Culinary Diplomacy

Fun story: One night, in Tokyo, was walking to the store. There was this well lit, tree-lined path from my house (at the time) to said store. On this path was one of the few remaining payphones I've seen (or paid attention to), in some time. I saw an older gentleman using this payphone -- which in this day and age was strange enough, so it caught my eye. As he was exiting, he dropped some cards from his wallet, and seemed to not notice, so I picked them up and handed them to him. He thanked me, then asked in pretty decent English where I was from.

After some brief chatting, turns out the guy was in his 70s, had studied in the US and France when he was younger, and is currently a shipwreck hunter -- pretty wild background!

Anyway, he told me about living in the States as a Japanese immigrant way back when, and how back then people would scoff at Japanese cuisine. Saying it smelled bad, and no one wanted to eat raw fish. Pretty much, no one liked it -- at least according to him.

Of course, fast forward a few decades, and Americans seem to not be able to get enough sushi in their mouths! Go figure...

Sometimes at home I end up with "non matching" ingredients from different cousines.

Like once I cooked Arabic Maftoul/Marmahon seasoned like Korean Dangmyeon. Another day BBQ Ribs with Korean Mirim.

It's surprising how many ethnic cuisines that have become more ubiquitous in the US in the last decade or two match up so well to their home nations offering marketing and financial assistance to potential restaurant owners. Maybe it's not our palates telling us to eat more Korean bulgogi and Peruvian fried chicken, as much as those countries paying money to put those dishes in front of us.

Culinary Diplomacy now, Spice Trade Genocide in the not so distant past…