ABSTRACT
The popularity of foreign-themed restaurants grew dramatically in the United States following the Great War. This article analyzes the contradiction between the “Americanization” of food at the same time as native-born Americans enjoyed a growing taste for global cuisines. Distinguishing between foreign and foreign-themed restaurants, this article argues that the latter exposed American palates to a variety of global flavors. In turn, Americans began to conceive of “American food” in more cosmopolitan terms. This article also places material decorations, including the bodies of employees, at the center of its interpretation of the restaurant space and expands the debate over restaurants’ use of foreign languages on printed menus to encompass the place of the spoken word. Ultimately, this article argues that the rising popularity of global foodways in the United States not only changed the taste of traditional “American food” but led to a “world citizen” ideal of American national identity.
