed dumplings, spare ribs). Others had the same names but were different like his version of mooncake. He’d been forced to be a baker during the Cultural Revolution and studied biology by himself in the evening. Amazing guy.
Have a Thai friend who is a fabulous cook but she usually alters sauces because most dishes would be too spicy hot for most people. Does that mean she is dissing her culture? Or just being good to her friends?
Food is meant to bring people together.
I find this a peculiar conversation. Who, exactly, is making the argument against cultural appropriation in food? I guess it’s somebody who isn’t involved in this conversation. (Plus, do we have to hear, in every conversation like this, about how non-white people are the real racists? Enough, already.)
I will say, however, that I continue to believe that the proliferation of mass-produced crappy versions of ethnic foods is not a good thing, especially if it drives out mom-and-pops. The fact that your grandma couldn’t cook her own ethnic food all that well is a red herring, because lots of those little mom-and-pops cook it very well. If they go broke because everybody is eating at Chipotle or Pizza Hut, I think we all lose. It’s another version of the issue of whether it’s a good thing for Wal-Mart to come to your town–on the one hand, people like it and the prices are pretty low, but on the other hand, a bunch of little local stores go out of business.
Around here, there are a number of Chinese restaurants, where, if you are in the know, you will ask for the “Chinese menu.” It’s in English, just like the first menu they give you, but it has almost entirely different dishes on it. Also, if you go to one of the dim sum restaurants where they roll carts around, if you aren’t Chinese, they won’t show you all the dishes (like chicken feet) unless you make a point of asking to see them.
This is probably not an issue at Panda Express at the mall, though.