fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4365 ]

[ SECRET POST #4365 ]

⌈ Secret Post #4365 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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(Stargate SG-1)

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03.

[Great British Bake Off]

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04.

[Umbrella Academy]

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05.

[cook and food writer Samin Nosrat, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat]

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(Kim Taehyung)

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07.

[Avengers: Endgame]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 42 secrets from Secret Submission Post #625.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't go to PF Chang's or other Americanized Chinese/pan-Asian chain restaurants because I feel like it's over priced ersatz Asian food for people who like the interior decor, but don't want to come in contact with actual Asians or "weird" food. I feel the same way about chains like Don Pablo's.

....? A lot of people go to a chain-type restaurant like that because there *is* nothing else. And let's face it - the Chinese/Korean/Japanese restaurants we have here (teeny town with huge military base, so lots of people from all over), are still pretty damn Americanized, even though the people who own them/work there are actually from China, Japan, and Korea. We even have a Thai place, though i have no idea how authentic it is, since the lady who bought it is Chinese.

A city large enough to have a PF Changs is generally large enough to have non-chain options for Asian food, so I don't buy your first argument at all, sorry. As for the rest, I'm only speaking for my own preference, like the thread asked. If there's a choice between chain and mom and pop, I'll almost always choose the latter. It'll likely be cheaper and I have a better shot at eating something that's not super Americanized. Especially if I establish a relationship with the people who work there, which I can't do at a chain since they're limited by corporate.

*shrug*

Like I said - people from China, Korea, and Japan actually own the restaurants there - they're still Americanized. Some people still sit and eat chicken fingers in a Mexican restaurant - there are always jackasses who won't eat what they're not 'used to'.

But lumping in everyone who goes to a chain as xenophobic is silly.

I didn't say that everyone who eats at those chains are xenophobic, though. I said that I felt like those chains target people who like the idea of eating "foreign" food but not if it's too foreign or you know, cooked and served by actual foreigners. I also say that Asian chains are far more Americanized than the mom and pop places, and that you have a better shot at getting less Americanized food at the indie place vs. the chain. Acting like those two experiences are interchangeable is... ahahahaha! Well, it makes me think you haven't eaten at both types of places, or you'd know it wasn't.

If there's a choice between chain and mom and pop, I'll almost always choose the latter. It'll likely be cheaper and I have a better shot at eating something that's not super Americanized.

The thing is, there are places where legitimately all the non-chain restaurants really are super Americanized and bad, where PF Chang's may genuinely be the best option. It's a thing that can happen, even in cities large enough for PF Chang's.

I respect your desire not to go to PF Chang's, I just think it's interesting how much this stuff changes and how much American culture can still vary based on region and place.

"The thing is, there are places where legitimately all the non-chain restaurants really are super Americanized and bad, where PF Chang's may genuinely be the best option. It's a thing that can happen, even in cities large enough for PF Chang's."

The scenario you describe is possible, but highly unlikely since like I said, a city large enough to have a PF Changs isn't likely to be some one-horse town with only two greasy take outs. You're generally going to have quite a few options, and the chances of all of them being sooooo bad that PF Changs is actually the best food is extremely slim.

But speaking hypothetically, if that was the case, I'd opt for not eating Chinese/Asian food at all. Other people might disagree, and that's fine.

So you just want to feel morally outraged and don't accept any scenario besides the one in your head.

Got it.

In my experience (at least, outside of Hawaii), a community in the US actually has to be of a certain size before you even get a chain Asian restaurant, even on the order of Panda Express. I travel a lot to Midwestern small towns and rural areas for my job and I've been to a lot of tiny towns where there was exactly one Asian restaurant (and many more where there are none) and it was inevitably an independent, mostly-Chinese mom and pop place (usually a buffet) where "Mom" and "Pop" were Asian, and the the food was heavily Americanized and usually rather awful. Non-chain is not necessarily an indicator of quality (for any kind of cuisine, I have to say). These places tend to get a lot of business, though, so when the locals travel to places with better restaurants, they have no basis for comparison and aren't necessarily going to wind up somewhere good.

I'm always trying to hit upon one of those hidden gems, like they visit on the Food Network, where you go to some one-stoplight town and there's the best restaurant ever, but I rarely succeed.

Yup. I moved to a small town in high school and there was only one Chinese restaurant. It was independently owned and the food was very Americanized. For being an American Chinese restaurant it was OK, but it was all we had aside from fast food burger places.

There's a lot of the country that really doesn't have significant Asian populations.

Definitely way more than the parts of the country with no significant Latino populations

/shrug

honestly that's a good reason, anon. the more I learn about cooking from all parts of the globe the less I'll settle for americanized versions.

I've never even actually really liked American-Chinese food, it's so heavy and brown and gooey.

I'm lucky in that I live in a part of the US (SF bay area) with a good-sized Chinese population so I avoid PF Chang's because it's pretty easy for me to get good Chinese food (and not too expensive, either!)

Bay area has some of the best Chinese food in the U.S., for sure.

This has always been a little difficult to deal with for me. Most American Chinese restaurants are run by Chinese families (PF Changs itself is owned and operated by a Chinese American family), and American Chinese food was vital in Asians being incorporated into American culture. American Chinese food is itself a part of America's culture.
As an Asian person, it is difficult to deal with the ignorance that comes with what the general public think is "Asian cuisine" but at the same time I find it harmful in a different way how some will dismiss the history American Chinese food has had on America's culture and the journey Chinese Americans (and for the most part all Asian Americans) have taken by adapting to the local communities.
Again, I get it. I grew up eating my mom's pho and having to deal with what some restaurants pass off as pho can be insulting. But I can't deny there is value in seeing how Chinese immigrants adapted their menus to survive in America.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #4365 ]

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DA

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Re: Why won't you EVER eat at a certain restaurant or franchise?

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Re: Why won't you EVER eat at a certain restaurant or franchise?

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