In the 19th century East Asian peoples and cultures looked so different from the West evolutionary scientists thought perhaps the Indo-European and Oriental peoples had separately evolved from a sub-human ancestor. This theory has been abandoned from genetics and recognition that even in prehistoric times migration, trade and warfare between the two regions was common and rapid.

In the not so distant past the difference was not so distinct - even Rome and China didn't look all that different. In prehistoric times there was even less difference. It was the West that changed - radically, Some say it was because of the unique attitudes of Christianity and others say not, but the point is moot. The Christianity we know is a largely European construct - six of one, a half dozen of the other.

Today the differences between East and West are again fading, and the process is not one-way. Asian ideas are finding acceptance in the West just as Western thought and technology are finding acceptance in the East. Fast transportation, migration and trade stand to erase both cultural and genetic differences.

On the leading edge of this transition there is food. The West is engaged in a wholesale adoption of foods and cooking techniques from the East, just as Western restaurant chains and food ways are invading the the East.