It seems to me that the supposed rejection of ethnic foods was rooted more in jealousy than rejection of other cultures. While the ethnic American kids (presumably those of Anglo derivation) are being served gag-worthy meatloaf, those kids with immigrant mothers get to eat tasty, interesting foods like pork buns or calzones. What kid served boring, yucky meatloaf wouldn't be jealous? And we all know that jealousy can lead to very bad behavior by those who were never taught that envy is a sin.
I can't help but notice the author's thesis interwoven into the discussion of ethnic foods. American=bland and boring. Immigrant=interesting and vibrant. She seems to be pushing the narrative that we should allow just anyone into the country, albeit disguised as a foodie article.
And for the record, I was subjected to bland, boring food through the school lunch program. What amazed me was that, as bad as the food was, there were parents who actually paid for their kids to have lunch tickets. Unbelievable.
“American=bland and boring. Immigrant=interesting and vibrant.”
This is a theme that underlies much of American leftist thinking. They seem to believe that we live at the bottom of a very deep cesspit and any change, in any direction, constitutes an improvement. The law of averages states that some part of our culture, if just by accident, has to be OK, but we have managed to elude that. This self loathing informs their world view. But everyone else on the planet, well, they are trying to be like us, aren’t they?