Texan Concepts of Ethnic Food: Breaking It Down, Venn Diagram-Style

[Swede]

Be sure and check out the last diagram.

snip

I polled Texans -- not just Houstonians -- on what they thought of when they were asked to consider foods from places like Ethiopia, Lebanon, Germany and several other countries. Through Facebook, Twitter, email and personal interviews, I compiled the most common responses from Texans far and wide. And then I set out asking people that were actually from those countries what their idea of commonly consumed foodstuffs were. I was interested to see how often the American concept of another culture's food overlapped with that culture's actual dining trends. And that's where Venn diagrams come in.

The results were surprising in some areas, not so in others. In the Venn diagrams below, you'll see Texans' answers on the left, the actual countryman/countrywoman's answers on the right, and any overlap between the two in the middle.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2010/10/texan_concepts_of_ethnic_food.php

[petronius]

1. That's pretty eye-opening for me. I think of myself as pretty aware of food diversity,

but I lagged well behind the Texas pool on most of those. Very clever study...

[Lisa0825]

2. Most people don't learn about ethnic foods by traveling; they learn from restaurants.

And since most restaurants "Americanize" their menus to adapt to our populations taste preferences, few ethnic restaurants are actually authentic.

[Swede]

3. Especially 2nd and 3rd generation run restaurants.

But,that's the way it goes.

[sufrommich]

4. I think that's probably true in most countries. nt

[HuckleB]

5. Pocky?

:rofl:

My bet is that it would be similar across the US.

[supernova]

6. What is Pocky?

I've never heard that word. Ever.

[HuckleB]

8. Japanese candy.

It's quite good.

http://www.alde.com/anime/pocky1.html

[supernova]

14. How come

Hello Kitty Pocky isn't Kitty flavored?

:dilemma:

[HuckleB]

15. Uh, well, I had a really bad response in my head, but I just can't post it.

:beer:

[supernova]

17. !

:rofl:

[supernova]

7. Ethopia made me laugh

"A lot of you are assholes. Seriously."

:rofl:

[lightningandsnow]

10. I loled at that one too.

And then felt bad about it.

:rofl:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. What can I say?

:rofl: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadBabyComedy

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Raise your hand if that link made you hungry.

Mmmmmmmmm. Lammmmmmb.

[supernova]

12. I want an Indian buffet

served on an Ethiopian table.

Damn. Hungry now and nobody delivers this far out in the cricket zone.

edit: Speeling

[Canuckistanian]

13. Oh, yeah

I have a serious Jones for some Lebanese food right now. MMMMmmmmmm..... Garlic potatoes, rice and Kebob. With that pink pickled turnip.....

And of course, Baklava for dessert....

[supernova]

16. Stop it!

I could make love to a batch of baklava right now.