--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The old debate on whether or not the…" description: "\"“The old debate on whether or not the Chinese or the Vietnamese made the best American food ran through my head. Everyone knew that you couldn’t depend..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/ernest-hogan-103077_american-food_the-old-debate-on-whether-or-not-the-chi_2954070.jpg" --- # The old debate on whether or not the Chinese or the… ![“The old debate on whether or not the Chinese or the Vietnamese made the best American food ran through my head. Everyone knew that you couldn’t depend on a North American–run place, because gringos just aren’t good at such things.” quote by Ernest Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/ernest-hogan-103077_american-food_the-old-debate-on-whether-or-not-the-chi_2954070.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/ernest-hogan-103077_american-food_the-old-debate-on-whether-or-not-the-chi_2954070.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/782/ernest-hogan-103077_american-food_the-old-debate-on-whether-or-not-the-chi_2954070.jpg) > ““The old debate on whether or not the Chinese or the Vietnamese made the best American food ran through my head. Everyone knew that you couldn’t depend on a North American–run place, because gringos just aren’t good at such things.”” [Ernest Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hogan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. American food debate reflects stereotypes about foreign cuisines and perceived quality. **In simple terms:** Food stereotypes affect perception. Key Takeaway Challenge culinary assumptions. Themes food culture stereotypes Mood critical inquisitive Type analysis commentary When to use this quote - restaurant reviews - cooking classes - cultural exchange Key Concepts cuisine bias national identity quality perception Questions to Reflect On - Why are certain cuisines undervalued? - How can we appreciate diverse foods? A Different Perspective Stereotypes can be outdated. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [American food](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-food/) [Debate Chinese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/debate-chinese-4466616/) [Food](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/food/) [Gringos Just](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gringos-just-4466619/) [Old Debate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-debate-4466618/) [Vietnamese Best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vietnamese-best-4466617/) ## Related quotes > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Food as a hobby used to be an elite pastime, and it has become something that is totally ordinary for people of every background.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goodyear/food-as-a-hobby-used-to-be-an-elite-pastime-and-it-has-become/) [Dana Goodyear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goodyear/) > [When I founded the first Hard Rock, no one was serving American food in London; McDonald's wasn't there, Burger King, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-morton/when-i-founded-the-first-hard-rock-no-one-was-serving-american-food/) [Peter Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-morton/) > [“What type of food?" "What do you mean what type?" "I mean Mexican, Italian, French, American?" "I wasn't aware that American was a type…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brett-arquette/what-type-of-food-what-do-you-mean-what-type-i-mean-mexican-italian/) [Brett Arquette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brett-arquette/) > [When I first came here, Italian food wasn't anything I recognized. I didn't know what Italian American food was; we never ate it at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lidia-bastianich/when-i-first-came-here-italian-food-wasn-t-anything-i-recognized-i/) [Lidia Bastianich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lidia-bastianich/) > [“It didn’t take long for us to realize, though, that we hadn’t eaten since the eggs twenty-four hours earlier. Eating was the one desire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ree-drummond/it-didn-t-take-long-for-us-to-realize-though-that-we-hadn-t-eaten/) [Ree Drummond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ree-drummond/) > [“Much of our food system depends on our not knowing much about it, beyond the price disclosed by the checkout scanner; cheapness and ignorance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/much-of-our-food-system-depends-on-our-not-knowing-much-about-it/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [No one had told us that in L.A. we would get only American food. I had no choice but to eat rice porridge without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-t-usha/no-one-had-told-us-that-in-l-a-we-would-get-only-american-food-i-had/) [P. T. Usha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-t-usha/) > [American food is not what I'm used to - everything is like three portions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/estelle/american-food-is-not-what-i-m-used-to-everything-is-like-three/) [Estelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/estelle/) > [America knows nothing of food, love, or art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/america-knows-nothing-of-food-love-or-art/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [We know so much about the European food story, and we're getting to know about the American food story; but we know so little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-samuelsson/we-know-so-much-about-the-european-food-story-and-we-re-getting-to/) [Marcus Samuelsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-samuelsson/) > [The growth of the American food industry will always bump up against this troublesome biological fact: Try as we might, each of us can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/the-growth-of-the-american-food-industry-will-always-bump-up-against/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [“Thinking about anything interesting?” I shrug and force my brain to stay with safer topics. “I didn’t know you could feed a baby