Gabaccia’s basic argument in “Food Fights and American Values,” is this: native Americans only accepted ethnic cuisine into the mainstream because it was convenient, and did not alter any of their core values in the process.
To which I respond: so what? Is it such a crime that non-immigrant Americans retained values of “efficiency, restraint and moderation,” while welcoming diversity in the marketplace?
Furthermore, while I understand that these puritanical values were prevalent during tough economic times, I am not convinced that these were accepted sentiments among most native-born Americans – especially in the booming economic years after the Great Depression ended – as Gabaccia suggests.
