I certainly care. My area has a lot of foreign food, but almost everything has been adjusted for local tastes, to the point where everything kinda tastes the same. The local Thai, Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese/Pho restaurants all seem to tone down the seasonings and add salt and sugar, to the point where I honestly can’t taste much of a difference between their menu items.

So we have a curated list of places we like. When I go to get Thai, it’s pretty spicy, and the various curries have a very different flavor profile. Same thing at the local Indian places. At Chinese places, I get really richly flavored dumplings, soups, and noodles (and no orange chicken). At Vietnamese/pho places, the pho broth stands on its own instead of needing to be drowned in sriracha and hoisin sauce, and their sides are actually worth ordering.

But these are relatively “hole in the wall” places, but when we take friends, they really enjoy it and wonder why it’s so much better than anything else in the area. And when one goes out of business or sells out, I need to go search for a replacement, which can take many attempts (took years to find a decent Thai place…).

So I think a lot of people appreciate authentic foods, it’s just that the quiet majority don’t want to venture too far outside their comfort zone, so we get crap like everyone ordering “orange chicken” at Chinese places, “masaman curry” at Thai places, and “lassi + vindaloo” at Indian places, with everything toned way down and sugared up. Those dishes are fine once in a while, but those aren’t anywhere near my favorite dishes at those respective places.

I’m not from California and I honestly hate visiting there, but I do like to venture outside my comfort zone and try very different foods. I just wish more people shared my interest so I would have better options.