America is known as a “melting pot” of cultures and ethnicities, all thanks to immigration throughout the years. As people move here, they either try to hold on to their culture and ethnicity as long as they are able to or try to assimilate into the dominate culture, completely changing from who they were back home to fit in with the crowd. This can cause a fusion of cultures, which is the reason for the term “melting pot”. One of the biggest ways this is fusion is truly evident, is through food.
Many immigrants try to preserve their culture through food but sometimes they unintentionally fuse traditions. This is can be seen in Chinese American food, where it started out as a way for Chinese immigrants in America to have a place to enjoy food from home and talk to other Chinese immigrants while here doing back-breaking labor. Then they started to see that their food from home was starting to become “trendy” and Americans would start to come in. Americans would want the food to be prepared differently, such as having less spices. The Chinese saw how many Americans would come to try the food, so they began changing the traditional recipes in order to please the Americans. They began frying more meats and making their food saltier or sweeter. They began making more “Chinese-American” food such as chop suey and General Tso’s chicken. The Chinese also had to work with the ingredients that they were given, and began using them as a replacement. For example, broccoli is a very common ingredient, even though it is not Chinese and the people there have no idea what broccoli is.
Another example is Indo-Chinese food, which is a common cuisine that is seen in Kolkutta, India. Here, there is a rather large amount of Chinese people emigrating there. Because of this, the two cultures began to combine together. It has only just recently made its way to America. Indo-Chinese cuisine is a cuisine that features a mixture between the two cultures that includes Hakka lo mien noodles and Chinese idli.
Inwood, a neighborhood in the northern area of Manhattan is an area known for their crime rates. This is slowly changing as it becomes more and more gentrified. Now, it is actually one of the safest neighborhoods in Manhattan. After gentrification, Inwood and Dyckman street have become hotspots for new and trendy places to eat, shop, etc. According to the New York Times, “Inwood is always on the brink of coolness”. Susana Osorio, a restaurateur, wanted to bring Japanese food and culture to a mostly Dominican populated area. She began experimenting with mixing and fusing the two cultures together. The result shocked them because it actually worked. What she came up with was Mamasushi, a partly Dominican, partly Japanese restaurant famous for their “Hot Mama Roll”. This roll includes plantains, jalapenos, eel and tuna. Other menu items include yucca fries, a rice and bean roll, and popcorn chicarron.Now, their restaurant brings in customers from all over the world, curious as to how two seemingly different cuisines are able to work in harmony.
Mamasushi, along with other new and trendy fusion restaraunts try to infuse one culture into another. Sometimes it is by necessity, as with Chinese American food, while other times it is for pure curiosity, like with Mamasushi.
Bibiliography
Hughes, C. “Inwood: Always On The Brink Of Coolness”. Nytimes.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 1 May 2017.
Rude, Emelyn. “A Very Brief History Of Chinese Food In America”. Time.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 1 May 2017.
Shaftel, David. “Indo-Chinese Food Is Hard To Find, Except In New Jersey”. Nytimes.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 1 May 2017.
