- 03 Feb 2010 00:46
#13310173
Question in short: When does something (such as a food stuff) become a part of a societies culture, as opposed to being something culturally foreign?
Question in detail: I'm sure we've heard the expression 'As American as Apple Pie' (well, Americans should have heard it atleast), but the apple pie that most Americans eat is not native to America. The oldest 'apple pie' was English 'apple pudding', and included figs, raisins, pears, and no crust (atleast not how it's seen in our pies). The apple pie eaten by Americans is most similar to Dutch Apple Pie, which includes mostly the same ingredients and a very similar crust. And that (aside from being Dutch, and thus clearly not American) has been around since as late as 1626. So, despite it's Dutch origins and pre-American history, Apple Pie is 'American'. A similar story goes for baseball (again, 'as American as mom, baseball and apple pie'), but it's origins are French, Basketball is German, and Football (American football, I guess I should say) is based on various Gaelic and Meso-American games.
So, at what point did we decide to take these various non-American cultural elements and call them American?
Question in detail: I'm sure we've heard the expression 'As American as Apple Pie' (well, Americans should have heard it atleast), but the apple pie that most Americans eat is not native to America. The oldest 'apple pie' was English 'apple pudding', and included figs, raisins, pears, and no crust (atleast not how it's seen in our pies). The apple pie eaten by Americans is most similar to Dutch Apple Pie, which includes mostly the same ingredients and a very similar crust. And that (aside from being Dutch, and thus clearly not American) has been around since as late as 1626. So, despite it's Dutch origins and pre-American history, Apple Pie is 'American'. A similar story goes for baseball (again, 'as American as mom, baseball and apple pie'), but it's origins are French, Basketball is German, and Football (American football, I guess I should say) is based on various Gaelic and Meso-American games.
So, at what point did we decide to take these various non-American cultural elements and call them American?