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I can agree with this. I am not criticizing because the American influence of the food, my critique comes because a place advertises something "authentic" (or implies it is), yet it is not. I am big on Greek and Turkish food, yet find difficulty in finding a place that actually serves this stuff as it is suppose to be; some places are so far off the mark it is not even funny.
What do you mean?
Greek food is Greek food...how can one screw it up? There's nothig 'weird' about it that would be offensive to a western palate.
I guess I shouldn't be giving American Chinese food a hard time considering I'm chomping on some peanut butter stuffed steamed bao right now (next time with nutella!) and had some Korean Chinese Jajiangmyun with nopales yesterday.
What do you mean?
Greek food is Greek food...how can one screw it up? There's nothig 'weird' about it that would be offensive to a western palate.
Usually the problems come from the need to substitute ingredients in the USA.
Even in the making of something as simple as Mousaka. As here the eggplant used will usually be the "American Black Beauty" but in Greece it will be one of the native varieties. there is a difference in taste and texture of the various eggplant varieties.
While the taste would still be good, it will not be the same as what one would find in Greece.
Usually the problems come from the need to substitute ingredients in the USA.
Even in the making of something as simple as Mousaka. As here the eggplant used will usually be the "American Black Beauty" but in Greece it will be one of the native varieties. there is a difference in taste and texture of the various eggplant varieties.
While the taste would still be good, it will not be the same as what one would find in Greece.
OK, but most of the ingredients are available here, from lovely sharp kefalograviera, sheep's milk cheese to goat feta to tarama to Greek oregano. It's very simple, very basic cooking.
Cheese is not a favourite food in China, to put it mildly. Traditionally, dairy products were associated with the nomadic people who lived on the fringes of China and who were regarded as fearful barbarians.
Growing up in Hawaii, cheese, especially American cheese was one of my favorites! One of my most favorite lunches my parents would prepare for us on the weekends was grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. My mother also used to make lasangna, and other Americanize Italian dishes like spaghetti and stuffed cannelloni shells for dinner.
I used to work for the State of Hawaii at the University of Hawaii where I had to hire student workers and train them to operate an IBM mainframe system. One night we ordered pizza from pizza hut for the whole crew. The students who were born and raised in Hong Kong or China told me they didn't care for cheese because they weren't used to the odor and they referred to it as the white man's tofu!LOL Not me, I love all kinds of cheeses, fresh mozzella, provolone, etc., etc..
Quote:
Originally Posted by cindersslipper
As an Australian person who loves Chinese food, I couldn't wait to get over there myself and try the authentic version.
I swear, I nearly starved to death.
The food was uniformly disgusting (sadly I didn't go to the street markets, perhaps I should've but my kids were there too) and I almost literally starved to death. The kids always found something fried to eat but every meal I ordered I couldn't finish.
I had to eat at the hotel. They did a decent BLT.
The REAL Chinese food is greasy, greasy, greasy.
Real Chinese food isn't greasy. I should know since I'm mostly Chinese. LOL Oddly enough, my parents had the same complaint about the Chinese food they had in China. When they retired they traveled to mainland China at least 4 times, and they too said the food was greasy, greasy!
Yet, I have an auntie who traveled to mainland China on a different tour, and she said the Chinese food was excellent and not that much different from the authentic Chinese food available everywhere in Honolulu.
If my mother was serving Chinese food, it would consist of at least 3 courses not including rice. We might have a soup made from pork broth with watercress and ground pork balls or prepared Chinese fishcake dumplings along with a savory steamed egg custard and maybe a stir fried dish like chicken and asparagus with black bean sauce.
One of my most favorite dinners was a whole chicken that my parents would gently poach in a aromatic broth and when it was done it was chopped up and served on a platter along with Won Bok cabbage that was also poached in the same broth. There was oyster sauce in a side dish to add to your chicken and cabbage for more taste. Lastly vermicelli noodles made from mung bean was boiled in the broth to make a soup garnished with freshly chopped green onions. Another 3 course dinner. LOL
Last edited by Honolulu21; 04-20-2014 at 06:41 PM..
What do you mean?
Greek food is Greek food...how can one screw it up? There's nothig 'weird' about it that would be offensive to a western palate.
What do I mean? Real simple; difficult to find real Greek and Turkish food in the US.
I know there is nothing "weird" about it, but fact is that the food does not taste like it does in Greece and Turkey, a lot of it not even close. I have no idea why even the ethnic ran places do not make it like it suppose to be, perhaps it has to do with cost driving the product, as many Americans have and never will travel to Greece and Turkey (let alone live), thus the establishments here can get away with cost savings that sacrifices the authentic taste. It seems the places that try making the establishment look very Greek looking are the ones who have the worse food.
I have found places that are Egyptian or Syrian influenced for example tend to have much better Med food, which in all taste much closer to Greek and Turkish than many self proclaimed Greek/Turk restraurants, but these places are usually not mainstream and are supported mostly by immigrants from those countries. So a perosn would have to find the area of a city that would have a couple of these hole-in-the-wall establishments, which is fine, but not every city has these.
OK, but most of the ingredients are available here, from lovely sharp kefalograviera, sheep's milk cheese to goat feta to tarama to Greek oregano. It's very simple, very basic cooking.
Ingredients are here yes, but does the establishment want to pay for the ingredients? Or are they substituting ingredients and preparation for reasons of costs? And like all cooking, there is more to it than tossing a bunch of ingredients together; for example, simply slapping on BBQ sauce on a piece of cooked meat does not make for BBQ (unless using the literal meaning), much less quality BBQ.
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Real Chinese food isn't greasy...
