Which cuisine are you most likely to be satisfied with when dining out? Which disappoints you the least # of visits?
Cowen---an economist, New York Times columnist, professor, and writer of "Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Food Guide"---answers on his blog:
Korean is perhaps the safest bet, for two reasons. First, non-Koreans are not usually interested in the food. They might enjoy Bul-Gogi but there will be plenty of other dishes for Korean patrons and these will not be "dumbed down." The lack of mainstream interest limits the potential for sell-out behavior on the part of the restaurant. Second, many Korean dishes, most of all the pickled vegetables, "travel" relatively well and do fine in a culture -- the USA -- which is not obsessed with fresh ingredients.
The most dangerous cuisine to try, in the United States at least, is Chinese.
7 comments:
First, non-Koreans are not usually interested in the food. They might enjoy Bul-Gogi but there will be plenty of other dishes for Korean patrons and these will not be "dumbed down." The lack of mainstream interest limits the potential for sell-out behavior on the part of the restaurant.
In some ways it's a wonderful back-handed compliment. Koreans are generally poor at figuring out which dishes they can sell in volume to whitey. Or they're simply unwilling to invest any time figuring it out. Hence the rise of non-Korean owned "korean bbq" joints. Naturally Koreans will be the first to bitch others have stolen their cuisine. Look, if you leave something at the end of your driveway unclaimed and ostensibly in the trash, you can't complain if someone takes it and makes valuable use out of it.
Thais figured it out. Whitey likes the sweet peanut goop stuff and then move them up the value chain as their tastes mature. And welcome them with hospitality, not looks of fear and suspicion. Whitey is as scared of you as you are of him.
Ah, but there are people plotting to "dumb down" the cuisine Coréen for non-Koreans, so enjoy it while you can, Monsieur Cowen.
And why is "whitey" used as a stand-in for 외국인 (i.e., non-Koreans)?
WORD VERIFICATION: fracoses (psychoses that make you go "Frack!")
What is Korean food, in this sense of the term? What are Korean restaurants in the US serving up? I assume they don't stick to the one-restaurant one-dish system they have here. Do they choose a sampling of genuinely good dishes, or do they just try and do everything?
Anyways, Korean food is unlikely to make a splash internationally until it takes a close look at itself and its provenance and learns the meaning of quality and respect for ingredients. Seeing as the majority of what Koreans eat can be classified as industrially-produced mulch and sustenance fodder, it's not likely they'll beat out, say, the Japanese for the ethnic/Asian dollar. And nor do they deserve to. I'm sure Japan was eating just as much as crap in the 80s as Koreans do now, but at least they had the decency to improve themselves before launching themselves at the world.
He also describes Korean food as having pickled vegetables which travel relatively well and judging from some of the comments, that's probably not the best way to describe Korean food if you want people to try it.
LOL..
korean food in my country is expensive. unless you invested in a "dolsot" and made dolsot bibimbap for your family..
its fairly okay, but its expensive for other asian countries, unless they know how to make it themselves.
otherwise, most people just eat their normal food. Korean food may be classified as healthy in countries where fastfood is the norm. Cutting down on the chips, and fried stuff by half at least.
nah, i think alot of people arent really interested in foreign foods. when i was in the u.s. last month, people were happy with their beef, potatoes, buffets, starbucks. pickles? or pickled foods? fine on a hamburger or in a Kosher deli, but most people dont do it..
Chinese is more common than Japanese which is more common than Korean, but mostly thats a small market.
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