Mainstream Flavor: Ethnic Cuisine and Assimilation in the United States

Abstract

Assimilation theories posit that cultural change is part and parcel of the assimilation process. That change can register in the symbols and practices that individuals invoke as part of an ethnic experience. But cultural change also includes the degree to which the mainstream takes up those symbols and practices as part of its composite culture. We develop a way to examine whether cuisine, an important component of ethnic culture, is part of the mainstream’s composite culture and the contextual factors associated with the presence of ethnic cuisine in the composite culture. We begin with a comparison of 761,444 reviews of Mexican, Italian, Chinese, and American restaurants across the United States from Yelp!, an online customer review platform. We find that reviews of Mexican restaurants mention ethnicity and authenticity much more than reviews of Italian and American restaurants, but less than reviews of Chinese restaurants, suggesting intermediate mainstreaming of Mexican cuisine. We then examine Mexican restaurant reviews in the 82 largest U.S. core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) to uncover the contextual factors associated with Mexican cuisine’s local mainstream presence. We find that Mexican food is less defined in ethnic terms in CBSAs with larger and more culturally distinct Mexican populations and at less-expensive restaurants. We argue that regional versions of the composite culture change as ethnic groups come to define a region demographically and culturally.

Ethnicity on the table: A content analysis of online reviews for Syracuse's cuisines

“…The TF-IDF analysis aligns with a study that found Mexican restaurant reviews are more likely to mention ethnicity and authenticity compared to Italian and American restaurants (Boch et al, 2021). Findings of the user analysis confirm with a prior study that argued exposure to the culture of the food's country of origin may increase its popularity (Jang & Kim, 2015).…”

“…These findings suggest that Mexican cuisine may be in an intermediate stage of mainstream acceptance. The study also underscores significant location-specific variation in the assimilation of particular ethnic cuisines, indicating the existence of multiple mainstreams (Boch et al, 2021).…”

When causal attribution meets cuisine type: how consumer power and moral identity moderate virtual kitchen patronage

“…In the external causal attribution condition, participants were told that an owner considered starting a virtual kitchen because only a virtual kitchen is permitted per zoning regulations. Second, mainstream cuisine was represented by an American fast casual restaurant, while ethnic cuisine was represented by a Chinese fast-casual restaurant (Boch et al, 2021). A total of 200 respondents (49.0% male; M age = 39.0 6 13.8 years; 80.0% White) participated in Study 2.…”

Health inspector ratings of Asian restaurants during the early COVID-19 pandemic

“…However, Asian cuisines in the US transcend these timelines, and they remain simultaneously one of the most popular foods while also bearing the marker of ‘ethnic’ difference. For example, one recent study of reviews of restaurants on Yelp, an online platform for business and product reviews, found that customers of Chinese restaurants evoked mentions of ethnicity more than any Mexican, Italian, and American restaurants ( Boch et al, 2020 ). This dynamic shapes more than just the reception of food to the mainstream, but also the lives of Asian Americans themselves.…”