I think that’s the joke. Karaage also predates the US by a couple hundred years.

Middle Eastern cultures were deep frying dough as early as the 2000s BCE.

But the US developed and spread modern industrialized deep frying techniques which I think is what OP was getting at.

Nothing tops the Scottish pizza crunch in deep fried ridiculousness though.

Yep, as RoabeArt identified, that’s the joke.It’s also a riff ofln the

Thing, somewhere ☹️

Thing, Japan 😍

Meme. i.e. the halo effect surrounding Japanese items makes an ‘unhealthy’ food suddenly healthy