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This is only tangential but I remember how sushi used to be a “weird” food to most Americans. Probably as recently as 10 or 15 years ago. And now its everywhere
by nonethewiser 3y ago
This is only tangential but I remember how sushi used to be a “weird” food to most Americans. Probably as recently as 10 or 15 years ago. And now its everywhere. Its right in the mix with pizza and tacos for standard restaurant niches. I see it in rural grocery stores very far away from any sort of big city.
I think kimchi just doesnt have that kind of broad appeal but who knows. This is not to deny the effectiveness of Korea food diplomacy. Im just noting sushi as a really extreme case.
- cirgue 3y agoI live in Atlanta and Korean isn’t quite taco-level ubiquity but it’s darn close. Everyone I know under the age of 40 does an h-mart run somewhat regularly and kbbq is a goto group dinner spot.
- pkaye 3y agoDid you know salmon sushi in a recent creation. Pacific salmon tends to have parasites so Japanese didn't eat salmon sushi but Norway had salmon which was safer so they promoted it to the Japanese.
- zdragnar 3y agoKimchi is actually starting to pop up in surprising places away from city centers (my rural grocery store has some) but it sits around and by the time I got some, it was... not fresh. Sushi has the benefit of needing to be consumed fresh, except for fake crab which freezes well enough that you can find "sushi" at quite a few out of the way gas stations as well. Having access to an asian grocery store with fresh bean sprouts, kimchi, freshly made kimbap, good masala blends, all the herbs and so forth is probably the only thing I miss about living in a bigger city.
- fomine3 3y agoKimchi don't have to be "fresh", it's preference.
- carabiner 3y agoYou can get kimchi in a can. It's ok.
- zdragnar 3y agoI guess it could be good in a soup, but personally if it doesn't have at least some crunch I don't care for it. I had a bad experience with kimchi that went off and couldn't even taste any for a year without gagging as a result. That said, rural folk in this part of the country are more likely to appreciate a fresh kimchi than they would soft stuff; the same goes for sauerkraut (bagged vs canned).
- genmud 3y agoKimchi is ironically one of the few cabbage based garnishes I actually enjoy. Compared to something like sauerkraut, it has a reasonably pleasant texture, no offputting odor and the combination of spicy + salty works very well. It would probably be better to compare kimchi with wasabi or sauerkraut though.
- School-Cotton 3y agoI can assure you that sushi was not weird to most Americans 10 years ago. Maybe 40 years.
- opportune 3y agoIt was not weird to urban yuppies but it has made tremendous inroads in the middle-aged suburban/middle-America demographic. I come from a mid sized city in a less developed part of the US and sushi is much more available there now than 10 years ago. And yes 10 years ago most people 35+ in that area found it strange
- School-Cotton 3y agoOkay, I don’t disagree. But “most people 35+ in less-developed parts of the US” is not the same as “most Americans”.
- opportune 3y agoI think literally speaking it is most Americans. By less developed I don't mean rural, just not a major city like LA or NYC.
- opportune 3y agoI think Kimchi will get there, many major supermarkets like Safeway are beginning to stock it. Often their SKUs, IME, are overpriced and low quality, because they market it as a health food and try too hard to cater to that niche, so it’s not spicy or salty enough and lacks fish sauce. You’re still way better off going to an Asian grocery store for it. But eventually they’ll figure out they can just sell the good stuff… It’s a great snack and Americans are already familiar enough with eg dill pickles and sauerkraut that I think we’ll eventually embrace real Kimchi.