Chinese food: An expose'

[pisces]

You are kidding, right? The song is based on the old urban legend that Chinese restaurants do not serve quite what's printing on their menu and deceive their clients. That's what's offensive about it. This has nothing to do with cultural differences.

Arnaud, I appreciate that you are one of the few to break from the pack and see this song in a different light....

Yes, I agree that one of the things that is most offensive about the song is the implication that chinese restaurants are unscrupulous with their attempts to deceive.

The cultural difference is at the heart of the matter. It's quite easy to de-humanize any group that is different, particularly with the clear differences in appearance and culture. Once you de-humanize someone, then it's open season.... And in the US, it's not really politically incorrect to target Asians.

General FYI, China is an extremely large country made up of many different cultures and languages. I have traveled extensively throughout China & Asia, and no, I have never known anyone to eat cats (or dogs etc.). And no, it certainly isn't what I think of when I think of "home cooking".... What? Don't all americans eat chitlins & grits?

I was really impressed and excited when I joined and saw that this scuba board had contributors from all over the world, including Asia. But I am disappointed to see this thread. And no, adding the phrase "it's a joke" does not really make demeaning statements ok.... But unfortunately, I am not entirely surprised because I also recognize that's it's human nature to have no need to change your thinking if you are a part of the group on the top of the totem pole....

 

[H2Andy]

hey, i'm all for subverting the dominant paradigm. however, i find it more and more
that the dominant paradign includes suppression of ideas that don't comport with
political correctness.

so i'm trying to subvert that by being politically incorrect



i dont' care if you're yellow, black, or brown with purple stripes, it's what's inside
that counts. cooked, preferably, but, in a pinch... hey....

 

[Dive Source]

First off I found it VERY FUNNY.

Here are some links of interest:

Urban legend

Cat Eating - Yum Yum

Civet Cats regularly served in Hong Kong - may also be a link to SARS

 

[gj62]

Pisces - I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

The song that was on that site was recorded by a musician in the states called Wierd Al Yankovic. He has lampooned everything from chinese restaurants, blonde haired women, famous stars, overweight people, beer drinkers, etc. I fall into several categories that he has lampooned, and found humor and a grain of truth in each one.

There are *many* comedians that make their living in the same fashion. If you do not like this type of humor, that's fine. But understand it's not generally seen to be in poor taste, etc.

Lampoon -

A comedic attack ridiculing a person, group, or institution.
A light, good-humored satire.

If you don't care for lampoons, that's fine, but don't read more into it than is there...

 

[Snowbear]

My sister lived in China for ~6mo. She brought home many pictures of things tourists rarely see. One that comes to mind was among several she took at an open market. It was of a man skinning a cat while the buyer looked on. She also ate stew made with puppy meat.

The guy I mentioned earlier in this thread is a first generation American. He still has a lot of family in China. That's where the quote "If it's back is to the sun you can eat it" came from. When you have a hungry family to feed and resources are few, you do what you need to do. When having any meat at all is often considered a blessing, few will be picky about which animal it came from.

As for the song - if someone is offended by the humor, perhaps they should take it up with Wierd Al

 

[The Chairman]

My mother was born and raised in China and lived in a quaint little town we now call Bejing. She went through WWII in a detention camp sponsored by those friendly chaps from the Island. My grandfather was the Dutch ambassador to China and my grandmother was an Einglish noble lady (who like everyone else associated with those other islands, is probably related to Princess Di).

She has admitted to eating cats, rabbits, some weasel type animal, ants, crickets, snakes, lizards, various kinds of eggs (not just chicken), as well as the normal fare that europeans like to eat. She also became fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. All this during her first 19 years of life.

However, if you ask my mom what are the biggest travesties of American life, she may very well tell you that Chineese Restaurants in America are high on her list. Most of them are ANYTHING but authentic. They have been sanitized for the American palate. This is NOT a joke about anything Chineese in the truest sense of the word. It IS a joke about the commercial *******ization of a cuisine in order to make it acceptable for our colloquial tastes.

There was one restaurant in Sanford Florida (whodathunk?), that my mother considered to be actually authentic. It's the only one in all of the states that she has been to, that she considers such. You could order all kinds of strange and exotic recipes. There was one dish I remember that the english translation was "Dead Man's fingers" and they were obviously named that by the way they looked. When I started to ask what was in them, I got one of my mom's fiery looks and a slight shake of the head. Sometimes its just best to not ask. I would suggest that you go there, but it was far ahead of the times in the Orlando area. It has been closed a while, and my neighbors still think "Chop Suey" is authentic.

It's a shame to see plain good fun being villianized. It's incredibly easy to "stereotype" those who would find humor in this as some neo-(put your favorite hate group here) and never see the subtle irony in doing so. We seem to be getting to the point where the only way to not offend some is to never say anything. A xenophobe, I am not. BTW, my daughter was more incensed about the way it lampooned cats... go figure.

 

[The Chairman]

perhaps they should take it up with Wierd Al

My Idol!!! "Lets all polka!" He is almost as good as the Smothers Brothers. (The who? )

 

[Snowbear]

It IS a joke about the commercial *******ization of a cuisine in order to make it acceptable for our colloquial tastes.

That guy I mentioned (OK, OK - he's my ex) - well his parents would go into a Chinese restaurant anywhere. They would look around and if there were mostly Chinese folks speaking a Chinese language, they would eat there, if it was mostly whi...uh...Imean caucasian folks, they would leave.

Sometimes its just best to not ask.

I used to like the holiday meals at the in laws - My food policy is to try almost anything at least once. Sometimes I never got past the first nibble (i.e. thousand year old eggs. Chicken feet are not high on my list of "try again" either). But the rewards were great when I tried some "exotic" dish that turned out to be something truly yummy. There were times I should not have asked what something was made of

 

[Tiny Bubbles]

Pisces: Having a sense of humor is not a hate crime. Where are you coming from? Your profile is empty.
And yes, I do eat grits. Would you like to write a song about that?

Snowbear: Is it true that there is more than one way to skin a cat?

 

[pipedope]

Michael, the main character was raised on Mars and has a different take on things. When it was time to eat he would ask, "Who is this?" Not "what is this? but who?" He wanted to know who gave their life that he could eat and continue to live.

Heck, even my cats liked that song.