Food

A co-worker circulated a quote about Angelina Jolie stating how frogs and crickets are quite delicious with beer, apparently a popular treat in Cambodia. Other people expressed horror and made fun of Angeline Jolie, etc., typical stuff. I was at a kids party and some parents were joking about hot dogs, and an Asian mom volunteered a comment.

Her: You know like how Asians eat dogs.
Me: Why would you say that? I don’t know any Asian who eat dog.
Her: It’s just a joke.
Me: It’s not funny.

What I really wanted to say is that “you’ve internalized some racist ideas and you need to stop.” Husband cautioned me that maybe she’s not as comfortable being Asian than I am, and that she was naming the hurtful comment before someone else did. I agree with that assessment.

It’s just none of this is funny to me. If someone has bugs, frogs, or dogs in their diet, then it means their country and people went through a period of desperate starvation. This is my chip-on-my-shoulder reaction that I cannot shake and cannot be easygoing about. I’m never going to use someone else’s suffering as material for a joke. Nor is racism cool with me, by the way. Not sure why people persist in teasing Asians for these weird foods. Not like we mock early European Americans for the Donner Party cuisine choices….maybe we should. Goofy Americans, cannibalism, etc.

2 Replies to “Food”

  1. Ugh. Americans should be the last people to pass judgment on what others eat because America’s industrial meat and dairy complex is horrifying.

  2. i know! my friends who live in the south have talked about being stuck in traffic behind chicken trucks where they are jammed in there and clearly suffering. it affects what i find delicious. the whole idea of food/eating and being political is not new, but i’m only now kind of thinking of it more. i did read omnivore’s dilemma years ago, but i’m thinking about personal behavior more now.

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