[HN Gopher] "Mamma Desta" and Ethiopian food in the U.S
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"Mamma Desta" and Ethiopian food in the U.S
Author : samclemens
Score : 19 points
Date : 2020-04-12 20:56 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.vox.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.vox.com)
| anw wrote:
| Living in Los Angeles, we are fortunate to have a Little Ethiopia
| with plenty of restaurants baking delicious dishes. It's been a
| good opportunity to bring in friends from out of town to try
| "exotic" food and let them see that unfamiliar food to them can
| also be completely delicious, and even become a new favorite
| dish.
|
| Note: If you have not tried Ethiopian food, check out Yebeg
| Alecha (Lamb Stew), along with the combination vegetable dishes
| that come with Injera (a thin, spongy bread that you can tear and
| use as a pocket for the vegetables).
| clairity wrote:
| angelenos, and visitors to LA, should check out awash[0] in mid-
| city, near (but not in) the ethiopian district on fairfax. it's
| an absolute hole-in-the-wall with warm but wonderfully slow
| service (expect to wait 45 minutes to get served after ordering).
| you're expected to relax and chat with friends, unlike korean bbq
| restaurtants that try to turn your table over as fast as possible
| (that's why they cook the meat for you even at the table grill).
| get the vege combo (pictured in the link below) and the awaze
| tibbs (or the meat combo, which includes it).
|
| it's fabulous and very reasonably priced.
|
| [0] #1 on this list: https://la.eater.com/maps/best-restaurants-
| los-angeless-litt...
| anw wrote:
| Thanks for the recommendation! I haven't been to Awash, usually
| checking out the restaurants in that one block area on Fairfax
| (and usually Lalibela, at that). It's nice to see something new
| when you thought you tried them all :)
| clairity wrote:
| you're welcome! it's hard to go wrong picking at random on
| fairfax--they're all pretty good. but awash has been my
| favorite for many years now, so i'm happy to send them more
| business (when it can open again) even at the risk of getting
| crowded out sometimes.
| modsWork4appl wrote:
| Is beef and chicken really available in quantities and prices
| deemed "affordable" in Ethiopia?
|
| Beef seems like a luxury good here. Chicken may not be quite
| luxury, but it's more expensive than vegetarian.
| ueudrjjj wrote:
| It's probably more available in the US than in Ethiopia but
| it's still a part of the cuisine. Interestingly, according to
| the guy who runs my local place, mushrooms are also found in
| Ethiopian cooking but are often left off the menus because (his
| words not mine) "white people don't think mushrooms are
| authentic".
| Skunkleton wrote:
| I love Ethiopian food, but it has never seemed mainstream to me.
| Claiming it's part of the shared American palate is going to need
| a citation.
| ummonk wrote:
| Yeah, I've eaten Ethiopian food and liked it, but unless I've
| been completely out of the loop, Ethiopian food is not "an
| American fascination".
| dang wrote:
| Ok, we've taken fascination out of the title above.
| Der_Einzige wrote:
| This food looks delicious and I'd love to try some. It seems that
| they haven't "Americanized" it as much as many other ethnic
| restaurants - though I haven't had real Ethopian food so I don't
| actually know that for sure.
|
| I wish that Americans would stop paying for shitty versions of
| other cultures foods. I live in a huge city with lots of people
| of a certain south-east Asian ethnic group. I am also married to
| a south-east Asian of said ethnic group. We have tried every one
| of the available restaurants and not a single one of them comes
| even close to properly approximating the food available in her
| home country (according to her).
|
| In her opinion, this isn't just because of a lack of available
| ingredients. It is because Americans don't want authentic food.
| Fix your shit America because we will forever be (along with the
| UK) the laughing stock of the culinary world with these
| practices.
| kyleee wrote:
| Which ethnic group/cuisine are you referring to?
| arkis22 wrote:
| I hope it's not Thai. That'd be very ironic.
|
| https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/paxadz/the-surprising-rea...
| anw wrote:
| Haha, I completely agree, but also understand why it happens.
| There is a documentary called "The Search for General Tso" on
| Netflix (I believe) that talks about how a staple American dish
| in Chinese restaurants came to be. In particular, nearly
| everybody says, "we had to change this and add sugar, as
| Americans have a sweeter palette than Chinese have".
|
| However, the same thing happens in Asia with other countrys'
| foods, which can sometimes be good (Shaka Shaka Chicken,
| Japanese Curry) or perplexing (Cheeseburger Pizza).
|
| Having grown up around a lot of Asian and Asian Americans, I do
| wish the majority of Americans were more open to different
| cultural foods. There are so many good dishes from all over the
| world, that it just seems a shame to miss out on. I can't
| imagine life without Shengjian bao, xiaolung bao, green onion
| pancakes, or the host of noodle dishes.
|
| By the way, you didn't mention in particular, but I am guessing
| the huge South-East Asian ethnic group is Hmong? In which case
| I'm sure you've tried sweet pork (nqaj qaab zib). If you
| haven't, or if I'm wrong about which group you're talking
| about, try it anyway. It's delicious!
| supernova87a wrote:
| I hate to say it, but I was never a big fan of Ethiopian food,
| even well before the virus situation. All my friends reaching in,
| grabbing, and getting their fingers in the communal bread/stew
| was a real turnoff. Flavors were not that different from other
| spicy types of food, and it really was the fingers-in-bowls thing
| that I could never get over.
|
| ps. I know there are ways of individually serving it.
| titanomachy wrote:
| The restaurants that I've been to had serving spoons, I guess
| as a compromise to Western norms. The flavours were subtly
| different from other things I've tried.
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