22 minutes ago, chromedome said:My best guess was that the cherries made it Oriental, 'cause Japanese cherries, right? But I guess the smilax was the pertinent detail.
A couple of the others are head-scratchers, too...the Mexican sandwich is baked beans and ketchup on crackers, and the Indian sandwich is candied ginger and candied orange peel with heavy cream.
I think we also have to take into consideration that many of our fore bearers were self aggrandizing morons with no conception of global cuisine.
That's not to say that I haven't enjoyed the book and all the contributions to this thread. Snarky or otherwise.