Which major cities have the best variety of ethnic foods?

[Dianemwj]

I grew up in Portland and they seemed to have quite a wide variety of ethnic cuisine. My family did not like to go to these kinds of restaurants so my requests to try new things were almost universally denied. Now I don't have the money to go out to eat, so I still have not had much in the way of traditional ethnic cooking. Someday though, I hope to try Indian food and Thai food.

Is that Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine?

My family was much the same as yours. I grew up in Burbank, California and back then there weren't too many ethnic choices, but even if there were, my parents wouldn't have gone. My father was a real meat and potatoes kind of guy, and I took my mother to a Cantonese Chinese restaurant when I was an adult and that was the first time she'd ever tasted Chinese food. The recipes she cut out of magazines that claimed to be "Oriental" used only soy sauce to make that claim. I remember when I discovered dark sesame oil, I was over the moon "That's the flavor I''ve been looking for!". Now it's on the shelf at every grocery store. Things were just different back then, and Americans from the Midwest, as my parents were, just didn't have the adventurous desire to try new things.

Even if you can't afford to go to Indian and Thai restaurants, there are thousands of recipes on the internet and the ingredients aren't anywhere near as expensive as a restaurant meal. Pick a simple recipe and give it a try!

 

[CoolCat]

Is that Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine?

My family was much the same as yours. I grew up in Burbank, California and back then there weren't too many ethnic choices, but even if there were, my parents wouldn't have gone. My father was a real meat and potatoes kind of guy, and I took my mother to a Cantonese Chinese restaurant when I was an adult and that was the first time she'd ever tasted Chinese food. The recipes she cut out of magazines that claimed to be "Oriental" used only soy sauce to make that claim. I remember when I discovered dark sesame oil, I was over the moon "That's the flavor I''ve been looking for!". Now it's on the shelf at every grocery store. Things were just different back then, and Americans from the Midwest, as my parents were, just didn't have the adventurous desire to try new things.

Even if you can't afford to go to Indian and Thai restaurants, there are thousands of recipes on the internet and the ingredients aren't anywhere near as expensive as a restaurant meal. Pick a simple recipe and give it a try!

And you can order the ingredients online too, if you can't find them locally. I was listening to Alton Brown's podcast where he was interviewing another chef (I think it was Antonia Lafaso but I could be wrong) and they were discussing the research they have to do for cookbooks and cooking shows with regard to the availability of ingredients. It used to be so much worse, where you could get almost anything in a big city on one of the coasts, but the middle of the country was practically a desert when it came to international or gourmet ingredients. Now there's a wider variety across the board, but it's still easier to find certain things where the population is denser. They would literally have to call up supermarkets around the country to see if something was common before including it in a recipe. Now, you may need to substitute produce if you can't find it, but non-perishables can be ordered online and unusual cuts of meat can be gotten from the butcher.

 

[Morning Glory]

And you can order the ingredients online too, if you can't find them locally. I was listening to Alton Brown's podcast where he was interviewing another chef (I think it was Antonia Lafaso but I could be wrong) and they were discussing the research they have to do for cookbooks and cooking shows with regard to the availability of ingredients. It used to be so much worse, where you could get almost anything in a big city on one of the coasts, but the middle of the country was practically a desert when it came to international or gourmet ingredients. Now there's a wider variety across the board, but it's still easier to find certain things where the population is denser. They would literally have to call up supermarkets around the country to see if something was common before including it in a recipe. Now, you may need to substitute produce if you can't find it, but non-perishables can be ordered online and unusual cuts of meat can be gotten from the butcher.

Here, we can order perishables on-line too. There are specialist butchers and fishmongers wh will deliver anywhere in the country. I sometimes order lobsters or game that way.

 

[sidevalve]

Just an odd question that popped up - does the definition of 'ethnic' food change depending on where you are ? If you actually live in China then chinese food is local and burgers and fries are 'ethnic'. Seems weird somehow but I guess it's true.

 

[Morning Glory]

Just an odd question that popped up - does the definition of 'ethnic' food change depending on where you are ? If you actually live in China then chinese food is local and burgers and fries are 'ethnic'. Seems weird somehow but I guess it's true.

I'm sure you are right in general, but I doubt anyone would describe burger and fries as ethnic!

 

[CoolCat]

Just an odd question that popped up - does the definition of 'ethnic' food change depending on where you are ? If you actually live in China then chinese food is local and burgers and fries are 'ethnic'. Seems weird somehow but I guess it's true.

I would consider ethnic food to be any cuisine that isn't native to the area you're in. So yes, as many comedians have pointed out, in China they don't have Chinese food, they just have food. I'm not sure that American food would necessarily be considered ethnic in many places simply because we are such a melting pot of different cuisines and cultures. We're like a fusion of a variety of European cuisines.

