The United States is arguably a melting pot of cultures. This is evidenced by the large number of immigrants who are now living in the culturally diverse country. It has had its fair share of effects in American culture and lifestyle, including its culinary landscape.
During the mid to late 1900s, the United States swung its doors - and dining halls - open to immigrants. Within a decade, it's now commonplace to see noodle joints, restaurants serving middle eastern cuisine, and sushi bars not only in big cities but also in small cities and far-flung towns. The influence is evident, and New York University's Krishnendu Ray agrees.
"We're interested in the food, and that's great," Ray told the Daily Gazette, a former associate dean at the Culinary Institute of America and current chairman of NYU's Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. "But let's also be interested in the lives of the people who are doing this cooking."
Ray's research found out that immigrants from all over the United States hold jobs which belong to the food industry. These include grocers, restaurant cooks, and farm workers. Although there are also immigrant chefs, getting the said title is a difficult endeavor.
However, most people are more engrossed in the food than the people producing it.
"In a consumer society, in a society based on endless celebration of consumption, we can end up in a place where I can argue about and discuss all the nuances of every regional cuisine of China, and every slice of pizza you can find in New York City, but the labor that is behind it remains completely invisible. It's completely unrelated to the aesthetic," says Ray.
Furthermore, he also noted that the basic frame of American food is steeply falling. The basic frame of American food is Northern European/Germanic food, which was then jolted by Eastern Europeans and Italians. The third frame is the Asian and Central American influences, which have drastically changed American cuisine.
