"Spanish food" means Dominican
"European food" means Russian
"Korean/Japanese food" means Korean
"Brazilian/Portuguese food" means Portuguese
"French/Moroccan food" means Moroccan
"Himalayan food" means Nepali
"Indian/Chinese food" is cooked by Nepalis but is its own thing
"Chinese-American food" is usually cooked by Fuzhous but is its own thing
"Szechuan/Cantonese/Hunan food" means Chinese-American
"Chinese-Mexican food" is contrived by Taiwanese
"Tibetan food" is increasingly made and marketed by Chinese (who truly consider Tibet a part of China).*
"Uyghur food" (aka Xinjiang food): ibid
"Creole food" (outside Louisiana) means Haitian
"Mediterranean food" means Middle Eastern (often Lebanese)
"Jordanian food" means Palestinian (ask for kunefeh, pronounced koo-NEF-uh)
"Afghan [plus anything else] food" means anything but Afghan
"Indo/Pak/Bangladeshi food" means Bangladeshi (i.e. Bengali)
"Gourmet food" means marketing
Rule of thumb: restaurants advertising hyphenated cuisines are usually run by immigrants from the lesser-known, poorer, and/or less culinarily renowned country...unless the hybrid includes "Chinese", in which case the cuisine is usually a true hybrid (unless "Mexican" is involved).
* - look for a photo of the Dalai Lama to confirm bona fide Tibetan ownership.
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