# Ethnic foods in general



## Claire (Oct 13, 2008)

I was recently at a luncheon with my exercise buddies, and a woman asked me what I most miss about big-city, or suburban living, since I've chosen to live in this quite small town.  I replied Food.  We no longer even have a Chinese restaurant.  My husband braggs that I can do better than any restaurant in town, but gee, I miss little ethnic places that you get in more urban areas.


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## GB (Oct 13, 2008)

That would be a hard thing for me to give up Clair. That is one reason i will probably always live somewhere that is not off the beaten path.


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## TATTRAT (Oct 13, 2008)

I love the diversity of cuisine in D.C., but I miss the more Pacific influenced cuisine from living on O'ahu. I don't think I could go with out ANY ethnic food, almost every night of the week we are eating something different.


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## quicksilver (Oct 13, 2008)

I agree, Claire. I don't exactly live in Podunk, though, but on the outskirts of a very large county. And in county, most places are national chain cardboard eateries.


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## BreezyCooking (Oct 13, 2008)

When we first moved to Culpeper, VA, 11 years ago, I sincerely bemoaned the lack of interesting local dining.  Luckily, that's no longer the case as apparently I wasn't alone!  We now have several decent Chinese, Japanese (one that's excellent), Italian, Mexican, & Thai restaurants, along with several truly above-board high-end European-bistro-type restaurants.  Right now the only "mainstream" ethnic restaurant we're missing is Indian fare, & I'm sure that will come along some time in the future.


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## ChefJune (Oct 13, 2008)

Breezy, I was in your neck of the woods a couple of Novembers ago cooking for a benefit, and we drove by a number of interesting looking ethnic indies in and around Culpeper.  (We were intrigued by the lack of a third "p" in Culpeper. )

I too would miss the ethnic eateries that living in a large city provide. I would also not like having chain restaurants be my only dining-out option!


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## waaza (Oct 13, 2008)

I'm smiling at the term ethnic in this context.

In India, they have McDonald's, but have changed all the crappy burgers etc. for better tasting local variants. Obviously, they can't stand the 'ethnic' offerings from the US of A!


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## David Cottrell (Oct 13, 2008)

Claire said:


> I was recently at a luncheon with my exercise buddies, and a woman asked me what I most miss about big-city, or suburban living, since I've chosen to live in this quite small town. I replied Food. We no longer even have a Chinese restaurant. My husband braggs that I can do better than any restaurant in town, but gee, I miss little ethnic places that you get in more urban areas.


 
Whas ethnic mean?


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## Claire (Oct 14, 2008)

gee, tattrat,  were we each other in previous lives?  When I refer to these foods, DC and Oahu are exactly the places I'm thinking of.  When I left Hawaii I had dreams of the potlucks we had!  By the way, when I lived in Hawaii, you could get Portuguese sausage with your breakfast and saimin for lunch at McDonalds.


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## expatgirl (Oct 14, 2008)

first thing I do when I land in Houston is that my family takes me to the nearest hole in the wall Mexican food place..........I have a swimming pool margarita and indulge.......Houston is not known for the fattest city in the US for anything.....you can find ANY kind of cuisine here.......and I mean anything........how they're going to weather the economic slowdown.......hmmmm, I just hope and pray that they can hang on until things turn around........


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## BreezyCooking (Oct 14, 2008)

> Whas ethnic mean?


 
David - to me, "ethnic" in terms of food is basically food that is outside of one's own culture.  In other words, food that's indigenous to countries other than the U.S.  Now if I were an Indian living in India, than certain types of cuisine that are considered basic to the U.S. (southern-fried chicken perhaps) might be considered "ethnic" to me, while in the U.S., it's Indian cuisine that I consider "ethnic".

I know that's probably not an "official" definition, just how I think of it.


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## Max Sutton (Oct 14, 2008)

*Grass Valley, CA*

I'm so lucky to live in a Gold-Rush town of 13,000 called Grass Valley, California. We are a one-hour drive from Sacramento. However, we have Indian, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Latin American, and Swiss restaurants here. 

