# Sick of racist ethnic restaurants **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805 "2013-04-16T01:30:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Grey\_area](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grey\_area](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_area)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/81 "2013-04-16T23:29:30Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > As for the slap fight about dictionaries, I wish you two would go settle it in the pit or somewhere. But that’s just me. Maybe the others find you entertaining. > Roddy **Roderick Femm** ’s casual dismissal of an ongoing discussion has earned him: \*\*\* The Medal of I’m So Above this Shit\*\*\* \*\*\* The Certificate of Cool \*\*\* No one’s betting their life on this dude. Get over yourself. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/82 "2013-04-16T23:47:49Z")
Nah. It’s not just him. Take your little hissy fit somewhere other than this thread, where it is bordering on threadshitting. Plus, it’s boring as all fuck. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/83 "2013-04-17T00:09:52Z")
I didn’t realise Moi Moi was a dish, I’ve always known him as a Rugby League player:confused: > **[Fuifui Moimoi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuifui_Moimoi)** > > Fuifui Moimoi (born 26 September 1980) is a rugby league footballer who plays as a prop. > He most notably played for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League (NRL) from 2004 to 2014, in addition to playing for Leigh Centurions in the RFL Championship from 2015 to 2016 and for Toronto Wolfpack in League 1 in 2017, Workington Town and Rochdale Hornets. A New Zealand and Tonga international representative forward, Moimoi made over 200 NRL appearances for Parramatta where he attained cult s... ---
**Author:** ![Grey\_area](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grey\_area](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_area)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/84 "2013-04-17T00:24:54Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Nah. It’s not just him. Take your little hissy fit somewhere other than this thread, where it is bordering on threadshitting. > > Plus, it’s boring as all fuck. So it’s him and you. But hey, you’re the boss (apparently) and maybe you’re right in that others feel similarly so I’ll be taking my ‘hissy fits’ where they’ll be more appreciated. Racism _is_ a boring topic and admittedly not the focal point of this thread. It has no place in a thread about the joys and hardships of being so experienced in ethnic cuisine that the staff is skeptical of your menu choice. I’ll let you return to your exciting discussion and you can continue to pat yourself on the back about how spicy you can eat your food or whatever. Just don’t call it racism. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/85 "2013-04-17T00:39:29Z")
Not just racist, but sexist, too. Oh the outrage! My brother and I checked out little hole in the wall African restaurant for dinner when he was in town visiting. The server cautioned us a couple of times about how hot the food was, until I finally muttered, we’re not as white as we look. But judging by his location across from a bar frequented by young twenty somethings in a whitebread kind of city, he’d been burned by patrons who ordered food and then found it too spicy to enjoy. Pretty sure post-bar drunken twenty year olds are less than subtle about not liking something they’ve been served. Then, when our food was served, he tried to give the chicken dish to me and the beef dish to my bro. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/86 "2013-04-17T04:13:21Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > Everyone makes assumptions about that people they encounter. Just for the record, what kind of assumptions do you make about people’s eating habits based on their ethnicity? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/87 "2013-04-17T06:47:32Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > I cringe when my stepson does this. I told him that one day, I am going to disown him… well it might be because to some people it tastes like black tea that’s been strained through a goat’s kidney and then watered down. Not sure why it requires an elaborate ceremony to serve it but there you go. Different tastes for different people. I would use wasabi to kill ants and put pickled ginger on my corn flakes. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/88 "2013-04-17T13:56:31Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > I recently had a Mexican cab driver take me on a late afternoon search for a half kilo of lard. Every store was sold out. He looked amused. > > When he finally snickered I asked him what was so funny. He said he didn’t know gringas ate lard. > > It was totally not racist. We had a good laugh. That’s my thinking too- acknowledging that someone is of a particular ethnic group or race isn’t in and of itself racist. That’s reality. Racism comes in with negative behaviors based on someone else’s race- we’re all familiar with the classic examples. Too many people these days subscribe to the idea that race should be invisible, as if we’re all literally alike. I personally think this discounts and marginalizes the uniqueness and diversity of other races and cultures. Better to me to acknowledge it, but not be hateful about it. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/89 "2013-04-17T14:49:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > acknowledging that someone is of a particular ethnic group or race isn’t in and of itself racist. That’s reality. Extrapolating from what you think their ethnic group is, to then presume what they want to eat in a restaurant, is racist. And if the customer then tells you what they want to eat, but you ignore their wishes because of their race, as was the situation related in the OP, then you are a fucking racist. Maybe it’s difficult Americans who have never lived outside of America to understand. