Alternate Colonization Cuisines
- Thread starter xsampa
- Start date
I personally would be interested in whatever cuisine comes out of a Japanese colony in the Pacific Northwest of North America. What sort of local fish could they add to their sushi? Could TTL's Japanese acquire a fondness for moose beef?
PLC colonizes in South America, we get pierogi made with cassava flour or stuffed with cassava.
The first one would depend heavily on which region of France the colonists predominantly came from, and which areas of Mexico, as the indigenous people of different areas had different cuisines. French colonists from Brittany in the Yucatan are going to have different cuisines than colonists from Provence in Tamaulipas.
It'll one day get described in my TL, but there's a few things that would be universal regardless. Almost certainly use of native wapato (Sagittaria, omodaka in Japanese) since its East Asian relatives were used quite a bit in China and Japan. Potatoes would be imported fairly early and likely grown alongside buckwheat and millet and other crops often grown by Japanese settlers OTL in Hokkaido. Rice would still be very common everywhere from the Lower Mainland south, but north of there only common among the elite (no local production plus expense) and less common east of the Cascades where it will require irrigation (and potentially in parts the climate is too cold but I'd have to check).
Depending on if the Japanese get the idea to copy Siberian reindeer herding and introduce it to Alaska, they'd probably find a taste for that but it would be a local thing. Likewise, I could see tons of local plants becoming part of local cuisines.
I've always thought they'd drink a lot of shochu, mostly made from buckwheat or other hardier crops.
And obviously lots and lots and lots of salmon. For local fish, Columbia River sturgeon and its eggs would be used without a doubt. Plenty of halibut too. Whaling will be very common as OTL in Japan and this region so expect lots of whale dishes. Geoduck, Dungeness crab, other local shellfish will be widely consumed.
Not OP, but that's nearly the exact case in my TL, so could you provide some ideas?
I've been toying with the idea of a Trans-Pacific slave trade for a while for a timeline I may eventually do. One of the consequences would be introducing East Asian foods to Peruvian/Quechua cuisine. Peruvian rice farming would be an interesting addition to the environment of the Andes. I'd say Muscovy Ducks would become an even bigger element of Andean Cuisine than it already was. Animal additions could include Yak and Water Buffalo; Yak would make a fantastic addition to Andean agriculture and Water Buffalo to Panama.
Staple Foods might include rice, maize, potato, quinoa, and sweet potatoes. Millet might also see cultivation in the Alitplano and Atacama. Legumes like (common) beans, soy, and Lima beans would be in the mix, as would green beans. Other additions from Asia might be Bok Choy, Bamboo, watercress, and the like. Teas would play a big role in my vision, probably including Coca tea and Yerba in that mix, though I'm not sure yet to what extent.
I need to look more into African-American creole cuisine developed to get a better image of how I might mix these different elements together. I think the final concoction would be a cool example of alternate cuisine.
Staple Foods might include rice, maize, potato, quinoa, and sweet potatoes. Millet might also see cultivation in the Alitplano and Atacama. Legumes like (common) beans, soy, and Lima beans would be in the mix, as would green beans. Other additions from Asia might be Bok Choy, Bamboo, watercress, and the like. Teas would play a big role in my vision, probably including Coca tea and Yerba in that mix, though I'm not sure yet to what extent.
I need to look more into African-American creole cuisine developed to get a better image of how I might mix these different elements together. I think the final concoction would be a cool example of alternate cuisine.
Crêpes come from Brittany and the cacao was one of the major crops in the Yucatan, so you can rest assured that chocolate crêpes will not be butterflied away, although they might pack a bit more kick from the chocolate being mixed with chili peppers; the Maya mixed chili peppers into chocolate. There may be some hybridization of the crêpe and the tortilla. The main alcoholic drinks associated with Brittany are cider and beer. I don't know what might happen with cider (perhaps some version with a New World fruit). We might see a corn/maize based beer. That's similar to what happened in OTL with whiskey. Scottish and Irish settlers in Kentucky and Tennessee switched from wheat, barley, and rye based whiskey to corn/maize based. I don't know what the Bretons would do with avocados. We could see some kind of kig ha farz with corn instead of buckwheat.