Ah cultural appropriation... which is total crap in a country like the US. I mean how can cultural appropriation be a thing in a country that has taco trucks, sushi bars, Volkswagen dealerships, and Irish pubs on every block? My favorite will always be the strip mall karate dojo
There's nothing wrong with picking what you like from cultures. I've done it a lot. I consider myself the proud German albeit being born in Austria and I also consider myself Australian. my wedding rings use Norse influence, I prefer American sports and I'm pretty sure my DNA can be traced back to South Africa somewhere. And I'm an alien too.
Being the child of immigrants I do have plenty of old world culture plus American culture. But my best friend and her family are of Italian descent and love to joke that I am honorary Italian. So I claim Italian culture as well. Being a chef you have to tip your hat, or toque in this case, to classically trained French chefs, Esscofier, the kitchen brigade, French cuisine and cooking techniques and France in general. I have another good friend of German descent and after his grandmother died I poured over her recipes to make him food he thought he'd never have again... Holy poo! My 2 closest friends are of Italian and German descent and I'm Japanese. We're literally the Axis. Whoa...