Caviar, Champagne, and Kung Pao Chicken: Culinary History’s Role in Assimilation, Acceptance, and Identity in American History
Abstract:
Food is one of the most important things in human life, and much of life revolves around the preparation and consumption of food. For immigrant cultures in America, this rings even more true, and there is a cycle of acceptance that occurs with each consecutive group as they go through discrimination and a bottom up integration of cuisine. Using a history of immigration for Chinese and French immigrants, as well as the creation and change over time of their cuisines within American society, a direct comparison and contrast between the two distinctly similarly treated yet ultimately differently considered cuisines within American history.