The World's Foremost Authority makes the BBC.
"Indian food is terrible and we pretend it isn't," said international affairs professor Tom Nichols.
Critics called his comment a tasteless generalisation.
The remark led to a wider discussion of the immigrant experience and how many in the US have experienced racism in relation to food.
Mr Nichols - who teaches at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island - posted his opinion after another Twitter user had asked for "controversial food opinions".
I love Indian food. It might be my support for Trump or something but I love a good curry as much as anyone and if you pile on the turmeric, I am so there. Granted, my experience with it consists mostly of stuff I can microwave in a minute and a half and there's not a whole lot of meat there but it's fascinating that Indian food has been mainstreamed in this country.
A tweet from a US academic calling Indian food "terrible" has sparked a hot debate about cultural intolerance and racism in international cuisine.
"Indian food is terrible and we pretend it isn't," said international affairs professor Tom Nichols.
Critics called his comment a tasteless generalisation.
The remark led to a wider discussion of the immigrant experience and how many in the US have experienced racism in relation to food.
Mr Nichols - who teaches at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island - posted his opinion after another Twitter user had asked for "controversial food opinions".
I love Indian food. It might be my support for Trump or something but I love a good curry as much as anyone and if you pile on the turmeric, I am so there. Granted, my experience with it consists mostly of stuff I can microwave in a minute and a half and there's not a whole lot of meat there but it's fascinating that Indian food has been mainstreamed in this country.
15 comments:
Sort of a stupid thing to say. Is it really his contention that Indian restaurants are kept in business by people pretending?
I notice this bozo is a prominent NeverTrumper to boot. That tells you something about that set.
"how many in the US have experienced racism in relation to food."
Which is hard to take seriously when people are freaking out like when someone found a banana peel on the quad of U. of Missouri during the Melissa Click fiasco.
Or they are calling utensil use colonialism (pro-tip: virtually every culture in the world tries to minimize finger contact with food and the mouth).
I pray we have better things to do, and worry about.
I don't happen to like Indian food in general, which was a problem when I lived in India. I like a good biryani, and I do miss palak paneer. Most of it was way too hot for us. Amusingly, I know expat Indians who complain that the food in India is too hot.
As to Americans being "racist" about food, nonsense. We take every cuisine that comes in and make it popular. I can actually remember when pizza was just beginning to be served outside the New York area.
Pro tip for Scott W.: Indian food, in India, is eaten with fingers in the food and in the mouth. When done, you wash your hands in running water or in a finger bowl (if you're in a nice restaurant).
"Cultural intolerance and racism in international cuisine." "Controversial food opinions." Yes, I have had people tell me (in response to my saying that I don't like Mexican food, and with a perfectly straight face) "You can't say that." (They get my standard answer: *I just did.*) We are now seeing the attempted criminalizing not just of policy differences but of opinion. About food. I wouldn't effing care if Americans refused to even try some foodie discovery from somewhere or anywhere. Matters of taste are matters of taste. A jocular discussion about sauer kraut is one thing, and good fun. Hauling out words like *intolerance* and *racism* is sick.
Sybil, he didn't say he didn't care for Indian food. What he said was that it was 'terrible' and that collectively people are pretending it isn't. That's a stupid and asinine thing to say.
Can I go on record as liking Indian food? I have to say, though, I've hardly ever met a food I didn't like.
We have two excellent Indian restaurants where I live, Vietnamese and Cambodian, Mexican too, as well as a Chinese restaurant on every corner. We even have a Chinese Sports Bar. It's all good.
Art-- Understand. But it still doesn't rise to the level of hauling out the intolerance and racism shtick. They could have just told him he was being a jerk and left it at that. But nooooooo...
I trust you see my point. That it is silly to suggest that the whole world lived in the edenic bliss of shoveling food in their mouths with their hands until the evil white man came along with his oppressive forks and flatware.
Are people actually arguing that, Scott W.?
I love Indian food, and have spend lots of time learning how to cook it. I've even gotten pretty good at certain dishes. But I always measure myself against the food at the Bombay Palace, which was always wonderful, no matter what I tried.
Actually, Katherine, I lived in India too for 3 years, and I have to say, the food THERE never tasted as good as the food in the best restaurants here in the West. I think the recipes that appeal to westerners are a very select set of the nicest Mughal cooking, which isn't representative of Indian food as a whole.
That may be so, Dr. Mabuse. I didn't know many Muslims there, only Hindus. Then there was "veg" and "non-veg." If you were non-veg you got chicken or mutton and not much else, not a balance of meat and veggies. And ethnic foods take on the flavor of the country in which they are being served. In India, Chinese food wasn't like Chinese here, or like Chinese in China, according to my husband who's been there.
Re: "...Chinese food wasn't like Chinese here, or like Chinese in China..." Correct. We have a Chinese population equal to 30-35% of the total population here in Quincy, mostly concentrated in North Quincy. The Chinese restaurants that cater to the more ethnic Chinese serve things most Caucasians wouldn't eat. LOL
I have worked with Indian women who told me that Americans like things too sweet. I imagine that's true.
"The Chinese restaurants that cater to the more ethnic Chinese serve things most Caucasians wouldn't eat. LOL"
We have a big Chinese grocery superstore here in Ottawa, and you're right about the things that most Caucasians wouldn't eat! I remember once seeing packages of sliced, cooked pork anus. Rather amusingly, it was labelled "pork bung". I was thinking maybe we could weaponize this against Muslim terrorists; the simultaneous combination of so many filthy elements might cause them to just spontaneously combust!
2 funny! And we shouldn't forget Long-Simmered Ox, er, Schmeckle. Not pork but the right sort of gesture...
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