shared due to cultural contact 100%. at least in the instance of the first three. my boyfriend is russian and ukrainian. his mom made all of those (tho he said vareniki was usually sweet and made with sweet fillings and ricotta like cheeses) the asian forms are usually a bit diff, the wrappings are usually a good deal thinner and they are shaped in a more delicate form. anyway he says that all the diff kinds are all mixed together now, but he thinks it was just diff ways of preparing things regionally, but all stemming from the same method/mentality.
Ah, yes, the first three are undoubtedly cultural contact. It was the possibility of a shared connection to the fourth that I have been curious about, ever since trying these Jaozi which were boiled-then-fried, about pelmeni-sized, and stuffed with cabbage and pork.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khinkali The top, where the pleats meet, is tough and sometimes not eaten, but discarded to the plate so that those eating can count how many they have consumed.
I'd guess it's a mix of cultural contact and coincidence. On the one hand, a bunch of those dishes are really similar. On the other hand, there are dishes from all over the world that are made of a savory filling stuffed in a starchy outside: Cornish pasties, empanadas, samosas, turnovers, calzones, knishes, Jamaican patties, curry puffs, ravioli, and probably others I can't remember offhand or have never had.
I was thinking about this myself a few weeks ago. The interesting thing about this is that, if one takes regional variations of these items into account, the distinctions between them as discrete and unique dishes become somewhat blurred - they all sort of exist as points on the same Dumpling Continuum, if you will.
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P.S. I left out all the Eurasian dumplings which were closer to "Baozi" than to "Jaozi"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buuz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momo_%28food%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mant%C4%B1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baozi
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The top, where the pleats meet, is tough and sometimes not eaten, but discarded to the plate so that those eating can count how many they have consumed.
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