In the United States, some of the most popular cuisines were brought over by immigrants; however, one continent’s food has recently been subject to increasing overgeneralization: Asia. Across the U.S., the label \u201cAsian food\u201d is constantly narrowed to a small fraction of the continent, leaving the majority of countries\u2019 dishes out of the picture. These places, mainly consisting of Chinese takeout and Japanese sushi restaurants, don’t represent the diversity of Asian cuisine, which in turn leads to a limited understanding of the vast differences among foods in Asian cultures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asia, comprising 48 UN-recognized countries, has many distinct flavor profiles that, if explored in the United States, would allow people to feel represented and gain an appreciation for different Asian cuisines. From Turkish stuffed grape leaves and baklava to ube and macapuno in the Philippines, the range and traditions behind these dishes should be celebrated, not unrepresented. Even on the rare occasions when these cultures have their dishes represented, they are often simplified down to \u201cAmericanized versions\u201d due to traditional U.S. expectations for \u201cforeign food.\u201d For example, diminished spice levels and adding excess sugar to traditional Asian recipes to make them more appealing to the general American public. Veronica Burns, a Berkeley High School sophomore who identifies as Taiwanese American, noted that once Asian food is brought to the U.S., it changes due to America\u2019s different taste palate. \u201cSome foods are just tailored to the taste of the people who live there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Though Alameda County has a wide variety of Asian restaurants (due to the Bay Area being the region with the 4th most Asian restaurants in the United States), that is not the case in the majority of the U. S.. According to the Migration Policy Institute, 14 million Asian immigrants immigrate to the United States every year, with the leading countries being China, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, and Pakistan, but not all of these countries are represented in the culinary world equally. According to the Pew Research Center, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai restaurants make up ~71 percent of all Asian restaurants in the United States, while Chinese, Japanese, and Thai people only make up 33 percent of the United States\u2019 Asian population. This imbalance highlights the gap in Asian food availability, as entire regions, including the Middle East, central Asia, and smaller Southeast Asian countries, are almost entirely out of the picture. Maddie Saeturn, a sophomore whose family is from Laos and Vietnam, notes how even if people are from the same country, there are vast differences in food and culture that should be celebrated, saying, \u201cI think it’s important to show that not all Asian cuisines are the same thing, and every background is a little different from others.\u201d<\/p>\n
As food is one of the main ways for people to connect to their culture, the absence of certain cuisines can cause people to feel as if their culture is not valued. \u201c[food] shows a connection, like family representation,\u201d Saeturn says. \u201cFood is a way to bring people together towards the end of the day.\u201d However, representation needs to be approached in a way that is authentic so as to elevate a culture and not take advantage of it. \u201cSometimes it’s like profiting off of the culture without acknowledging, like calling something a name that it’s not.\u201d Burns says, \u201cor pretending as if you created it.\u201d This lack of representation of authentic Asian food affects Asian Americans and non-Asian Americans alike. Having a narrow scope of what Asian food is reinforces stereotypes of Asian food and takes away from the complex and long history of the cuisine.<\/p>\n
Increasing and diversifying the number of Asian restaurants in the United States would help all communities by broadening their scope of what Asian food is, and help more people from Asian countries that are not typically depicted in the restaurant scene to feel represented, valued, and have their culture appreciated.\u00a0 As Saeturn notes, \u201cbusinesses are mostly from immigrant people,\u201d so supporting these businesses from underrepresented Asian regions will not only expose people to other cultures but will also strengthen the bonds of our communities. \u201cAmerica’s a diverse place, and no one wants to eat the same thing all the time.\u201d Burns says, \u201cIt’s nice to be able to have options.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the United States, some of the most popular cuisines were brought over by immigrants; however, one continent’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-306863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}