Understanding Asian-American Cuisine’s Rise and Triumph Through Information Cascades
In this magazine article, Ligaya Mishan talks about her research and personal experience in Asian-American history, specifically cuisine, after talking to Asian-American chefs and writing on the food across the nation. The columnist starts off talking about the early plight of Asian-Americans and the criticism they received on their cooking and living spaces – specifically passing the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and labeling San Francisco’s Chinatown as a threat to the “American way of life”. Although Chinese food was popular in the east coast, the tipping point for the food on the west coast was not until the 1890s as outsiders flocked and as Chinese chefs adjusted their dishes to please them accordingly. From there, there has been on going change in Asian-American cuisine due to their circumstance and environment. Moreover, the columnist talks about shifts in social status and roles through which Asian-Americans journeyed in America and how these changes seem to ease in and tip Asian-American cuisine.
This points analogously to the network cascades that we went through in class. Many factors contributed to the rise and triumph of Asian-American cuisine, but holistically, the popularity increase can be boiled down to the simple game model of cascades in lecture. Towards more recent time, shifts in social status, role, and general acceptance towards Asian-Americans may have contributed to a higher perceived pay-off, leading to a threshold rule that is more easily achieved, causing a spread. Moreover, different areas like the west coast and east coast represent clusters of higher density making spreading to a certain area more difficult and requiring direct introduction. This was accomplished through a necessity of food through the gold rush and large flows of immigration. Additionally, through altered, more pleasing dishes, the spread of the food was even easier.