That is by no means exclusive to Chinese food. I remember discussing with a food historian whether English cook books that provided Indian recipes and suggested using apples in place of mangoes represented cultural appropriation. But if you find an interesting dish but don't have all the ingredients, you substitute.Prak wrote:This is sort of more of a "random, stupid question" but I don't think those really need their own thread. And this counts because I'm sure others will find it annoying-
What in D&DLand would fill a similar cultural niche to chinese food? By which I mean, the weird fusion thing we eat in America that was created by asian railworkers trying to recreate their native cuisine with things they could find here in America, and is now a common cheap food eaten by twenty somethings and college students precisely because it's cheap and served family style by default.
If it works, the substitute may become more popular than the original, especially if the supply remains scarce.
Compare with Confederate soldiers using 'chickory' in place of coffee. If coffee isn't available, people decided that was close enough. But it wasn't as good, so as soon as real coffee was available again, it gets dropped.
So effectively, assuming that you know what foods are available regionally, you can determine what substitutions would be required in another region.