Where Authentic and American Overlap

By Anthony Todd in Food on Nov 1, 2010 6:20PM

Katherine Shillcutt, writing for the Houston Press, has created one of the funniest visual representations of food information that we have ever seen. We are slightly biased, as we're suckers for Venn Diagrams, but the concept is particularly interesting. Officially based on "Texas diners" but applicable to any average American, the diagrams show where American versions of ethnic cuisines and the authentic versions of those cuisines overlap.

Most of the entries are spot-on. Of particular interest are Mexican and Japanese, both cases where the authentic cuisine is not perfectly in line with what has been imported to America. In Japan, sushi and sashimi are reserved for special occasions, and cooked Japanese food has only recently made inroads into our dining scene. The article goes through German, Korean, French ("it's safe to say that most French aren't consuming truffles smeared with Gray Poupon on a regular basis") and Lebanese foods. We're particularly entertained by the entry for Ethiopian food on the final page of the article - check it out!

Photo via Houston Press Blog.