# Is "Outsourced" racist or just stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294 "2010-10-15T21:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/81 "2010-10-18T22:28:30Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > **Indistinguishable** , it’s amusing because spice and cream are the basis of arguably all Indian food in the US. It’s as though I went to a Thai restaurant and asked for nothing with fish sauce, tofu, or coconut milk. What would they give me exactly? Sure, but he probably came there because the group wanted to go there, dragging him along. He was trying to make the best of what must’ve been not an ideal situation for him. No need to snicker at him over landing in a situation he didn’t quite freely choose to enter. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/82 "2010-10-18T23:15:31Z")
What? People have no free will as to what food they choose to eat? This isn’t a child under 18 at home with their parents or someone at the food bank. This is a full fledged adult, with the capabilities to research what sort of food Indian food is and the discretionary income to spend it on. Anyone with real dietary restrictions or a narrow range of likes (like him) could have done 30 seconds of googling in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/83 "2010-10-18T23:29:25Z")
Your original snickering question was “Why would you go to an Indian restaurant if you don’t like spicy food and you don’t like creamy food?”. What would you have him do? Like spicy food? Like creamy food? All he did was ask for something non-spicy and non-creamy. He asked for the sort of thing he would like. What’s wrong with that? As for why he went to an Indian restaurant with those kinds of taste preferences, it’s clearly because the group wanted to go there, not necessarily because he was itching to go there. He has free will as to what food to eat. He wants to eat something non-spicy and non-creamy. And that’s the thing you’re snickering at him over, asking “Why the hell did you come here?” when the answer is obvious and nothing he deserves scorn for. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/84 "2010-10-19T00:52:59Z")
Also, it’s quite easy to find mild Creamy Indian dishes- assuming you have a friend or helpful person to explain things for you- Mild Butter Chicken or extremely mild Korma always can help out those who want to “try” Indian food w/o spice. Sure it’s like going to a Bar and ordering Milk, but there’s no reason to assume it’s impossible to do. As a Kid I loved Mild Cream-based Indian dishes more than the Spicier ones. Still do. It’s quite possible to have your cake and eat it too at an Indian Resturant. Unless you actually want Cake. Then I’d say try the Gulab Jambu. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/85 "2010-10-19T01:49:55Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > He has free will as to what food to eat. He wants to eat something non-spicy and non-creamy. And that’s the thing you’re snickering at him over, asking “Why the hell did you come here?” when the answer is obvious and nothing he deserves scorn for. What’s the point in going if you don’t like the food? If you walked into a pizza shop and asked for something without any carbs, you’d better be happy with a salad and pepperoni. > [@ToeJam](#): > > Also, it’s quite easy to find mild Creamy Indian dishes- True, but the dude didn’t want cream. > [@ToeJam](#): > > Then I’d say try the Gulab Jambu. For shaaaaaaaame. It’s gulab jamun :p. Now I’m hungry for some. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/86 "2010-10-20T02:29:02Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > \ > The actors are all Indian-Americans putting on fake accents in a California studio, so that considerably cuts authenticity.\ Why? Why would they do this? It is not like there is a shortage of actual Indians with accents in the US working. Surely they can’t all be working in IT. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/87 "2010-10-20T04:26:32Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The actors are all Indian-Americans putting on fake accents in a California studio, so that considerably cuts authenticity. > [@lee](#): > > Why? Why would they do this? It is not like there is a shortage of actual Indians with accents in the US working. Surely they can’t all be working in IT. There are plenty of policemen in the U.S., but they don’t hire them to be on the cop shows. They hire actors. Point being, the number of actual Indians working in the U.S. is irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/88 "2010-10-20T04:53:18Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > There are plenty of policemen in the U.S., but they don’t hire them to be on the cop shows. They hire actors. Point being, the number of actual Indians working in the U.S. is irrelevant. The actors in polices shows don’t actually need most of the skills a police officer does, and they can take training to learn the skills well enough to be convincing. It was mentioned that the accents being affected in the show are glaringly inauthentic to the point of being distracting. Having an accent is a genuine job skill for an actor, and as such may even be mentioned on a cv. If there were a dearth of individuals with real Indian accents available to work, then perhaps the situation might make sense, you can’t employ people who don’t exist. But I can’t believe that is the situation. It seems a bit like hiring Les Nessman to play someone from Chihuahua. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/89 "2010-10-20T04:58:06Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Indians (as in, from the Sub-Continent) have been in UK TV comedy programming for ages, FWIW… _Goodness, Gracious Me_ and _The Kumars At No. 42_ being two of the better known examples, but I’m very fond of _Mumbai Calling_, which is about a (white) Englishwoman who gets banished to the company’s call centre in (as the name suggests) [del]Mumbai[/del] Bombay for some never-adequately-explained reason. The people she works with (including an Indian from England) are, of course, very quirky. As far as I know there’s only been one series, but it’s definitely worth seeing. I can’t even think about Goodness Gracious Me without laughing. Chunky LaFunga and Skippy the Punjabi Kangaroo! Santa…was an Indian! The delivery on that is 100% my father. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/90 "2010-10-20T05:00:15Z")
