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Asian
Food in US America
Ethnic Dining Trends in the United States
According to an “Ethnic Cuisines” survey by the National Restaurant
Association, consumers are nowadays dining out not only for special occasions
but as an integral part of their daily lives. Nearly half of American who enjoy
dining out reveal that they search constantly for stimulating new tastes, and
that ethnic cuisine is where they look.
This taste for spice is a mushrooming phenomenon in America: immigrants,
those from Thailand being a perfect example, bring in new spicy offerings,
Americans become addicted, they crave more, and come to support a greater number
and variety of restaurants that in turn support the diner's urge for such taste
stimulation. Thai restaurants are now widely found in American communities, even
outside the largest cities; the same is true for Vietnamese cuisine. Becoming
more sophisticated, American diners now know that Indian food and Korean food,
both “spicy,” offer widely different taste experiences nevertheless.
Specialty ethnic restaurants serving authentic food are kept going both by the
immigrants themselves and by significant numbers of non-immigrant diners; both
groups demand authenticity.
Authenticity requires authentic products; ethnic groceries and supermarkets
supply them, and, as with restaurants, non-immigrant Americans looking for
ever-wider food stimulation bring in important extra business. Years ago these
businesses were small, often foreboding places where the English language may
not have been spoken. Today, they are often identical, except for product
choice, to the modern American supermarket with its scanners and credit card
processors. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city of half a million inhabitants
with an Asian population of only a few percent, several large “Asian
Supermarkets” and dozens of smaller markets thrive. One immense market has
special sections for fresh fish, meats, and vegetables at the back of the store,
with large aisles each dedicated to different ethnicities—Chinese, Japanese,
Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Malaysian, Indonesian—as well as a
full aisle dedicated to every possible variety of dried Asian noodles, and
several other aisles that feature imported cooking implements and dishes.
Most Popular Asian Food in America
ASIAN FOOD
DIM SUM
Chinese Tea Snacks
Best Group Graze
What better way to spend a lazy Sunday morning than to grab a hungry group
and head over to Sam Woo or Empress Pavilion for dim sum? A rough translation of
the term is "to your heart's content" or "a little bit of
heart". Basically it means, sipping tea and pointing to the dishes that
look tempting from a cavalcade of carts cruising the aisles. What makes dim sum
a bit of an adventure is the fact that some exotic dishes (steamed chicken feet
or shark-fin rolls) are offered cheek-by-jowl with standards like wu kok (crispy
taro turnovers), siu mai (pork dumplings), cha siu bau (fluffy steamed buns
filled with barbecue pork and onions), cheong fun (rice noodle rolls with
various meats and vegetables), curry chicken pies, and for dessert, egg custard
tarts, mango pudding and sesame seed balls. Dim sum is about the sheer fun of
sharing the wild assortment of treats.
PHO
Vietnamese Rice Noodle Soup
Most Addictive Asian Food
Pho restaurants are springing up all over the place, on the verge of
becoming as ubiquitous as Chinese restaurants or sushi bars. They're even
infiltrating hardcore ethnic enclaves like Little Tokyos, Chinatowns and
Koreatowns. That's because the initiated know that pho surpasses ramen, udon,
saimin, thom yum gung — you name it. And pho lovers are grateful because they
are addicts who, if necessary, will drive two hours to find a quality pho shop.
A good bowl of pho is built on the clarity, freshness and flavor of the broth.
Secondly it's judged by the thinness of the rice noodles. Thirdly by the
freshness of the plate of veggies served with it and the condiments set out on
the table. Last but not least is the quality of the meat. There are many
varieties of pho, depending on whether you want it topped with well-done brisket
(chin), raw steak (tai), flank (nam), tendon (sach), tripe (gan) or,
increasingly, chicken. Many just order pho with no meat.