In reality, what most people (at least here in the states) consider ethnic food would be cuisines from Asia (except China), the middle east, and Africa. Those are the most "exotic" to our palates because they are the farthest from our normal eating patterns. We have Americanized versions of most South American and European cuisines, as well as Chinese and, to an increasingly larger extent, Japanese. When you see a Thai, Indian, or Ethiopian restaurant, on the other hand, it's pretty safe to assume that the food they are serving is an authentic representation of the food in those countries (modified based on availability of ingredients, and sometimes strong flavors are toned down a bit for our palates).

 

[sidevalve]

I'm sure you are right in general, but I doubt anyone would describe burger and fries as ethnic!

But TBH why not ? After all ethnic isn't a region or a country and chinese food can be found all over the world too for example. Pasta - haggis - lava bread - must be classed as 'ethnic' outside their own country, again you can't really say 'Oh it isn't ethnic because it comes from - Britain / America / Europe / china / India or anywhere else. Surely it just depends on where you are eating it.

 

[Morning Glory]

But TBH why not ? After all ethnic isn't a region or a country and chinese food can be found all over the world too for example. Pasta - haggis - lava bread - must be classed as 'ethnic' outside their own country, again you can't really say 'Oh it isn't ethnic because it comes from - Britain / America / Europe / china / India or anywhere else. Surely it just depends on where you are eating it.

I think I just meant that burgers have become such a well-known food in most parts of the world that people wouldn't use the word ethnic for burger and fries. And it seems, that MacDonald's have produced ethnic versions of their burgers! Witness the Japanese Ebi Burger on sale in Japan and Singapore, containing small shrimps with panko breadcrumbs:

 

[CoolCat]

McDonald's does a lot of interesting regional items:

Paneer wraps in India:

Tzaziki Wrap in Hungary:

Poutine in Canada:

I've personally had their lobster rolls in Maine and a red-bean pie in Taiwan. (The latter wasn't bad in and of itself, but I looked at the picture and thought it was some sort of berry filling. It was the most disappointed I have ever been biting into a piece of food.)

 

[sidevalve]

I think I just meant that burgers have become such a well-known food in most parts of the world that people wouldn't use the word ethnic for burger and fries. And it seems, that MacDonald's have produced ethnic versions of their burgers! Witness the Japanese Ebi Burger on sale in Japan and Singapore, containing small shrimps with panko breadcrumbs:

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I understand your meaning and perhaps burgers wasn't the best example but my point still stands. We tend to think 'ethnic' is something from outside the west but it is as I said it's just something from outside your country really. So - anybody from or who has experience of the more distant parts of the world [well in this day and age of fast travel anywhere really], what is regarded as 'ethnic' in India or China or Japan for example ?

 

[Morning Glory]

I understand your meaning and perhaps burgers wasn't the best example but my point still stands. We tend to think 'ethnic' is something from outside the west but it is as I said it's just something from outside your country really. So - anybody from or who has experience of the more distant parts of the world [well in this day and age of fast travel anywhere really], what is regarded as 'ethnic' in India or China or Japan for example ?

You are right I expect but I think that the idea of 'ethnic food' might be a western concept in itself! Perhaps we should ask our Filipino members what they consider ethnic food to be...

 

[Berties]

A twist on a burger can be ethnic ,different meat or bread or what is served with it
Look at a kofta, twist on a burger !
Can't see mc Donald's in my eyes as ethnic ,same foods different sauce served in a different town In a different country ,they all have a Big Mac to insult your palate and disappoint you,they try but the market demands a certain price and food from them!

 

[Corzhens]

I have been to many places and I find Singapore as the melting pot of all delicacies and foreign dishes. Mostly Indian, and Malaysian and Chinese food that are commonly served in restaurants but there are fine dining restaurants that serve foreign food - continental, American, even Mexican like the chili con carne. In Universal Studios, there is an array of food to choose from that we sometimes have difficulty in deciding. I guess Singapore is the place with the most variety of ethnic food.

 

[Duck59]

I've just been to Copenhagen; it has a very diverse population and a whole heap of restaurants to suit all styles and tastes. I had an excellent spinach paneer in a Pakistani restaurant. Scandinavian countries are infamous for being on the expensive side, but it was just under twenty quid for a meal, large beer and Irish coffee - not too different to what you would pay in the UK. Most capital cities in Europe offer a good variety of eating places, but Copenhagen seems to have more than most.

 

[MyExWasAChef]

SIngapore is a tiny island port nation that sits in the middle of Asia. They have a lot of foreign imports and that includes people, culture and food. They have Indian, Malaysian and Chinese cuisine-- all big Asian countries made by genuine hands of those people. I've been there and I can definitely say food is a national past time there are food hawkers everywhere! If you go to Asia check Singapore out. Hong Kong is pretty great too.