Fake accents are fairly common and traditional in Hollywood. Dick Van Dyke, Audrey Hepburn, James Doohan … Actress all, the producers are American … They can’t tell the difference and chance are that Bubba Joe can’t either. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/91 "2010-10-29T20:49:31Z")
Okay, this show is growing on me. I quite enjoyed the Halloween episode. Manmeet’s “chick magnet” costume, the cute way the Aussie flight attendant was “attracted” to it, and his need to use the telephone to flirt with her all evening. Gupta dressed as a pimp Rajiv passively-aggressively dressing as Toad Asha beating the crap out of Charlie with a mop And heck, the kiss behind the sari curtain at Subhashish Balasubramaniam Emporium was kind of really steamy This show is set in some airy-fairy neverland, but it’s starting to get cozy. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/92 "2010-10-29T21:19:17Z")
I’m still a little uncomfortable with the relationship between Todd and Asha. I can’t really see what Todd sees in Asha other than she’s exotic and unavailable. And Asha appears to be waivering on the fence between actual attraction and going along with it because he’s her superior. So every time he corners her, I’m left thinking “will you just go away? You’re her boss and she’s told you multiple times she’s not interested.” ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/93 "2010-10-29T22:08:32Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I can’t really see what Todd sees in Asha other than she’s exotic and unavailable. Wait, what? She’s _hot_ and she seems very intelligent and kind of mysterious (Not because she’s exotic, Madari does not possess a mysterious quality), confident quality about her. I’m 98% straight and I have a bit of a crush on her. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he’s hung up on her. In an unrelated note, I don’t know what the green stuff at the Indian buffet is called either. What is it? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/94 "2010-10-29T22:23:47Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I’m still a little uncomfortable with the relationship between Todd and Asha. I can’t really see what Todd sees in Asha other than she’s exotic and unavailable. This is a holdover from the movie storyline where Asha was _very_ attracted to Todd and the flirting went both ways. As this is an ongoing series, I can see why they’re saving that for later. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/95 "2010-10-30T15:51:59Z")
Gupta is quickly becoming my favorite character. Anytime he’s on screen, even in the moment before he says something a giggle is emerging from within. Manmeet’s costume was great too. The whole episode was the best yet. I’m not wild about the love story element, though. Like ascenray said, it’s becoming cozy. The “green stuff” is probably saag or palak + something. Both words mean spinach. Like saag paneer (spinach and cheese), saag aloo (spinach and potatoes) and so on. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/96 "2010-10-30T19:16:45Z")
Getting back to the food rant…I’m 53 and live in a very culturally diverse city. There are two Indian restaurants within blocks of me. I’ve never eaten Indian food before last year, and here’s why: I was raised to eat everything on my plate, and I’m fairly poor. Therefore, I’m fairly averse to ordering anything at a restaurant that I don’t have some familiarity with, in case I hate it. I don’t like wasting food, and I’m too poor to waste money. So I read through the descriptions on the menu, and if the ingredients aren’t familiar or don’t sound appetizing, I don’t order it. I’m not fond of very spicy food, so if I’m not sure of the heat level, I don’t order it. I try new things, but I’m cautious. I’d much rather be introduced to a new food at a buffet or potluck where I can try a small sample. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/97 "2010-10-30T19:19:05Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > So far as i can tell, the cultural clash on the American’s part is how he can’t reconcile living with one’s parents well into adulthood or entering into an arranged marriage, yet his own life is such a shambles that he’s not exactly a prime example of American success. How is his life a shambles, except for coming in to work one day and finding out your co-workers have been fired and you have to move to another country to keep yours? He still has a job. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294/98 "2010-10-30T20:38:42Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Getting back to the food rant…I’m 53 and live in a very culturally diverse city. But your location says Cleveland? 😉 > [@kittenblue](#): > > Getting back to the food rant…I’m 53 and live in a very culturally diverse city. There are two Indian restaurants within blocks of me. I’ve never eaten Indian food before last year, and here’s why: I was raised to eat everything on my plate, and I’m fairly poor.\ I’d much rather be introduced to a new food at a buffet or potluck where I can try a small sample. Lots of Indian restaurants have buffets for lunch, dinner some nights, or on weekends. Call and ask; I’ll bet one of them has one, and for under $10. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-outsourced-racist-or-just-stupid/557294.md?page=4)