Quote:
Originally Posted by lio45
Because those things are all foreign...?
"Why cannot Japanese culture include McDonald's burgers and fries, KFC fried chicken, Coca-Cola, American pop music, American TV shows, Hollywood movies, etc.?"
"Why cannot German culture include bérets, baguettes and the Eiffel Tower?"
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It's interesting that you bring up Japan and KFC fried chicken, because in Japan KFC has become traditional
Christmas food, to the point that Colonel Sanders statues dressed in Santa outfits are a common sight in December.
That begs the question, is eating KFC at Christmas "American culture" when there is no such tradition in America itself?
Or how about this one: I think everyone can agree sauerkraut is a part of "traditional" German cuisine. And yet it didn't originate in Germany, or even Europe.
Sauerkraut is actually from China, transmitted to central Europe via the Tartars in the middle ages.
And of course this doesn't even get into all the issues brought up by the Colombian exchange. Is pizza not Italian because tomatoes are from South America? 250 years ago your average Italian might've thought the dish would kill them, tomatoes commonly being seen as poisonous at the time. And they certainly would've thought of tomatoes as exotic and foreign.
Wait 200 years and chowing down on fried chicken at Christmastime will have as much of a history in Japan as pizza in Italy or modern sushi
does in Japan today . Makes one wonder if it will be considered part of "traditional Japanese culture" by then.