Commenting on a Washington Times column which urges us not to worry about immigration since,
“There was also this great fear back then that these new groups would not become American,” he said. “But now, you can buy a bagel in any town in the U.S. It is no longer thought of as an ethnic food, nor is pizza. But it was.”
Matthew Yglesias retorts,
True, but 99% of the bagels and 85% of the pizza you find around this country suck. If the future of current American ethnic food is to become more widespread and yet inedible, I’m going to be upset.
More evidence that in the future all restaurants will be Taco Bell.
It’s a matter of taste, I suppose. I’ve had pizza in Europe made by actual Italians and, frankly, I prefer Papa John’s. Or frozen, for that matter. And I suspect I far prefer the Americanized (read: lots of meat) version of Chinese food better than I would the variety eaten by the average person in Beijing. Even in relatively remote areas, Mexican, Chinese, Thai, and other ethnic restaurants–usually run by natives of those countries–are readily available.
Of course, I’m not sure how the proliferation of ethnic food is evidence that these groups are assimilating into our culture. Indeed, it would seem that the reverse would be true.
