Have you ever thought about how many ethnic foods we enjoy in the United States
Almost every major city is a hodge podge of people groups that were immigrants at one time. They each brought with them their own culture, and within that came their unique flavor profiles. Often we travel in cities to certain pockets where particular ethnic groups have migrated to feast on the more authentic versions of the food. Many of the flavor profiles have been watered to meet the American palate. Therefore, if you want to taste what the truer tastes are from that culture you must find a restaurant that probably resides in the community where the people from that country actually yearn for. Then you taste just a bit of what their original flavors were meant to taste like.
Tell me what flavors do you really crave in ethnic food?
Are you willing to travel long distances in order to encounter authenticity?
Can you taste the difference between watered-down Americanized versions of cultural food versus the truer flavors, as they were meant to be created?
In my first novel, Crossing the Line, I include some favored dishes from Guatemala. Then I attempt to provide a view into commercial restaurant scenes during business times.
In my upcoming novel that will soon be released, some of the same characters in the restaurant return and we see more details of their lives in the restaurant business.