I lived in the *San Francisco Bay Area* for 32 years before I moved here to the northern Sierra Nevada foothills. I dined at numerous ethnic restaurants there.


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## Constance (Oct 14, 2008)

I live in village (pop. 716) across the interstate from a small town (pop 6880), and while most of our restaurants are chains, we do have a great Chinese restaurant and several mom & pop places with good every day fare. There's also a really good steak house here. 
But 30 miles down the road, in Marion, are several good places to eat, including a great Italian restaurant and an Asian place, and if you drive a few more miles to Carbondale, a university town, there are all sorts of Ethnic restaurants.

Do I regret not living in a more urban place? Not at all. I'm just not a city person.


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## Andy M. (Oct 14, 2008)

waaza said:


> I'm smiling at the term ethnic in this context.
> 
> In India, they have McDonald's, but have changed all the crappy burgers etc. for better tasting local variants. Obviously, they can't stand the 'ethnic' offerings from the US of A!


 
I'd guess they don't use beef for the burgers.


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## waaza (Oct 14, 2008)

Andy M. said:


> I'd guess they don't use beef for the burgers.



Andy,
they don't do burgers at all, because they have their own versions, a huge variety of fried kebabs. You are correct about the beef, only found in Kerala, everywhere else it's buffalo (and the 'mutton' is mostly goat).

Having said all that, there are many Indian dishes that have been adapted from other ethnic cultures, as have most cuisines, I'm sure.


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## luvs (Oct 14, 2008)

'ol pittsburgh is great fer thier food. not an overwhelming city; city, though.


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## Claire (Oct 15, 2008)

Heck, I'll even call tourtiere ethnic, and it is my family.  I guess what I mean by ethnic is a food that is prepared and eaten by one culture.  Something you don't get at a chain restaurant in CONUS, or if you do it is really dumbed down.  one of my favorite places in Daytona was a owned and cooked by a 
Czech man and his Polish wife.  Yum yummmy.  Then there was the Thai restaurant.  And there was ... well, you get the picture.  Here, in small town IL, though, it can be scarce.  When we hit Chicago (every decade or so) or the QC or even Dubuque, ethnic is what we go for.  For our 25th anniversary we found a pet-sitter and ate tapas and Thai.  People always think we'll want to go to whatever is trendy.  No, I don't want to eat what ever fusion or fashion or latest fad is.  I want these mom & pop places.  Also grocery stores.


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## larry_stewart (Oct 15, 2008)

Having lived in both philly and new york , Ive never had the shortage of ethnic foods.  One of my best ethnic food experiences was when we visited DC and ate in Georgetown. Seemed to be so much variety there.  First time I evr had ethiopian food.  When I plan my weekly menu here, I try to have a different cuisine each night ( Im typing this as im eating Thai soup for breakfast and preparing Aloo gobi for tonight.


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## BrazenAmateur (Oct 23, 2008)

TATTRAT said:


> I love the diversity of cuisine in D.C., but I miss the more Pacific influenced cuisine from living on O'ahu.



GO AHEAD, RUB IT IN!  



Anyway, yeah, I'm in DC also and I cannot imagine living somewhere with no ethnic restaurants or markets.  I'd go absolutely nuts.

Hell, I live WAY out in the suburbs in a little community, so not where you'd normally expect to find tons of quality ethnic food, and I'm literally within a 5-minute *walk* to the following:


-Mediterranean/Greek (best little fried anchovies)
-French (good casual workingman's french too, best kind)
-Columbian (Chicharron!)
-Peruvian
-Indian
-Middle Eastern
-Chinese (Sichuan)
-THREE sushi spots (only one of which is worth going to, lol)
-Vietnamese/Pho
-Moroccan
-Thai (It's called "Thaitanium", lol.)
-Mexican (they have beef tongue tacos.  I love this place)


Then there are some "American" spots too, 5 or 6.

This doesn't include the 3 top-notch Korean markets and innumerable small Latin and other markets within a 10 minute drive.  

I cannot survive more than a day or two without kimchi, lol.


