Why is it hard for someone to make genuine tasting ethnic food if they are not with the culture?

Question

Why is it hard for someone to make genuine tasting ethnic food if they are not with the culture?

Answer 1

It is hard to tell if the food is trully genuine if you have never had it made for you properly.

I am quite fortunate and am very mixed.

My father is Salvadoran (hispanic) so I am exposed to pupusas (yumm), black beans, and other very ethnic food.

My Mother is mostly asian and lived in hawaii for most of her life so she was exposed to korean, hawaiian, japanese, chinese, and several other asian groups. There fore I am exposed to stirfry and more.

My mom's best friends fiance (for several years now) is Indian (India) and exposed her to Indian food such as hummus, curry and other foods that I can not spell the names of (LOL) so I am able to tell if something is made right.

It also helps if you have friends from different cultures which is why I am able to tell the difference between good mexican and horrible Mexican. I can also tell the diffence between ethiopan and nigerian.

I believe you need to be exposed to it for you to be able to know if the resteraunt prepared it correctly.

Answer 2

I don't think that is true. I cook Moroccan, Indian, Japanese and Greek all the time. I am not a part of any of those cultures, but I adore their cuisine. It's easy to buy a cookbook and start messing with recipes but what will really help is to check out restaurants that make the kind of food you're interested in preparing. You will get an idea how it is supposed to taste, look, etc.

Answer 3

First, you have to know how it is supposed to taste. But be aware that if you have 6 cooks of the same ethnicity prepare the same dish you will likely have 6 variations on a theme.

Second, you need access to the right ingredients. Sometimes even the "true" cook will give a non-typical result if they can't get the "right" ingredients.

Learn the main characteristics of the types of food you like from people who know how they're supposed to be and practice.  All good cooks start with an idea and ingredients and blend and taste and perfect and practice and vary. Get comfortable with the characteristic ingredients and experiment with a variety of ways of using them. All cuisines evolve over time depending upon what's available. Get feedback from your "experts". If they like the way you prepare food for them that ought to make you feel very good.

Answer 4

Because it isn't genuine.

The flavors from different places vary.  Even given all of the right ingredients, how to use them and in what amounts is something you learn with time.  As an Indian cook, I know that homemade food can taste different because we buy our spices from Indian stores instead of local grocery stores, even though they should ideally taste the same.

Answer 5

yes it is

Answer 6

It has nothing to do with being or not being part of the culture.  

It's about your individual cooking skills, how to pick your ingredients, and sense of smell and taste.

My aunt makes a better tasting curry than I've had at any Indian restaurant.

I'm Polish, and according to my other half, I make some Irish dishes better than his Dublin born-and-raised mother.

Answer 7

I think Indian cooking can be difficult & intimidating, even for Indians!  The sheer number of spices used in a daily meal is daunting!  But even for an Indian, its just trial and error and lots of practice. Indian food is basically learning how to manipulated spices and balance flavors.  Once you learn a few tips and tricks, anyone can make good Indian food!  Once you become familiar with the spices, their tastes, aromas and flavors... you will understand in uses and amounts in various dishes & curries.  It's just practice!

Answer 8

Your proposition is baloney.  With proper ingredients, technique, and care, anyone can make any "ethnic" food, and there are hundreds of restaurants around (quite a few right here in California) that can prove it.

Answer 9

Because they are following recipes that are based on an authentic recipe, but have been modified to suit local taste and ingredient availability.

Answer 10

I know a British-born muslim Pakistani chef (father Pakistan; mother Shanghainese) who runs a Chinese restaurant in Australia reputed for roast ducks and bbq porkribs. How's that for authenticity?

I think it's not hard for a German chef to whip up Provencale dishes, or an English chef mastering Italian cuisine because they are all Europeans. They know the culture intimately.

But I would distrust a Chinese chef preparing "sushi", or an African chef preparing Yorksire Pudding. For me only Japanese, Koreans and Chinese can be masters of their own cuisines.

Answer 11

They can't capture the flavor, and it is hard to get the correct ingredients.

Answer 12

I am a former chef and it is a feel and ingredient thing, alot of times spices, cooking methods, cuts of meat and the knowledge of that particular cuisine is the main thing, I prided myself in learning the exact ways and flavours of alot of the places and cuisine I worked with and I also worked in 5 other countrys.

I am fortunate that here in Toronto Canada, like NYC there is a melting pot of cultures, and all have there sections of town/shopping areas with specific foods, baked goods and ingredients available to make there foods with. I can get all the South Asian cuisines, Chinese(s), African, Ethiopian and Somalian, Greek, Korean, Eastern European, Scandinavian, Indian (west and east), Russian, Jewish and Hispanic ones for Mexico and Central/South America.

Alot is just practise, eating those places you want to replicate and learning the foods and cooking methods are important, become friends with people of those ethnic origins, but most of all try a variety of things to see there special qualitys and tastes,