When we look into the food of a place or a group of people, we are looking into their culture that has been past down from generations. When you look at a place like New York City, one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, the food reflects the great diversity of people, from Italian, Russian, French to Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern. When we zoom into one neighborhood, we see an interesting pocket of mixed cultures. Flushing, for example, is said to be one of the most diverse neighborhoods within New York City; however, the people residing in the area are predominantly Asian. By looking at the food of Flushing, we see the reflection of the many different Asian cultures living in Flushing.
China
Chinese cuisine has some staple foods that are used in many dishes. Some of these are rice, noodles, soybeans, and vegetables. However, there isn’t just one style of cooking in China. There are eight culinary traditions in China, and each of the styles of cooking is influenced by the availability of ingredients in the region it belongs to, as well as other factors such as temperature, climate, and even the history of the region. Each of these traditions is vastly different from each other, and is broken down even further into smaller regions.
The Eight Culinary Traditions of China are: Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan, Zhejiang. The foods are mainly regionally based and have distinct ingredients and styles of cooking. Anhui cuisine originated from the Huang Shan Mountain regions and mainly uses local herbs and vegetables in their food. Cantonese food is mainly known for dim sum, which literally translates to “bits of heart.” popular types of food Fujian cuisine is known for its stews, soups, and broths, particularly with seafood since the region of Fujian is close to the coast. Hunan food is known for its hot and spicy flavor, and is usually cooked by stewing, pot-roasting, and smoking. Jiangsu cuisine is influenced by several regions, and is famous for its salt meat dishes, like salted dried duck, crystal meat, and jerky strips. Shandong cuisine is characterized by its use of seafood, but different from Fujian in that it is usually cooked in flavors where the taste of the seafood is fresher and more distinct. Szechuan food is characterized by its garlic, ginger, and spicy tastes, and its use of Szechuan peppercorn. Finally, Zhejiang cuisine is known for its fresh and soft flavors.
South Korea
One of the first foods people think about when they think of Korean food is kimchi, which is cabbage fermented in spices, and Korean barbeque, but there is much more to the cuisine. Korean food has been heavily influenced by the nation’s landscape as well as by the cultures of the people it has come into contact with. Most of the land in Korea is mountainous, making little of the land arable and fit for growing a lot of food. In the valleys of the mountains, those are where grains like rice and barely are often grown. In the region of Chonju city, there are many rice-growing valleys, which influenced their famous dish – Bibimbap, which is a large bowl of rice topped with various sliced vegetables. Korea is also a peninsula, which gives people access to a plethora of seafood. Odeng, a fish cake that is a blend of filleted fish, flour, eggs, and spices, is a popular street food in Korea. The country is also famous for raw fish, called Hwei. It is very similar to Japan’s sashimi, in that it is fresh seafood that is eaten raw. Raw octopus is one type of seafood that is favored raw with a dip of red pepper paste called gochujang.
Korean cuisine differs from Chinese food in that the cuisine from the country is the result of influences from various cultures. Korea’s mandu, which is a Korean-styled dumpling, was introduced to the country when the Mongols ruled in the 13th century. Mandu is now a common comfort food in Korea, with many types of filling like kimchi, beef, pork and vegetables. In the 15th century, a series of invasions brought in crops from the New World, such as corn and sweet potatoes, which is now heavily used in Korean cuisine. Potatoes and sweet potatoes were especially favored because these crops could be grown in land that were never suitable for farming before. The well-known Korean barbequed meat like kalbi and bulgogi (rib eye and thinly cut steak) only became popular in the 1960s when industrialization of the county began with President Park Chung Hee. The industrialization helped give South Korea economic power, which in turn increased the consumption of meat, which were otherwise too expensive for middle-class Koreans. The cuisine also changed heavily with the volatile political climate and changing dynasties earlier on in Korea’s history. The spread of Buddhism has influenced Korean food as well, and is the most likely origin of many vegetarian and temple dishes. Korean food is mainly composed of rice, vegetables and meat.
Japan
Japanese cuisine uses a lot of rice and seafood due to Japan having an abundant seafood supply. Like China and Korea, its food has changed over the years. Meat was not really used in Japanese cooking to begin, and the spread of Buddhism stopped it almost all together. It was not reintroduced into the culinary arts until the mid 19th century. A lot of the food found in Japan today has actually been influenced by Chinese and even American culture.
Other Countries
Many East Asian countries have similar cooking styles and ingredients to China. South East and East Asian foods are similar to each other as well. They have many meat-based dishes that are often served with rice and sometimes bread. South Asian food is known for being very spicy.
Though they are so different, you can find foods from all of these places within spitting distance of each other if you go to Flushing.
Fusion Restaurants
Fusion cuisine is mixing the culinary traditions of two or more countries and regions into one cooking style. These restaurants are very common in Flushing and are a great example of how the different cultures of Flushing have mixed together.
One restaurant I went to on Main Street was called Asian Gourmet. It is a sushi restaurant that also serves Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and South Asian fusion food. One thing that I should mention at the very beginning: many of the foods on any Asian restaurant menu are actually American. Items like General Tso’s chicken, Sesame chicken, California rolls, and many other items were added to food menus to appeal to American palates. I like this restaurant because it has many items that are actually Asian. The fusion combinations are very interesting as well. They have a few Mexican fusion sushi rolls, like the Mexican roll and the Tortilla Pizza Tuna roll.
People of many backgrounds frequent this restaurant. Fusion restaurants in general are usually popular among many different groups because they do not focus on just one region.
Skyview Shopping Center and Sky Foods
Sky View Center is a shopping center located near the center of Flushing, where the public transportation hub is located. The mega-grocery store, called Sky Foods, holds foods from all over East Asia and even from other countries like Indonesia, Singapore, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam. It spans 36,000 square feet, making it the ultimate culinary destination for produce.
New World Mall Food Court
New World Mall contains a food court that is like the culmination of some of the immigrant groups that have come into Flushing. Above are some pictures of the food court, and as one can see there are plenty of stalls from where one can order food. Seating is available, though it is usually packed. At the top left, there are special tables that can be used for Hot Pot, a dish that requires boiling raw ingredients like meats, noodles, and vegetables in a pot of hot water. At the top right are dim sum baskets, showing cuisine from Hong Kong and at the bottom right is Kung Fu Tea, a Taiwanese tea shop that sells bubble tea, which is a mix of milk and tea, and it comes in a variety of flavors like taro and honeydew. The specialty of the drink is the topping that comes with it though, which are tapioca bubbles and they are what their namesake is.
