Counterpoint - I've had several people including vietnamese americans say that the pho you get in the US is better than what's in Vietnam because of the food inspectors and other government systems that ensure a safe food supply line and cooking preparation area etc versus Vietnam. I'll tell you I lived in Colombia and the best bandeja paisa is in texas versus the places in Colombia. I've spent years in Mexico and I can find mexican food that is almost as good. Nothing beats ramen in japan or sushi for that matter but some of the best sushi i ever ate was in a large city in the middle east and I've done several trips to Japan.

Americans aren't as stupid as you assume we are. We know often food like Chinese and Mexican is catered to us but the same happens all over. It's not like we're some special lazy garbage people. If you go to Spain and order Chinese, it's made to accomdate their tastes.

It's funny you mention that about vietnam. I have read that online a few times. I've mentioned it to a few vietnamese-american friends and they looked at me like I'm crazy. There are a lot of places taking shortcuts with pho in the US though.

I dont think americans are stupid,we just don't grow up eating food that is interesting and don't get used it. we eat carbs, sugar, butter/cream with lean cuts of meat. it takes work to explore food beyond that, so it doesn't happen and we get watered down international cuisines

> If you go to Spain and order Chinese, it's made to accomdate their tastes.

Just like how pho and bandeja paisa in America is accommodated for the American palette which would be why Americans (I'm assuming you are American) would prefer their version of the dish over the country of origin's version?

Furthermore maybe you like the Middle East's sushi more because the Middle East has no sushi legacy and can appeal to the Western palette more?

I agree that America can have incredible cuisine that rivals other countries, but that's sort of the article's point - the majority of America is still devoid of this excellence.

You need a immigrant community large enough to be cooking for their own palate. Los Angeles, for example, has a population of ~30K Thai, ~180K Japanese, and ~5M Mexican origin (numbers from Pew).

Plenty of options in LA for northern, Isaan, central and southern Thai between Western Ave and Thai Town, and pretty good ramen, soba, and sushi in Sawtelle, Little Tokyo or Torrance. Perhaps not best in the world, but not at all catering to American tastes and could rank above average in the origin country.

I spent time in Korea and with Koreans in the US and they've told me that food in Koreatown in L.A. is better than Seoul.

The food can exist, but you need to really search it out. That is different then if we had a strong food culture, this food wouldn't be hidden away in ethnic ghettos.

Sure, good example of that is r 3.4 out of 5 on the Japanese restaurant review site Tabelog is miles better as a signal of good food than any number of 5 star yelp reviews in the US.

My larger point was that LA and NYC (and specific communities in other cities —SF, Houston, etc) have a subculture that celebrates true renditions of various cuisines as cooked by an self-sustaining immigrant community large enough to not require external validation by Americans lacking in food culture to stay in business. You have to get lucky in most of the rest of the states.