Thai…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigid-kemmerer/thinking-about-anything-interesting-i-shrug-and-force-my-brain-to/) [Brigid Kemmerer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigid-kemmerer/) > [“It is often difficult, I find, for people today to grasp the notion that one family, working through several restaurants could change the eating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caleb-carr/it-is-often-difficult-i-find-for-people-today-to-grasp-the-notion/) [Caleb Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caleb-carr/) > [Growing up, everybody would cross the border, even to just do grocery shopping. A lot of traditional American foods stuck with my parents and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcela-valladolid/growing-up-everybody-would-cross-the-border-even-to-just-do-grocery/) [Marcela Valladolid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcela-valladolid/) ## More by Ernest Hogan > [“They jabbered amongst themselves in a bizarre jibberish that sounded like Spanish gone wrong: maybe gringo Spanglish, some kind of Espanahuatl that I hadn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hogan/they-jabbered-amongst-themselves-in-a-bizarre-jibberish-that-sounded/) [Ernest Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hogan/) [Explore all 2 Ernest Hogan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hogan/) ## More American food quotes > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Food as a hobby used to be an elite pastime, and it has become something that is totally ordinary for people of every background.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goodyear/food-as-a-hobby-used-to-be-an-elite-pastime-and-it-has-become/) [Dana Goodyear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goodyear/) > [“It is often difficult, I find, for people today to grasp the notion that one family, working through several restaurants could change the eating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caleb-carr/it-is-often-difficult-i-find-for-people-today-to-grasp-the-notion/) [Caleb Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caleb-carr/) > [“Thinking about anything interesting?” I shrug and force my brain to stay with safer topics. “I didn’t know you could feed a baby Thai…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigid-kemmerer/thinking-about-anything-interesting-i-shrug-and-force-my-brain-to/) [Brigid Kemmerer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigid-kemmerer/) > [The growth of the American food industry will always bump up against this troublesome biological fact: Try as we might, each of us can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/the-growth-of-the-american-food-industry-will-always-bump-up-against/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [We know so much about the European food story, and we're getting to know about the American food story; but we know so little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-samuelsson/we-know-so-much-about-the-european-food-story-and-we-re-getting-to/) [Marcus Samuelsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-samuelsson/) > [America knows nothing of food, love, or art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/america-knows-nothing-of-food-love-or-art/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [American food is not what I'm used to - everything is like three portions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/estelle/american-food-is-not-what-i-m-used-to-everything-is-like-three/) [Estelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/estelle/) > [No one had told us that in L.A. we would get only American food. I had no choice but to eat rice porridge without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-t-usha/no-one-had-told-us-that-in-l-a-we-would-get-only-american-food-i-had/) [P. T. Usha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-t-usha/) > [“Much of our food system depends on our not knowing much about it, beyond the price disclosed by the checkout scanner; cheapness and ignorance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/much-of-our-food-system-depends-on-our-not-knowing-much-about-it/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [“It didn’t take long for us to realize, though, that we hadn’t eaten since the eggs twenty-four hours earlier. Eating was the one desire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ree-drummond/it-didn-t-take-long-for-us-to-realize-though-that-we-hadn-t-eaten/) [Ree Drummond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ree-drummond/) > [When I first came here, Italian food wasn't anything I recognized. I didn't know what Italian American food was; we never ate it at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lidia-bastianich/when-i-first-came-here-italian-food-wasn-t-anything-i-recognized-i/) [Lidia Bastianich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lidia-bastianich/) > [“What type of food?" "What do you mean what type?" "I mean Mexican, Italian, French, American?" "I wasn't aware that American was a type…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brett-arquette/what-type-of-food-what-do-you-mean-what-type-i-mean-mexican-italian/) [Brett Arquette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brett-arquette/) > [When I founded the first Hard Rock, no one was serving American food in London; McDonald's wasn't there, Burger King, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-morton/when-i-founded-the-first-hard-rock-no-one-was-serving-american-food/) [Peter Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-morton/) > [Growing up, everybody would cross the border, even to just do grocery shopping. A lot of traditional American foods stuck with my parents and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcela-valladolid/growing-up-everybody-would-cross-the-border-even-to-just-do-grocery/) [Marcela Valladolid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcela-valladolid/) [Browse all 38 American food quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-food/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The old debate on whether or not the Chinese or the Vietnamese made the best American food ran through my head. 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