What else is there to do there?

way to brush off thousands of year of native american dishes :/

Every culture takes/mixes foods from other cultures and makes it their own.

Perhaps more importantly, every generation remixes their parents' and grandparents' food.

French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Mexican food aren't the same as they were 50 years ago. Lots of new dishes were invented and remixed, sometimes from imported influence. It's not like chefs sit around and refuse to do anything different from how they learned. They do invent and innovate and tweak recipes. That's, like, the job.

Ketchup as close as we know it comes from the Philippines right? So there goes that whole thing.

Yes. I view Chinese American food as American food. Sweet General Tso's Chicken, orange chicken, fortune cookies, crab rangoons, etc. Basically anything they overly sweetened.

Most of what constitutes “traditional” American cuisine is broadly based on European traditions, with British, French, Italian, and German influences being the most dominant. Though many of the recipes have changed and evolved over time, you can still see the influences pretty clearly.

Take the classic Thanksgiving dinner, for instance: although many of the ingredients (such as sweet potatoes and turkey) were unknown in Europe, the way they are prepared is still very similar to how Europeans prepare traditional holiday roasts.

Also, a “proper” meal generally consists of a chunk of meat, veggies, and carbs, usually all prepared separately, or sometimes as a casserole or a stew. Stir-frying is not that common, for instance, but frying, roasting and baking is. If you look into the history of any particular American dish, its roots can often be traced back to the exact wave of immigration that went on to popularize it.

Depending on the region, however, you may also find Native American influences, such as Creole, Cajun, Tex-Mex, etc.

Sounds good! Is it close to orange chicken or General Tso's chicken in the USA?

I had tex-mex / Indian fusion once and it was surprisingly good.

Turkish-German Döner is so popular it is sold basically everywhere now.

I fucking wish. I lived in France 20+ years ago and loved the stuff. Came back to the US and have been waiting to see a good Döner kebab for over 2 decades now.

Fusion kitchens are the best and maybe the only good thing to come out of colonialism

Well, there's also a pretty good music that jazz doesn't happen the way it did without putting European instruments in the hands of formerly enslaved Africans. Would be a lot cooler world if we could figure out how to evolve our art and culture without crimes against humanity, tho.

That wasn't the Too Many Cooks I was aware of.