Mmmm, sashimi. (iStockphoto/Thinkstock)

In our continuing quest to work food into our podcast, we’re talking about the whole idea of “ethnic food” today. That’s … pretty loaded as a concept and runs counter to the idea of America as a melting pot. Yet, some of those “other” flavors are among our favorites.

• Reasons vs. excuses
• The basic trajectory of most “ethnic” foods – one entrepreneur in a location with a large immigrant population, followed by migration into other communities, followed by integration into the mainstream menu
• A story I tell on myself, regarding chicken tikka masala
• Chop suey
• The faux sanctimony of eating the foods that are taboo in one’s primary culture
• A number of other loaded terms, like “Americanized” and “authentic,” and why foods change when the people making them change regions
• Our favorite (and least favorite) regional foods
• Some thoughts on pizza and Italian food
• Lynne Rosetto Casper and the time she gave Joshua Bell a knife
• The influence of Spam on the Pacific Islands, thanks to World War II
• Why Chinese restaurants look the same in every movie
• Whether restaurants improve people’s perceptions of other ethnicities
• Why Chinese food is often popular in American Jewish communities
• A brief digression about food safety
• A number of regional foods: French provincial, Cajun, creole and Cuban among them
• Food from Peru and the Philippines as potential upcoming trends
• A call to call regional foods by their names instead of calling them “ethnic”
• Listener mail about our Brony episode, from Laurie
• How Sushi Works

Tracy’s research:

• Barbas, Samantha. “’‘I’ll Take Chop Suey’: Restaurants as Agents of Culinary and Cultural Change.” Journal of Popular Culture.  Vol. 36, Issue 4.
• Chez, Keridiana. “Popular Ethnic Food Guides as Auto/Ethnographic Project: The Multicultural and Gender Politics of Urban Culinary Tourism.” The Journal of American Culture.  Volume 34, Number 3 . September 2011.
• Gvion, Liora and Naomi Trostler. “From Spaghetti and Meatballs through Hawaiian Pizza to Sushi: The Changing Nature of Ethnicity in American Restaurants.” The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 41, No. 6, 2008.
• Lewis, George H. “From Minnesota Fat to Seoul Food: Spam in America and the Pacific Rim.” Journal of Popular Culture.” Vol. 34, issue 2.
• Matt, Susan J. “A Hunger for Home: Homesickness and Food in a Global Consumer Society.” The Journal of American Culture, 30:1.
• Miller, Hanna. “Identity Takeout: How American Jews Made Chinese Food Their Ethnic Cuisine.” The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 39, No. 3, 2006.

Holly’s research:

• Next Hot Ethnic Food: Filipino
• America’s Take on Ethnic Food
• 2013 Food Trends: 13 That Other Publications Agree On
• Top Chefs Forecast Food Trends
• 5 Beloved Ethnic Foods Invented for Americans
• Americans Increasingly Desire the Flavor and Health Benefits of Ethnic Foods

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