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submitted 3 weeks ago by lousyd@lemmy.sdf.org to c/til@lemmy.world

It's kind of funny, I think, that a plant so closely associated with America is actually not native at all.

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[-] DaCrazyJamez@sh.itjust.works 72 points 3 weeks ago

I think most things that are most closely associated with America aren't native...

[-] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

And then you have horses, which originated there, migrated to Eurasia, went extinct in the Americas, and then were reintrouduced thousands of years later.

[-] Davel23@fedia.io 48 points 3 weeks ago

Also, horses had gone extinct in North America until the Spanish brought them back in the 15th century.

[-] Mirshe@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

It's theorized this is partially why a lot of indigenous societies in the Americas simply didn't use wheels in larger contexts. We've found perfectly engineered wheels in a lot of archaeological sites here in North and South America, but they're almost always on toys. The theory is that civilizations like the Aztecs and various Native American and First Nations peoples invented wheels just fine, but since North America particularly lacks any form of native, easily-domesticated draft animal, wheels just didn't make sense or save anyone significant enough time to really bother with in larger forms like carts or chariots.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 46 points 3 weeks ago

Ok, but where did the

Dunadunaduna na wah wah waaaah

come from?

[-] trevdog@lemmy.world 36 points 3 weeks ago
[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago
[-] Trex202@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

I wonder if the Mandalorian theme was inspired by this

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

It's the sound spaghetti makes.

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 18 points 3 weeks ago

It was always there. It just needed the Italians to set it free.

[-] shootwhatsmyname@lemm.ee 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)
[-] perviouslyiner@lemmy.world 44 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)
[-] bassomitron@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Haha, I literally just watched that a few days ago. For a brief second, I saw this post and jokingly thought, "so when did Lemmy start snooping on my search history?"

But seriously, it's a really bad problem. It's crazy how widely they've spread and become such a massive pain in the ass in so many areas.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 27 points 3 weeks ago

Kinda poetic really. Gets edged out by the European settler for the most prolific invasive species, though

[-] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 22 points 3 weeks ago

Freaking commie tumbleweeds rolling from town to town looking for handouts

Wait holdup, a weed from asia, named after russia is ravaging america?

[-] MrShankles@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago

Russia is part of the Asian continent

Interesting... I always considered it to be a part of europe

[-] i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 3 weeks ago

It's a transcontinental country, like Turkey and Egypt.

[-] kusivittula@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 weeks ago

russia is so big it's part of both

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[-] lousyd@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yep. They're like tribbles.

[-] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 weeks ago

Apple pie has entered the chat.

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 16 points 3 weeks ago

Sure, but the same applies to so many foods in so many cultures. What was Italian food like before they had access to tomatoes? Eastern, Central European, or Irish before potatoes? Chinese, Southeast Asian, or Korean before they had chili peppers?

Now each of those countries have dishes we associate with them but which use those non-native ingredients.

[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago

The more impressive thing is how the British had a global empire for roughly 400 years, and their cuisine remained awful.

[-] Rubanski@lemm.ee 9 points 3 weeks ago

I think that's because British food we commonly see as awful stems from food rationing that went on during and after WWII, as far as I know well in the 1970s

[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

That seems like a poor excuse, every country experienced rationing and they didn't revert to awful food. There's even a few dishes like fried spam and ramen that are actually pretty good.

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 2 points 3 weeks ago

American cuisine also suffered dramatically in the post-war period due to a reliance on, for example, canned vegetables. A whole generation or two (boomers and Gen X) grew up not knowing what spices are, practically.

[-] Rubanski@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

Then they somehow put everything in Jello in the 50s because apparently decent cuisine was completely forgotten

[-] ninjabard@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Access to all those spices and they come up with bread sauce

[-] NickwithaC@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

They sold those spices for profit, that's how empires work.

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[-] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Blows my minds that Indian and Asian food at one point wasn't spicy, and it wasn't until Europian trade from the America's that changed the cuisine

[-] raef@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

They had pepper (actual, not chili).

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 1 points 3 weeks ago

That would be part of why I said chili peppers, not pepper.

[-] raef@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

And I meant that they were still making food spicy hot

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

*Johnny Appleseed approves this comment

It’s kinda like tomatoes being associated with italian cuisine

[-] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yep. Western bits of SA.

[-] bitwaba@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

And spicy chili peppers being associated with Chinese, Thai, or Indian food

And potatoes being associated with Ireland... or Russia...

[-] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Or native americans being stereotyped on horses

[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 5 points 3 weeks ago

Kochia scoparia is another one like that, and also makes tumbleweeds

[-] 0ops@lemm.ee 2 points 3 weeks ago

I was about to say, there isn't just one tumbleweed. There are a bunch of plants that evolved to grow in a roundish shape, dry out, and unroot. I don't even know them by name, but my area has at least 3 distinct plants that could be considered tumbleweeds

[-] WhyFlip@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Fuckin' Russians.

[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 weeks ago

And they cause a tingling feeling when you get pricked by them.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

That does make the Sons of the Pioneers song famously played at the beginning of The Big Lebowski a bit less romantic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-YLGUHIqhU

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this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2024
438 points (98.5% liked)

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