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## suziquzie (Oct 23, 2008)

Honestly, I don't even LIKE to eat out that much.... I'd rather peruse the 'net and find something to make myself.... there's something to me about the "joy of cooking"...

But when I do want something, although I live in podunk, we're only 45 min (I dont find that very very far, even having grown up a city kid) from the "cities" with a HUGE mix of everything.... lots and lots of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Hispanic population here with plenty of restaurants.... and shops to boot. So I can either choose to eat out, or find the ingredients to make it myself. 
Best of both worlds, no neighbors, plenty of food!!!!


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## babetoo (Oct 23, 2008)

almost every type of food here , course it leans heavy toward mexican. thirty min away in san diego, the sky is the limit. and of course all the chains as well. lots of choices and i still don't go out to eat much. to expensive.


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## jpmcgrew (Oct 23, 2008)

We ahve nothing here in Raton as far as ethnic food we have one Chinese Place I have never been to as I hear it's not very good and don't consider Mexican ethnic as I live I NM. I would need to go to Santa Fe for any ethnic foods only four hours from where I live. I wish we at least had Indie and a Thai place. I can make it it myself but once in a while you just want to buy it. I think any college town has a lot of ethnic places.


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## Claire (Oct 27, 2008)

My husband laughs at me ... Last week we went out for sushi (Dubuque does have some ethnic restaurants, but not much.  I'm amazed that the sushi bar has lasted this long).  I made a beef/pork stir fry (all the meat that was looking a little freezer-burned)  Made some snitzel this weekend.  Yes, I can cook ethnic.  But I'd like someone to do it for me sometimes!


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## Thowing.Fire.Twice (Oct 27, 2008)

Ethnic foods, eh?  I love small town, mom and pop type establishments, but I hate the big city environment.  Even if its really good food, the constant lights, and no personability at around 95% of the restaurants in the big cities bothers me.  I would rather have a chat with the staff about whatever than just eat good food, but thats me.

As I'm from the UP, best ethnic food?  Cudighi and pasties, hands down.  Can't find that anywhere but up there.


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## Claire (Oct 28, 2008)

Pasties are very popular here.  But cudighi?  Tell me more!


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## CharlieD (Oct 28, 2008)

Some 9-10 years ago we started keeping kosher. i thought I'd never make it, I did. But i miss going out to ethnic places. Closest kosher chineese restaraunt is in Chicago, the second one is in NY. And I love, really, really love chineese food.


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## Thowing.Fire.Twice (Oct 28, 2008)

Cudighi is a pork sausage that can only be found in the UP, and even then it's still hard to find.  I make my own...dunno if I'll divulge the family recipe, I mean I will, just gotta find it.  But its a pork sausage made with a pungent red wine, cinnamon, all spice, a little clove sometimes.  I use it in half and half portions with ground chuck in just about anything   But it makes awesome long patties for sandwiches, along with some mozzaralla and grill friend onions and peppers.  I'll get that recipe if I can find it


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## CharlieD (Oct 28, 2008)

What is UP? or rather where is it?


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## suziquzie (Oct 28, 2008)

Upper Peninsula of Michigan,  Charlie.... 
Never been there, but its on the list.


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## DramaQueen (Oct 28, 2008)

*I was born and raised in Detroit where ethnic neighborhoods were the norm. The restaurants in each neighborhood were plentiful and had some of the best food I ever had. The Greek restaurants line the streets in the Greek community of Detroit as do the places in the Italian and Jewish communities. Hamtramyck, the Polish section of Detroit had places that served fabulous Polish food. I miss having so many restuarants readily available.*

*Here is Vegas, which has become the food mecca of the country, the restuarants are scattered. There is really only one good Jewish place, one Greek and one Polish restuarant, but Italian restuarants are on every street corner. There must be a million restaurants here but not in clusters like ethnic neighborhoods. Not the same. *

