“This is an art and you need to be Indian to understand it properly".
Yes, and you need to be white and speak German to make a schnitzel. What a load of bollocks.
Yes, and you need to be white and speak German to make a schnitzel. What a load of bollocks.
Just a silly example that I've encountered recently: if I say "popcorn", Americans will think butter and salt, while Europeans will think sugar.
Even recipes tend to assume certain skills. Of course it's possible for someone to write in painstaking detail instructions about how to duplicate an authentic Indian curry, but in practice does that actually happen?
It's more or less impossible to get a good bagel outside of New York. It's just a piece of bread! And yet.
[1] be aware that the popular bagel shaped things sold on every street corner are a different thing, albeit with common ancestry
try selling what we eat as pizza in italy to americans. they just don't understand how few flavors multiply together. sure there are some that appreciate it, but mostly wants overloaded pizzas with everything on it, and restaurants follows the market.
same with coffee. I can't express how bad is the burnt stuff people outside italy calls authentic barista espresso. gone is all the flavor in favor of the stronger burnt tone of excessive roasting and badly maintained machines.
but people like those flavors, they are trained culturally to like more a flavor punch instead of complex delicate notes, and thus local shops follows.
as a counter example, chinese food in italy has most of its stronger notes tuned down compared to what you would be able to buy in china. same with indian. they tastes nothing like the original (full disclosure, my source for this is not personal experience but a good indian friend and a cousin of mine studying in china)
Corollary: 50% of beers in the US are watery piss, so when Americans think of beer they think of watery piss.
Eh? Which Europeans? (British ones?)
I wouldn't want to even contemplate salted popcorn.
Jam on top of cheese bread sounded disgusting, but is actually pretty delicious.
Sugar in the UK, but salt (and butter) in Ireland. Maybe it's to do with what the chains sell?