There are dog restaurants in China, mostly in the south. There’s even a dog eating festival. A typical preparation is a stew served in a covered pot.
lje62 said;
“…but seriously, is there any worse food than the foods from GB?”
Reminds me of this joke:
What are three things never produced in England?
- A fine wine
- A gourmet chef
- A car with working electronics
Yeah, I guess dog-eating isn’t a complete myth with regards to Chinese and Koreans, but it’s not common, and there is no eating of cats (absent famine).
I don’t know why you comment on dog and cat meat in China. Eating both is very common, especially dog. It is relatively expensive compared to other meats. A dog or cat is not intrinsically more worthy of protection than a cow or a pig. Personally I don’t eat any meat though.
I have never heard of corned beef etc (actually, any specific food) being an Irish thing until I moved to the USA. I spent plenty of time in Ireland and the parts of S London that had more Irish than English. I had never seen or heard of green beer. It is more pitiful than insulting though LOL. The real reason for St Patricks day was to get completely wasted. When I see Micheal’s selling binge drinking crafts for St Patricks day I will concede there is cultural awareness.
I comment on it because the practice has been used as a weapon against Asian-American people, like eating fried chicken and watermelon has been used against African-American people. The thread is about the difficulties that arise when food culture is used to insult and dehumanize members of a group.
Modern British food is not bland or boring. Have you actually been to the UK in the last 10 years and eaten at anywhere better than a cheap cafe?
I mean, I don’t get why you comment on dog and cat to say they don’t eat it.
I should have said in my earlier posts that I was thinking of slurs against Asian-Americans, not Asians in general. I don’t think racist people in the U.S. care much about what goes on in China or Korea. They’re interested in insulting the people in this country, and eating dog and cat is very rare among Asian-Americans living here because it’s a taboo in the larger culture. There have been accusations that Chinese restaurants in the U.S. were serving dog and cat, which was almost certainly a myth, and was only repeated in order to convey that the people were barbarians and liars.
Would anyone have been offended if the dining halls did a themed meal for the chinese new year? Seems the delicate line between custom and stereotype can be sometimes hard to maintain.
I don’t understand the weaponizing of Southern menu staples, as Hanna referred to it. Just because a (relatively) few ignorant or rude white people mentioned fried chicken, collards and watermelon when making ugly remarks about black people, are we supposed to avoid referring to these foods when discussing black history or culture? Why not make a point to explain and defend the appropriateness of including such foods instead?
Quite a few black people, more often women in my experience, who were good home cooks went on to establish successful meat & three restaurants featuring fried chicken, collards, beans with fatback, macaroni & cheese - as a veggie, biscuits and banana pudding or pecan pie. They boosted their families out of poverty into comfortable middle class lives. In some cases, the grandchildren or grandnieces/nephews of the founders of those eateries now run, or help run, them and take pride in their traditional menus.
As a Catholic, I didn’t give up fish because some ignoramus called us “mackerel snappers.” My Irish husband doesn’t avoid beer, or whiskey, because of anti-Irish slurs. (We don’t, however, eat corned beef and cabbage on March 17. Instead we have salmon, a more authentically traditional food.)
@sorghum I was in Scotland two years ago. Ate at a variety of restaurants and still believe the food is pretty bad , although slight improvement over what I had eaten in London and other cities I had visited previously.
yeah, I find it hard to understand being “insulted” by the use of stereotypical food from one’s culture to celebrate a holiday such as Black history month, as long as those foods are culturally appropriate. I think we have mostly agreed that fried chicken and collards are pretty culturally appropriate to Black American culture.
I am an American living in London and every 4th of July, most of the pubs near us serve hamburgers and hotdogs. Am I insulted? Nope. Are there better (more tasty, more nutritious, more “classy”) examples of American food? Sure, but hamburgers and hotdogs are the stereotype and everyone knows what they are. Of course, after living in Chicago for 10 years, I just wish the Brits would offer a real “Chicago” dog. Sigh.
First generation British immigrant here. The desserts and bakery goods in Scotland can be amazing. Fish and chips, wonderful. I have eaten in a few good restaurants, and really loved the food. There are a few things from the Scottish influenced food of my childhood that I hold dear, not things most Americans would care about. Roast tongue and tripe soup for example. On trips to the UK, which were admittedly a distance in the past, I have had a very hard time finding anything I like or care to eat, and go to Indian places when possible.
This whole story began because Black students were “offended” and took to social media. Quite frankly, social media causes a lot of folks to be “outraged” these days. There was nothing wrong with the menu. As I said, I would be pissed that they only served greens during February. The only mistake with the menu is that we dont do mashed potatoes with greens and chicken, you gotta have some mac n cheese, not that crappy boxed stuff either!
Re: British food. The food in London is generally excellent these days. Huge focus on fresh, locally sourced ingredients, etc. I think people who haven’t visited within the last 10-15 years would be surprised. Just check out the success of Gordon Ramsey, Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver.
Now, out in the hinterlands (ie, the rest of England and Britain) you have to search to find good restaurants. Traditional English food is generally pretty stodgy - cottage/shepherd’s pie, Sunday roasts, fish and chips, meat pies, etc. Tasty, but not exactly gourmet. I’m not a fan of English/British desserts/puddings but many folks consider them delicious (I think they’re too rich).
Megpmom, I really admire Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver. And I watched the British cooking show 'Two Fat Ladies" often, which gave me an obsession to try Shepherd’s Pie. Gordon Ramsey seems to be a fusion type of guy who has broad knowledge of many cuisines. One of his best episodes of ‘restaurant rescue’ (or whatever it’s called) was his visit to a Soul Food cafe. It was pretty clear by his criticism of the owner that he knew what he was talking about: “why are you cooking with a wok in a soul food restaurant!” LOL.
@notelling, just based on the picture with the first one I know that I have never had a decent taco! 
Mine did, back in the day, and I remember writing a paper about it. I wrote the Peking duck looked like a cat that had been shaved down and cooked to order. Still remember that line (and that duck) all these years later.
I love lots of traditional British foods: sausages–how I adore them–Cornish Pasties, Shepherd’s Pie, scones, Banbury tarts, pork pies, smoked salmon, fruitcake and Christmas pudding, fish and chips… I suppose you could cal it stodgy, but I love it. The British in general have always had wonderful raw ingredients. I remember going to the shops with my mother and buying Scottish beef, lamb, pork, fresh fish, free-range poultry, wonderful vegetables, butter and cream. It seems that the boil-it-to-death style of cookery has been replaced, thankfully.