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/90 "2013-04-17T14:58:56Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Turned out to be chicken feet. Tasty, true, but a damn annoyance to eat. I got tired of trying, so I paid and left. > > Why did she try to talk me out of it? My guess then was that she thought us foreign devils wouldn’t like the taste. My guess now is that it isn’t something that people normally eat by itself - probably one dish like I had would serve a few people over rice, or something. In my experience, the western people I know object to chicken feet because they think they’re dirty or they look gross, not because of the taste or because of the size of the dish. Another story: I was at a Chinese New Year banquet for employees of my wife’s company. One of the dishes was chunks of chicken (rooster, actually), chopped up, battered and fried. A white Canadian woman at the table selected one of the pieces and I asked her “Are you sure you want to eat the head?” Once she took a closer look and realised that there was a beak and a comb underneath the batter, she decided to take a different piece. Was I being racist? Probably; I doubt I would have pointed it out to a Chinese woman. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/91 "2013-04-17T15:16:40Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Was I being racist? Probably; I doubt I would have pointed it out to a Chinese woman. Point it out, sure, I’m fine with that. But if she insists that she loves head, and you insist that she shouldn’t have any because of her skin color, then… what other argument is there between stupidity and racism? ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/92 "2013-04-17T15:35:29Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Point it out, sure, I’m fine with that. > > But if she insists that she loves head, and you insist that she shouldn’t have any because of her skin color, then… what other argument is there between stupidity and racism? Well…if she’s offering (or at least reciprocating), it’s both both stupid and racist. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/93 "2013-04-17T15:41:04Z")
So the conclusion is that every restaurant on the planet is racist. Got it. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/94 "2013-04-17T15:55:05Z")
The only difference, really, is that some restaurant servers might be more assertive about it. You might just be reacting to cultural differences in communication styles. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/95 "2013-04-18T00:18:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > So the conclusion is that every restaurant on the planet is racist. > > Got it. Whose conclusion? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/96 "2013-04-18T01:06:32Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Just try getting [sugared green tea in Kyoto](http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing.html). So I don’t have to watch a 24 minute video (what are you, a 9/11 Truther? :D) could you sum it up? And what’s wrong with sugar in green tea? It’s the only way it has any flavor. :mad: (Why yes, I’ve been called a Philistine many times.) > [@An\_Gadai](#): > > The OP has me wondering if there are any Nigerian restaurants in Dublin. I’d like to give moi moi a shot, sounds right up my street. > > ETA: And there is. Gonna give it a shot next time I’m in the city centre. Dublin is so small I thought the whole town was just up your street. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/97 "2013-04-18T01:23:38Z")
I concur that the suya and moi moi sound delicious - must find local source! ---
**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:** [April 18, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/98 "2013-04-18T01:52:18Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > So I don’t have to watch a 24 minute video (what are you, a 9/11 Truther? :D) could you sum it up? The green tea story is just the first couple of minutes. The rest of the video is a Ted Talk about how different cultures treat the issue of personal choice. The story is basically that the speaker was in a restaurant in Kyoto and asked for green tea with sugar and the waiter and the manager basically refused to give it to her. > [@](#): > > And what’s wrong with sugar in green tea? It’s the only way it has any flavor. :mad: To sum up, in Japanese society, part of the duty of the waiter is to help you stop being a philistine, by force if need be. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/99 "2013-04-18T04:28:31Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > To sum up, in Japanese society, part of the duty of the waiter is to help you stop being a philistine, by force if need be. It’s now on my bucket list to go to japan, order tea, and then put in own sugar and maybe a Lapsong souchong tea bag for some actual flavor. They won’t see it until they take up the dishes. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805/100 "2013-04-18T09:47:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The green tea story is just the first couple of minutes. The rest of the video is a Ted Talk about how different cultures treat the issue of personal choice. > > The story is basically that the speaker was in a restaurant in Kyoto and asked for green tea with sugar and the waiter and the manager basically refused to give it to her. > > To sum up, in Japanese society, part of the duty of the waiter is to help you stop being a philistine, by force if need be. \ I have a very tiny squeeze bottle of liquid splenda, it is about the size of one of the tiny eye drops bottle or the glucometer test glucose bottles. I can drip in a couple drops of splenda in very quickly and covertly … I doubt that unless I was watched anybody could tell that I had sweetened my tea. [going to the site I get it from, it is a 2 dram bottle] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-racist-ethnic-restaurants/655805.md?page=6)