Re: The Tale of Potato

[Taro Toporific]

The Tale of Potato

...
The potatoes available in Japan today are not as tasty as those found in the west..

Here's a "tasty" gaijin potatoe JPEG that I ripped off from NekkoBaba.*



*BTW: Nekko baba is also Japanese slang for "theft" . . . besides the obvious meaning of '(crazy old) cat lady.'

[gpvillamil]

Here's a question no-one's been able to answer for me.

Chocolate & chili are also from South America, specifically from Mexico. Both do well in tropical climates.

Yet, 400 years after the Spaniards landed in Mexico, chilies were an integral part of cuisine all over Asia (China, Korea, India, Thailand, etc.) but were not widely used in northern Europe. The degree of adoption of chilies is such that it is hard to imagine many Asian cuisines without them.

However, chocolate became very popular in Europe, but not anywhere in Asia. In Europe and North America, chocolate is used in ways very different from the original Mexican recipes. However, no Asian country has developed its own recipes for chocolate, and it is relatively unknown outside the largest cities. This is striking, considering the lack of taboos and extremely high levels of experimentation in, eg., Chinese & Japanese food.

Why is this? Why did chilies take the Asian world by storm, and strike out in Northern Europe and North America? Why did chocolate follow the opposite path, and remain almost completely unused in Asia?

It doesn't seem like there are compelling biological, geographical, or climatological reasons. Perhaps something to do with the original distribution paths? Social & cultural factors?

[American Oyaji]

Perhaps because like chile, peppers have a similar market. Chiles are a vegetable and a spice.

Chocolate on the other hand is a sweet. And Asian cultures aren't too big on sweet sweets.

[Taro Toporific]

... chocolate became very popular in Europe, but not anywhere in Asia....

Just my 2yen...
Chocolate didn't really become popular in Europe until it was mixed with milk. Before that it was just a bitter drink that was a lesser competitior to coffee and tea. Of course, milk is still not great love of lactose-intolerance asians.