Posted on 12/21/2015 12:50:19 PM PST by Gamecock
Sure, General Tso's chicken is a product of American-Chinese restaurants, but it deserves authentic treatment, according to student at Ohio's Oberlin College. Students at the liberal arts college are dyspeptic over the school's "culturally appropriative" cafeteria menus. In statements to the Oberlin Review, international students bemoan the "gross manipulation" of such "traditional recipes" as General Tso's chicken, sushi, and banh mi.
In one incident, Vietnamese student Diep Nguyen recalls being "disappointed" after encountering a "cheap imitation" banh mi recipe that featured ciabatta bread, pulled pork, and coleslaw in place of a baguette and pickled vegetables. Disappointing indeed. "How could they just throw out something completely different and label it as another country's traditional food?" he asks.
In another gastronomic error, one student found the General Tso's chicken was made with steamed chicken rather than fried and covered in a sauce that was "so weird that I didn't even try." The sushi, too, fell flat with a student who said "the undercooked rice and lack of fresh fish is disrespectful." College junior Tomoyo Joshi tells the paper, "When you're cooking a country's dish for other people, including ones who have never tried the original dish before, you're also representing the meaning of the dish as well as its culture." Adding, "So if people not from that heritage take food, modify it and serve it as 'authentic,' it is appropriative."
Not all students on the campus are convinced that the poorly executed food qualifies as cultural appropriation. Malaysian international student Arala Tian Yoon Teh says the food is more about a "cultural collision." The service operator Bon Appetit also responded to the accusations stating that the company didn't intend to be disrespectful. "Maybe what we should do is describe the dish for what it is as opposed to characterizing it with a specific name," director of business operation and dining services Michile Gross says, adding that she plans to host a meeting with students to discuss their grievances.
The quest for authenticity - whether it exists or not - isn't new. In 2014, a Thai diplomat who was fed up with poor imitation Thai dishes pushed forward a plan to build a robot that would evaluate the validity of Thai food at the chemical level. However, in the case of some menus, it doesn't take a computer to determine whether the food is racist. Last February, Wright State University had some explaining to do after its cafeteria served fried chicken, collard greens, and cornbread on a Black History Month menu.
Asians in America are “cultural appropriation”. Seems they are taking advantage of America.
Oh STFU, you whiner. I once had pizza in Germany with chicken and fried egg, and in Hong Kong with pineapple, corn and squid. I was deeply offended, and I'm not even Italian, but I didn't bitch and whine to anyone about it.
What a frigging whiner! Where does he think he is? The Four Seasons? Geez...it’s cafeteria food. If you don’t like the way it looks, don’t eat it. What difference does it make what it is called? Somebody needs a dope slap. Either that or he needs to change his pad.
Oh, the huge manatee. I recommend Existential Cage therapy.
Get them some Ramen noodles and tell them to shut up.
Baissez. My. Cul.
So...in the history of black culture, no black person ever ate fried chicken, collard greens and cornbread?
This whole story reminds me that the Belgian government jealously and legally protects the word “Belgian” as regards to beer (of course, Belgium is very much a beer mecca, or do I need to say that Belgium is a “mecca-style country with respect to beer”). If an American brew calls itself Belgian, they get slapped with a lawsuit. They can only call it “Belgian style”, but not Belgian.
Of course, in the current case, with students protesting the name, it is just farce. I want to see General Tso’s descendants file the suit; then, I will pay some attention.
Put up the menu:
American crap food #1
American crap food #2
American crap food #3
American crap food #4
Then when a student gripes that the Tamboori has beef in it, say: That’s not Tamboori, that’s American crap food #1.
If you don’t like it, choose something else.
This is the type of claims I would make if I were in college. Just how stupid could I go before someone would call me on it. Maybe the have read up on Jackson Pollock.
I say it’s delicious.
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LOL.
Not if it’s college cafeteria food, it isn’t.
So....if you’re Vietnamese and cook Vietnamese food badly, that’s OK, but if you’re some other nationality, if makes you waycisss? [eyeroll]
If I understand the situation correctly, I actually think these kids are being clever. They hate the bad cafeteria food but they know that complaints about quality of the food will land on deaf ears. So, instead of saying the food is bad quality, they are saying that the food is inauthentic and have now invented the concept of cultural appropriation. Its all nonsense, but it is a way of using the college PC culture to their advantage.
#TooMuchTimeNothingElseToDo
If they want authentic Asian chicken they should eat the head and feet.
The funny thing is the Black students at Oberlin are demanding fried chicken to be a regular menu item. Can’t these SJWs types get their stories straight.
If “cultural appropriation” is such a bad thing, why can African Americans wear anything other than loin cloths and why aren’t all Mexicans forced to wear sombreros and donkey blankets? Aren’t they culturally appropriating “white” clothes?
If “cultural appropriation” is such a bad thing, why can African Americans wear anything other than loin cloths and why aren’t all Mexicans forced to wear sombreros and donkey blankets? Aren’t they culturally appropriating “white” clothes?
I would imagine that there are a few dozen ways to prepare practically any dish. Which would be the culturally non-appropriative way?
“Not if it’s college cafeteria food, it isn’t.”
My college has pretty good food, but you’re probably correct in this case. It *is* in Ohio, after all. I do love really good Chinese food, though.
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