Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/30/ask-a-mexican-tackles-burri.html
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(barely, they went to Puerto Neuvo,)
20 minutes South of San Diego ain’t really Mexico. But neither is Cabo any longer…
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Puerto Nuevo is like stopping at a 7-11 just over the border in Nevada, seeing a slot machine, and calling it a trip to Vegas.
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There’s a bit of a shrieky reaction going on here.
It’s simple - people buy what they are willing to pay for. If these burritos are no good, they’ll vanish without trace.
I was recommended to a Japanese restaurant in San Francisco - I went first time and thought ‘ok I’ll try’ but with a pre-sentiment of disappointment. And I wasn’t disappointed. Or put it another way - my prediction was entirely accurate.
All the “chefs” and crew were not Japanese, in the slightest.
So despite repeated badgerings to go back and enjoy that restaurant, I remember well the bland and boring mixture of rice and cold fish, and know that when a cook is leaning on 100s of years of excellent cuisine, they try harder and do better when they know it’s their own heritage.
In the end, consumers vote witht their feet. If they’ve in general become so slack about choice, quality and flavor, then so be it - it’s their loss.
“BurritoGate”. Meh. 1st World Problem.
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Remember when it was just called “sharing” or “cultural exchange”? Or even just “an exchange of ideas”?
I mean we JUST had a video that showed how many foods commonly ate by various peoples originated from some place far, far away. i.e. That rice in your Mexican dish.
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Holy crap, an actual voice of reason. I just feel bad for the burrito ladies, I hope they reopen their cart and tell all the people that have a problem with it to STFU. Or stuff a burrito in their face and see if it’s actually any good.
On the other hand, I wonder if Mr. Arellano has gotten some hate mail for his stance on the matter?
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In Northern IL, the sushi/Japanese restos are 95% owned and operated by Koreans.
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The only thing weirder to me than people complaining about the cultural appropriation of the burrito is learning that there are people out there who mystified as to the nature and production of tortillas.
The story about them trying to learn “the secret” from every little old lady they saw is cute, but they could have gone 20 miles up the road to any English-speaking grocery store and gotten the same information. Did it really take Portland this long to “discover” burritos? Or even tortillas?
I know as a Texan I may take them for granted, but even New York has those God-awful breakfast burritos. Surely they can’t be a new thing up there.
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Well to be fair Illinois doesn’t really have a ‘food’ that it can call it’s own - everything popular here is just a tweak on other foods - Chicago dogs - copy of Nathans with shit piled on it, - Chicago Pizza - yeah again trying to ‘outdo’ New York.
They have fried catfish - that’s not especially unique to the state really - it’s a bland food paradise out here.
I’m completely on board with taking the best from other food traditions and making it your own. I’m not so much on board with a racially pejorative term for rotten or discolored fruit being used to describe children.
In the UK we have a big issue in that “Indian” food is mostly meat-based from North India. People miss out on the spectacular and delicious array of gorgeous vegetarian foods!
A lot of restaurants are seemingly employing eastern europeans behind the scenes to cook. No issue with them per se, but I reiterate my comment on heritage.
I always try to look into the kitchen.
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Ah yes. That’s the nice thing about the US–There’s a lot of Indians that came over here, and it’s not a trendy food to eat for a nice dinner (unless you’re actually Indian), so menu items tend to have lots of regional specialties and not much different than how they are in India. Actually the hottest curry I’ve had was in Naperville, IL and I’ve been to Bangalore and Chennai.
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Unsure what you are getting at - I don’t think you can ‘appropriate’ food - it’s food - in terms of the taco truck I wish these people would send hate mail to Taco Bell. I was just commenting on the fact that Illinois wouldn’t know if something was real food even if it was, the food landscape in the state is about as exciting as a glass of water.
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BTW, you know what sounds to me really tasteless and problematic?
“Hey, they went to Pueblo Nuevo, that does not count as going to Mexico. I mean, is a Mexican city in a Mexican state but come on”.
Yea, because what is Mexico being decided by the US has such a long story of working so fine for Mexicans.
EDIT: Puerto. Brainfart.
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Puerto.
Your concern is noted.
Just speaking for myself here but Damn I’d really like to try some of those ladys Burritos. I’m really sorry that they gave it up…no winners here… .
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Apart from the brainfart on my side, somebody should at least change Neuvo to Nuevo. Just saying.
In Reno,NV a whole bunch of the Mexican restaurants are owned by Salvadorans. Which is something I’ve anyways find a bit odd, but the food if good so who cares.
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I know. I’d like to make them at home. Will probably substitute store-bought tortillas for the hand-made ones, and they will be terrible in comparison. Oh well.
