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Why lamb over rice for NYC? That's a typical Central Asian or Afghan dish. Afghan communities all over the US serve that, and it's just as authentic as in NY, wherever they serve it. I've never heard of that as a NYC thing. Indian restaurants are great with that, too. And pizza? NYC pizza is "authentic"? Maybe if you get it in an Italian restaurant, but otherwise, no pizza in the US is "authentic", according to Italians. And cheesecake? I don't understand these choices.
I agree it isn't "unique" but it is "authentic". NY pizza isn't like pizza outside NYC. The lamb over rice dish with the white/red sauce he's referring to is a NY thing, not really found outside of NY. Every city has variations on these dishes, of course, but cities tend to create local food vernaculars.
You could say "curries aren't British they're Indian", "doners aren't German they're Turkish", "burritos aren't Californian they're Mexican" but in fact these places have created their own unique typology. They're variations on an original. It's usually immigrants creating a new dish based on a blend of the original country and the new country.
This thread is making me so hungry, lol ... I want to travel to each of these places, and sample one dish (or more) from every list!
Thought I'd add some iconic foods of Kingston, Jamaica. The cook at my work cafeteria cooks a lot of jerk recipes, lucky me.
Kingston, JM: jerk chicken, jamaican patties, "run down", callaloo, bammy, ackee and salt fish, jamaican rum, kingston punch
I was thinking the same thing...now I am really hungry and want to go eat all of this food. Lol...gumbo, pizza, carne asada burrito, lamb over rice and Jamaican food.
Yes, I agree. Although Gumbo is made by Black families throughout the US, New Orleans is where it's true home is. Also, you know from experience as well that no place has salmon the same quality as Seattle.
This reminded me of Texan brisket, I had never had meat like that before and it was quite amazing.
Gyro is very similar, but donair meat is a unique variation. Lebanese immigrants to Halifax, Nova Scotia came up with the recipe. Donair is very lean and is spiced a certain way, with lots of garlic sauce... "donair sauce" is an essential part of the mixture that makes a donair a donair. Shawarmas, gyros, and other similar food wraps use tzatziki sauce, which donairs don't have.
I've heard that there's a Turkish variation called a doner, which I've never had, but would love to try, just for comparison to see how similar it is to a Halifax donair.
In Ottawa, there's a Halifax donair take-out restaurant on Bronson St.
Why lamb over rice for NYC? That's a typical Central Asian or Afghan dish. Afghan communities all over the US serve that, and it's just as authentic as in NY, wherever they serve it. I've never heard of that as a NYC thing. Indian restaurants are great with that, too. And pizza? NYC pizza is "authentic"? Maybe if you get it in an Italian restaurant, but otherwise, no pizza in the US is "authentic", according to Italians. And cheesecake? I don't understand these choices.
But baked beans & Boston, that I get. New Orleans and gumbo, definitely. Seattle--salmon?
NYC pizza is different than anywhere else in the world, that's what makes it unique. Same with cheesecake, NYC cheesecake is too different than anywhere else, with a graham cracker crust and a very thick texture. In comparison, Italian cheesecake is made out of a different type of cheese (ricotta) and I don't really like it that much. I've also had cheesecake outisde of NYC and it's very light, which isn't the way New York cheesecake supposed to feel like. Ironically the closest thing I've had to New York Cheesecake outside New York was in Peru...
Lamb over rice is unique because it's served from food trucks next to yellow rice and white as well as spicy sauce, I don't think this serving method is too popular in Central Asia. You have not lived until you tried lamb over rice with extra white sauce from a food truck in Midtown
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