TIL that the tumbleweeds commonly found in the American West are Russian thistle. They are an invasive species from Asia that adapted well to the dry, open landscapes of the western U.S.
TIL that the tumbleweeds commonly found in the American West are Russian thistle. They are an invasive species from Asia that adapted well to the dry, open landscapes of the western U.S.
It's kind of funny, I think, that a plant so closely associated with America is actually not native at all.
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Sure, but the same applies to so many foods in so many cultures. What was Italian food like before they had access to tomatoes? Eastern, Central European, or Irish before potatoes? Chinese, Southeast Asian, or Korean before they had chili peppers?
Now each of those countries have dishes we associate with them but which use those non-native ingredients.
The more impressive thing is how the British had a global empire for roughly 400 years, and their cuisine remained awful.
Hey now, it's thanks to them that we have chicken tikka and butter chicken.
I think that's because British food we commonly see as awful stems from food rationing that went on during and after WWII, as far as I know well in the 1970s
That seems like a poor excuse, every country experienced rationing and they didn't revert to awful food. There's even a few dishes like fried spam and ramen that are actually pretty good.
American cuisine also suffered dramatically in the post-war period due to a reliance on, for example, canned vegetables. A whole generation or two (boomers and Gen X) grew up not knowing what spices are, practically.
Then they somehow put everything in Jello in the 50s because apparently decent cuisine was completely forgotten
Access to all those spices and they come up with bread sauce
They sold those spices for profit, that's how empires work.
Blows my minds that Indian and Asian food at one point wasn't spicy, and it wasn't until Europian trade from the America's that changed the cuisine
They had pepper (actual, not chili).
That would be part of why I said chili peppers, not pepper.
And I meant that they were still making food spicy hot
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