When a dish really hits a nerve with the American palate, it can really take off across the entire country, facilitated by food vendors' freedom to copy good ideas. We saw it happen with General Tso's chicken. We're seeing it happen with other Asian-influenced culinary creations too.
When I was researching my book on Chinese food in America, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, which was the basis of my TED Talk, it puzzled me why Korean cuisine (unlike many of its Asian brethren) had not gone mainstream yet.
Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian and Vietnamese restaurants had all hit critical mass, with footholds in suburban towns. But Korean cuisine remained mostly ensconced within Korean-American communities, with an occasional lone outpost defiantly offering bibimbap. This puzzled me, because Korean savory barbecued meats -- short ribs, grilled marinated beef -- should be widely appealing to an American palate which never met a barbecue recipe it didn't like. But Korean restaurants basically remained serving Korean clientele, with the occasional Chinese family, like mine, that celebrated our Thanksgivings there.
Korean BBQ. Photo credit: ZakTVA on Flickr.
I came up with various hypotheses to explain the roadblock: the names of Korean dishes were too strange and not descriptive enough (bulgogi and kalbi versus the very clear "beef and broccoli"). Kim chee had given Korean cuisine a pungent image in American minds. Korean immigrants had been siphoned into groceries and other retail industries. The Koreans who did open restaurants found it easier to sell Japanese or Chinese cuisine.
Pho, pad thai, ramen had all lapped jap chae in a race to the American plate.
But then boom! Kogi Korean BBQ-To-Go in Los Angeles burst into national consciousness in 2009 and developed a cult following with tens of thousands of Twitter followers. The formula was so simple, it was a wonder that it hadn't been done before: put the yummy Korean meats in Mexican tortillas, and you are ready to roll. Burritos, tacos, quesadillas. It was aided by a charismatic Twitter account and the low overhead of a food truck, and a movement was born.
Kogi Truck Taco. Photo credit: karmacamilleeon on Flickr.
It's a concept that is truly the product of Los Angeles stir-fry (not melting pot!) in one bite: Korean and Mexican -- two immigrant populations which have made Southern California an extension of their native homes. And it was the second generation that dared to make it happen.
Like General Tso's chicken, the concept spread because of distributed open-source copying through a network of food vendors. It's been echoed by dozens upon dozens of food trucks nationwide, from Korilla BBQ in New York, to Chilantro in Austin, Marination Mobile in Seattle. "Korean taco" now has its own Wikipedia page.
This blending of Asian and other regional cuisines has been become entertaining to watch over the last half decade. Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches (themselves already a product of French colonial presence in South East Asia), have developed sloppy joe and catfish versions (at Baoguette in New York), as well as a Vietnamese-Polish edition made with kielbasa. And you can chimp on banh mi sliders and banh mi tacos at The Peached Tortilla in Austin.
Sushirrito. Photo credit: Jennifer 8. Lee on Flickr.
Now I'm waiting for another Asian-Latino concept to take the country by storm: sushirittos, burrito-sized sushi rolls. There is the namesake establishment in downtown San Francisco, as well as Jogasaki's sushi burritos in Los Angeles, and Wrapmi in Boston.
My Japanese friends were slightly terrified when they encountered them. It was like encountering a genetic mutation from outer space. Supersizing maki rolls is just so, so American, they said.
It's true. It is so American. That's what makes it wonderful. Watch for the yummy seaweed logs, they are coming to you.当一种美食让美国人大感美味时，它会迅速风靡全国，因为餐馆老板们很容易就会效仿好点子。左宗鸡就是个例子，如今其它亚洲风格的美食创新也正在走同样的路线。
当年我在为写一本美式中餐题材的书——就是《幸运签饼纪事》，它也是我TED演讲的基础——做准备，发现韩国菜居然没像其它许多亚洲菜一样成为主流，这让我困惑不已。
中、日、泰、印还有越南菜都已有了名气，店铺也开到了郊区小镇上。但是韩国菜却基本都藏在韩裔社区里，偶尔有那么一家跑出来卖石锅饭的。真是奇怪，因为美味的韩式烤肉——牛小排，烤腌牛肉——应该大受美国人的欢迎才对，还没有哪种烧烤美国人不喜欢的。但韩国餐馆一直如此，客人基本都是韩国裔，偶尔来一家像我们家这样的华裔，跑来过感恩节呢。
韩式烧烤. Photo credit:ZakTVA on Flickr.
我想到各种假设来解释这个怪现象：韩式菜名太奇怪了，看不出来是什么（煲锅吉和烤毕远不如“牛肉和西兰花”简单明了）。泡菜给美国人留下韩国菜辛辣的印象。韩国移民都去开杂货店和做其它零售业了，开餐厅的韩国人发现日本菜和中国菜更好卖。
越南米粉、泰式河粉和日本拉面，都与韩国冬粉争夺着美国人的餐盘。
但是突然间，2009年洛杉矶的科吉韩式便捷烧烤突然就火了起来，引起了全国性的狂热追捧，在Twitter上受到上万粉丝的关注。配方简单得出奇，居然之前就是没人试过：把美味的韩式肉食放进墨西哥玉米圆饼里，然后你就尽管试吧，玉米卷饼，炸玉米饼，油炸玉米粉饼。再加上个魅力万千的Twitter账号，还有低成本的快餐车，想不火都难啊！
科吉餐车的炸玉米饼. Photo credit:karmacamilleeon on Flickr.
这还真是一口尝到炒（不是民族大熔炉的熔）在一起的两种洛城风味：韩国和墨西哥――两个都将南加州当成自己的第二故乡的移民群体。也只有第二代移民敢于这么尝试。
就像左宗棠鸡当年一样，这个点子由于餐馆老板资源共享的网络得以传播。一波一波的快餐车在全国范围响应，从纽约的Korilla BBQ到奥斯汀的Chilantro，再到西雅图的Marination Mobile。“韩式玉米饼”现在维基都有自己的页面了。
最近五年来，这种亚洲美食和其它地区的美食融合越来越有意思了。越南三明治（本身就是东南亚的法国殖民地产物）已经有了 “邋遢乔”（ 碎牛腩）和鲶鱼版本（纽约的Baoguette店），还有放波兰熏肠的越南波兰版本。在奥斯汀的The Peached Tortilla还能尝到banh mi slider（译者注：一种外形似汉堡的越式食品）和越式玉米饼。
寿司玉米卷. Photo credit:Jennifer 8. Lee on Flickr.
现在我正等着另一种亚洲-拉丁风格席卷全国：寿司玉米卷，像墨西哥玉米卷那么大的寿司卷。在旧金山城区已经有店了，名字一样，还有洛杉矶的Jogasaki寿司玉米卷饼，和波士顿的Wrapmi。
我的日本朋友在头一次遇到的时候略感吃惊，就像见到外太空来的基因突变怪物一样。他们说，超大号的寿司卷实在是太，太美国了。
没错，真是太美国了，这也正是其魅力所在。小心美味的紫菜寿司卷正冲你来啦
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