Author: Anne Ewbank / Source: Atlas Obscura
Rarely official and often humble, most national dishes have deep roots in the past. However, some national dishes don’t reflect current gastronomic interests. For example, while apple pie speaks to many people as a quintessential symbol of the United States, Chinese food historian Jennifer 8.
Lee poignantly notes in the television series Ugly Delicious that most Americans eat Chinese food more often than they down a slice of pie. The Europe-based Center for Genomic Gastronomy, an “artist-led think tank,” is currently considering the subject, too. At museums in France and Portugal, the Center asked visitors to ponder what their nation’s national dishes would look and taste like in the year 2050, taking into account climate and cultural changes on the horizon.At Atlas Obscura, we asked our global audience to imagine what their national dish would be like in 32 years’ time. Some readers write that their current national dishes could change for the worse, as climate change and xenophobia make ingredients tougher to source. Some readers try to make the best of a nebulous future, speculating that less-favored proteins, such as crickets, will become commonplace. Others have a rosier view, and suggest that the melting pot might serve up something entirely new. Below is a selection of our favorite answers, to savor and think on.
Jochosturg: a high-protein, quarter-pound of farm-raised sturgeon in a tofu casing, topped with equal parts of julienned kimchi and cabbage slaw. With a sauce made of hummus, all wrapped in a very thin naan made of ground, dehydrated, broccoli-stem flour (so, basically, a hot dog!
) —Kris Winfield, U.S.AAfter Brexit (the U.K.’s exit from the European Union), I’m imagining that there’s going to be less taste for—or simply less ability to afford—the imported ingredients that contribute to our cosmopolitan food culture. The agricultural industry will also go into decline as a result of lower migration. As a consequence, I predict that our future national dish will be a beef pasty with baked beans and/or mushy peas on the side. Either that, or fish fingers and custard, which is an especially British combo: it’s eccentric, it combines local processed delights, and was celebrated in the great Brit TV series, Doctor Who. —James Clayton, United Kingdom
The “UKFT” (or U.K. Food Tablet) will be any one of numerous small tablets, each 20 centimeters in diameter, packed with numerous highly concentrated compositions of the most nutritious edible foods. To be taken with water, on waking, each day. —Jon Knox, United Kingdom
The United States’s New National Dish Will Be: Nothing at All
My country, like most countries…
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