GALBI
Corean (Korean) Barbecued Short Ribs
Most Mouth-Watering Dish
Nothing on earth makes your mouth water like the smell of galbi (or kalbi)
sizzling on a tabletop brazier. The best galbi recipes involve overnight soaking
in a subtle marinade that combines good soy sauce, rice wine, sugar or honey,
garlic, sesame seeds, and a secret tenderizing ingredient, often a fruit. What
makes going out to a Corean barbecue place a satisfying ritual is cooking the
meat yourself, something allowed only if you're in a party of at least two or
three. Another key to a successful galbi feast is wresting control of the gas
knob from the server. They like to slide the meat onto the grill before it has
become really hot, then keep coming by to keep the flame low to keep the grill
from becoming blackened. But connoisseurs know that galbi is best when grilled
on a very hot brazier.
SUSHI
Japanese Raw Seafood on Vinegared Rice
Most Aesthetic Dining Experience
What a shame that mainstream American tastes have evolved from squeamish
to crazy for sushi. One of the pleasures of going to a sushi bar used to be the
conpiratorial aspect of sharing something that's repulsive to everyone else you
know. Fortunately, the art of sushi continues to evolve, affording sushi lovers
an endless array of treats strictly entre-nous. We can still conspire to break
new ground by gnoshing rolls made of startling combinations of seafood, beef,
chicken or vegetables, bearing evocative names like Red Dragon, Caterpillar,
Spider, Mermaid, etc. And of course, you can still make most people squeamish by
ordering uni (sea urchin) or ama ebi (raw shrimp), then making a production of
relishing what's served in its aftermath: deep-fried shrimp heads with those
long crunchy whiskers and those cripy black eyeballs staring balefully at you as
they move toward your mouth.
CHINESE HOT POT
Make Your Own Hot Pot Buffet
Hottest New Asian Food Trend
One reason for the growing craze is that hot pots combine the best of the
most popular Asian feasts. Like pho, there's steaming hot broth. Like dim sum,
there's the browse-to-your heart's content aspect. Like Corean (Korean) barbecue
there's the do-it-yourself control. And as with sushi, you can pork out on fresh
seafoodi. Beef, chicken, seafood, dumplings, veggies — you name it —
everything you've ever stir fried at a Mongolian barbecue plus things you would
never dream of frying are laid out on the buffet tables. You also get many of
the side dishes you would expect at any Asian buffet, including sushi, salads,
kimchi, Chinese pickled greens, fruits, dessert, even boba. You can even hotpot
at the same table with people who don't share your tastes in ingredients or
seasoning thanks to partitioned pots!
SOON DUBU CHIGAE
Soft Tofu Hotpot
Best Vegetarian Comfort Food
At its best soondubu chigae (soft tofu hot pot) is the ultimate Corean
(Korean) comfort food. It's a one-bowl, one-spoon dish made by boiling soft tofu
in an earthenware crock, then throwing on a little chopped green onions or
slivers of ghim (dried laver). But most soondubu houses lets you control the
degree of spiciness (hot, moderate, mild) and add ingredients like kimchi, egg,
pork, clams, etc. Vegetarians tend to ask for kimchi and ghim, with maybe a raw
egg on the side. The raw egg is broken into the crock soon after it's set on the
table bubbling hot. Soondubu is humble peasant food enjoying a surprising vogue
in a health-crazed world, inspiring the opening of many new soondubu specialty
houses. Restaurants typically serve it with several small side dishes and a bowl
of white rice.
BOBA
Tapioca Bubble Tea
Goofiest (and Funnest) Asian Food Craze
Like most dangerous pandemics, it all began innocently enough. In 1988 an
enterprising Taipei street vendor began spiking milk tea with boiled tapioca
starch balls. His youthful clientele sucked it up. Like some scary virus the fad
jumped the Pacific in 1999. Since then it's spread like toxic mold to every
Asian enclave throughout the U.S. and the world. What harm can be done by soft
boiled Tapioca balls a third of an inch in diameter? Plenty, if you ask any boba
junkie, mostly kids and the kidlike at heart. They've seen disposable incomes
shrink to nothing and waistlines balloon to Michelin Man proportions as they
gulp down cup after cup of milk tea just for the sheer crazy fun of sucking up
tapioca balls through a festive oversized straw and chewing them like cud.
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