*I just returned from a 10 day trip with friends from Boston and New York. I love that NY has the ethic neighborhoods where you can buy fresh ANYTHING; and restuarants that serve ethic foods line the streets there too. It did my heart good to see this. Vegas may be a mecca for the likes of Lagasse, English, Keller, and all of the other 5 star chefs and their fancy towering presentations, but where are the little places that serve really good food? And where is there a market devoted to fresh seafood?? New Yorkers have it made.*

*BTW, pasties are one of my all time favorite foods. There are pastie shops in the UP of Michigan like we have pizzarias here.  One on every corner.*


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## urmaniac13 (Oct 28, 2008)

Although Italian cuisine is very diverse and there is no lack in delicious variety among them, we do enjoy something exotic like middle eastern, moroccan, greek, indian, thai, indonesian etc. on a regular basis. And living very close to the exotic quarter in central Rome we can find all the ingredients readily and with relatively small prices too.  We feel lucky about it as Italian folks can be highly conservative and little adventurous when it comes to foreign style of cooking or ingredients, so it would be very difficult to get many things if we lived elsewhere.


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## Thowing.Fire.Twice (Oct 28, 2008)

Yup, Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Marquette and the other places I listed are pretty central to the state.  If you are ever up there (Top 10 in the US for any food person), there are a few places you HAVE to stop by.  Small town, mom and pop places.  I'm related to about 3/4 of the owners too (Tee hee   Lawry's Pasties is the best hands down, but if you want bulk, you can hit up Nylund's in Iron River.  Gramma T's aren't what I call pasties because they are totally different from what I grew up with.  I dunno, hit me up if you need suggestions


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## snack_pack85 (Oct 29, 2008)

We live in a small town too, but it's a tourist town, so they have restaurants that should accomodate all pallets. In the main square we have 

La Mexicana- No explanation needed
Basil- Thai food
Buona Taviolla- Italian place with the BEST tiramisu you've ever had
The Crooked Kilt- Irish fare
The Greek- again no explanation needed

There are also several small bread and sweets shops, as well as an olive specialty store (We Olive) and a gourmet cheese shop...I am in cooking heaven here. There's a very small italian deli/liquor mart with fresh italian meats and cheeses too!


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## DramaQueen (Oct 29, 2008)

Thowing.Fire.Twice said:


> Yup, Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Marquette and the other places I listed are pretty central to the state. If you are ever up there (Top 10 in the US for any food person), there are a few places you HAVE to stop by. Small town, mom and pop places. I'm related to about 3/4 of the owners too (Tee hee  Lawry's Pasties is the best hands down, but if you want bulk, you can hit up Nylund's in Iron River. Gramma T's aren't what I call pasties because they are totally different from what I grew up with. I dunno, hit me up if you need suggestions


 
*I'm curious:  what is it about Gramma T's pasties that are different?  What is your perfect pastie?  *


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## geonerd20 (Nov 29, 2008)

I live in Phoenix and always bemoaned the lack of ethnic restaurants there.  However, after much research, I was able to find a whole bunch of really good ethnic restaurants - some large, and some hole-in-the wall places.  There are several Thai, Indian, and Middle Eastern places.  There's a really good Persian restaurant called the Persian Room in North Phoenix/Scottsdale.  An Afghani restaurant opened about a year ago, but it's a 25-mi drive and way, and I go there only infrequently.  A Burmese restaurant opened a few months ago in Scottsdale, but I wasn't really impressed with the food there.


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## marigeorge (Nov 29, 2008)

I envy you all that have a variety of ethnic restaurants, here in a little farming community in east/central Kansas there is nothing but chicken fried...does that count?! I can't even find a decent Mexican restaurant within miles. So sad after living in the southwest for many years.

Geonerd, there used to be a really good little hole in the wall Thai place on 19th Ave and Campbell years ago, don't know if it is still there or not.


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## Lefty7887 (Nov 29, 2008)

Up here we have little as far as ethnic food places.  That is the one thing I miss about NYC which had every type of place imaginable a short bus or subway ride away.  On the other hand I have the best seafood places all over the place.  Fresh dug clams, picked crab meat, lobsters, haddock or sea scallops are all within walking distance.


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