It’s kind of funny, I think, that a plant so closely associated with America is actually not native at all.

  • Drusas@fedia.io
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    30 days ago

    Sure, but the same applies to so many foods in so many cultures. What was Italian food like before they had access to tomatoes? Eastern, Central European, or Irish before potatoes? Chinese, Southeast Asian, or Korean before they had chili peppers?

    Now each of those countries have dishes we associate with them but which use those non-native ingredients.

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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      30 days ago

      The more impressive thing is how the British had a global empire for roughly 400 years, and their cuisine remained awful.

      • Rubanski@lemm.ee
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        29 days ago

        I think that’s because British food we commonly see as awful stems from food rationing that went on during and after WWII, as far as I know well in the 1970s

        • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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          29 days ago

          That seems like a poor excuse, every country experienced rationing and they didn’t revert to awful food. There’s even a few dishes like fried spam and ramen that are actually pretty good.

          • Drusas@fedia.io
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            28 days ago

            American cuisine also suffered dramatically in the post-war period due to a reliance on, for example, canned vegetables. A whole generation or two (boomers and Gen X) grew up not knowing what spices are, practically.

            • Rubanski@lemm.ee
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              27 days ago

              Then they somehow put everything in Jello in the 50s because apparently decent cuisine was completely forgotten

      • Drusas@fedia.io
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        28 days ago

        Hey now, it’s thanks to them that we have chicken tikka and butter chicken.

    • MataVatnik@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      Blows my minds that Indian and Asian food at one point wasn’t spicy, and it wasn’t until Europian trade from the America’s that changed the cuisine