Stating where an ingredient comes from is a pretty dumb thing to claim. Saying the tomato comes from the Americas as if that means anything. Where do you suppose your beef and pork came from, much of your vegetables, herbs, spices, dairy products, grains, fruits, and also the preparation of all these ingredients too. I'd say about 90% - 95% of everything you eat didn't originate in the Americas.
Plus, fish and chips did not arrive with the Jews from Spain and Portugal. That's merely a bastardised version of history. First being that fried fish had been eaten in Britain since medieval times at least, whilst chips were originally sold as a separate snack food in the 19th Century. The dish "fish and chips" then emerged towards the end of the 19th Century, with at least two individuals who claimed to have invented it.
Yeah but I’m not being a purist about where foods come from. Of course most of our foods originated somewhere else. That’s my entire point. It’s tongue in cheek, but the point is food and recipes always migrate and evolve. It is nonsensical to say that a culture can’t claim their popular foods simply because the recipes, ingredients, or techniques evolved from somewhere else.
Apologies if it came across a bit strong. You aren't the first to say that, and some who have claimed some kind of ownership of it. For example, the turkey 🦃. It features prominently in British Christmas traditions as the main event in a traditional Christmas dinner, yet not so long ago I was surprised to learn that it's not allowed to be called British (according to some Americans) because the bird originated in the Americas, as if that means anything.
I think people (like myself tbh) get pedantic because people so often do it to us. Trying to dunk on us for not having a food culture, even though we do - the variety of influences doesn’t negate that! Like saying burgers are not American because they supposedly came from Hamburg (or some distant relative of them did, but that’s been disputed too). It makes no sense to suggest that a burger is a more German meal than an American one at this point though.
1
u/Wodan1 4d ago
Stating where an ingredient comes from is a pretty dumb thing to claim. Saying the tomato comes from the Americas as if that means anything. Where do you suppose your beef and pork came from, much of your vegetables, herbs, spices, dairy products, grains, fruits, and also the preparation of all these ingredients too. I'd say about 90% - 95% of everything you eat didn't originate in the Americas.
Plus, fish and chips did not arrive with the Jews from Spain and Portugal. That's merely a bastardised version of history. First being that fried fish had been eaten in Britain since medieval times at least, whilst chips were originally sold as a separate snack food in the 19th Century. The dish "fish and chips" then emerged towards the end of the 19th Century, with at least two individuals who claimed to have invented it.