In light of finding out one of my favorite dishes, Tikki Masala, isn't from India, but from immigrants concocting it while in Britain's South Asian restaurants, I am going to point out my San Francisco's culinary contributions, an example of why immigrants are vital to culture:
The Italian-American fish stew Cioppino is from SF! So is Chicken Tetrazzini, invented by the @PalaceHotelSF's chef in 1909, Ernest Arbogast. Crab Louie, the "King of Salads" has been served in SF since 1914 at Solari's, but likely from 1910 recipe from a @WestinStFr hotel chef! 
During the Gold Rush, laundry soap was so difficult to come by, it was cheaper & easier to SHIP ALL YOUR LAUNDRY TO CHINA TO HAVE IT WASHED & RETURNED. mercurynews.com/2014/02/12/day… With that came Asian immigrants. We all know they built our west coast railroads, amongst other things.
Influx of Chinese became entrepreneurial, Chinatowns popped up all over the West Coast. They started restaurants, & found a boom in using veggies they didn't have in China. Chop Suey, "odds & ends" was invented in 1890s around the railroad's being built, & ended up on SF menus.
Crab Rangoon is a Burmese-style recipe crafted in the 50s at famous Polynesian themed Trader Vic's! Sweet & Sour pork was invented earlier than this, & Sweet & Sour not only didn't exist in China, it was exported back to their country & is preferred over traditional dishes!
To round out Asian ingenuity, Fortune Cookies were originally based off Japanese sweet cookies that were larger, & darker. The modern style fortune cookies were 1st served in @SFBGS Japanese Tea Garden by Makoto Hagiwara, the garden's designer, & baked by a SF bakery Benkyodo.
But back to the Polynesian theme... SF Bay was famous for the tiki kitsch, and part of that was the invention of cocktails. The Mai Tai was invented by Victor J. Bergeron, the creator of Trader Vic's, son of a French-Canadian waiter and grocery store operator.
Pisco Punch was invented by a Scots barkeep, Duncan Nicol, at a bar called "Bank Exchange & Billiard Saloon", which existed where the Transamerica Pyramid currently stands. It was invented circa 1893 when he became the final owner of the bar, prior to Volstead Act's prohibition.
H. L. Mencken called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet" & E. B. White called it "the elixir of quietude". THE MARTINI WAS INVENTED HERE! Evolving from a cocktail called "the Martinez", served in the 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco.
More backstory: people visited the hotel before ferrying to nearby Martinez, CA. Martinez folk say a bartender in their town created it, or maybe named after the town. "Martinez Cocktail" 1st in Jerry Thomas' 1887 Bartender's Guide, How to Mix All Kinds of Plain & Fancy Drinks.
F&B background cobbled w/skepticism arches an eyebrow, as OJ & sparkles have been friends for a long time (UK's Buck Fizz). But FACTUALLY, Hitchcock introduced SF & the world (@ famous Jeanty at Jack's) to the Mimosa. He's given credit in Oxford Companion to American Food & Drink
To continue the sweetness.... an 11 year old in Oakland accidentally left some lemonade and a stick in a glass on a particularly cold night, and he was granted a patent years later in 1923, at the age of 29, for the "Epsicle ice pop".
William Dreyer and Joseph Edy were in the East Bay, making candy and ice cream. Those minds came together to make my favorite ice cream.... Rocky Road! Apparently Dreyer used his wife's sewing shears to cut up the nuts and marshmallows! =) These were both 2nd generation gents.
In 1910, Victor Hertzler, another @WestinStFr chef, created Celery Victor, a braised celery salad, sometimes with peppers, sometimes over lettuce, but simple yet flavorful:
To "top that", Green Goddess Dressing, in fridges everywhere, started in San Francisco. Again w/@PalaceHotelSF, the 1923 executive chef Philip Roemer wanted something to pay tribute to actor George Arliss & his hit local play, The Green Goddess. He crafted a tasty hit, himself!
Regionally, we also created the "Hangtown Fry", an omelette w/anything & everything but the kitchen sink. There's a few creation stories that center around Placerville: A prospector struck gold, wanted the spendiest meal, or a prisoner's last meal, ordered to delay his execution.
LA has the battle of where the 1st French Dip was created, & San Diego & LA had early style burritos. But SF made them world famous w/Mission-style Super Burritos in the 1960s. Febronio Ontiveros claims to have offered the first retail burrito in San Francisco in 1961 at El Faro.
A son of master bakers from Burgundy fed the bellies of Gold Rush hopeful, w/our world famous Sourdough Bread. Isidore Boudin opened up a French Bakery in SF in 1849, where the population swelled to 20K. Boudin's widow, Louise, even rescued the mother dough from the 1906 fires.
Irish Coffee! Stanton Delaplane, travel writer for @sfchronicle brought it to U.S. after drinking it in Limerick, where a chef Sheridan added Whiskey to coffee prior to flights. Delaplane worked w/@theBuenaVista to add it in '52,& Sheridan later emigrated to work at Buena Vista!
So, this was a fun, silly thread I had meant to do for a bit. It was a supremely delightful diversion from a day full of calls/meetings. Hope you enjoyed it, & now? The invention of the @boudinbakery sourdough bread tweet broke me. I'm hungry... early lunch! What should we have?
