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As a visible minority who has lived in a western country for more than 2 decades I bristle every time I'm asked this question. The majority of the time it isn'
by stuxnet79 5y ago
As a visible minority who has lived in a western country for more than 2 decades I bristle every time I'm asked this question.
The majority of the time it isn't asked from a place of genuine curiosity but as a way of boxing you in and "other"ing you. I shouldn't need to justify my existence to you just because my skin color stands out.
Also restricting your exploration to just food topics doesn't make you curious or cultured. There's more to experiencing a culture than looking up a recipe online, going to an "authentic" restaurant or going backpacking while surrounded by expats of a similar cultural background as you.
Ultimately I'm not a zoo animal for you to poke or probe at. I'm a complicated individual with my own personal story just like you are & I deserve the same respect I give you.
How would you feel if I just met you and started interrogating you on whether you are an Angle, Saxon or a Jute?
Now how would you feel if every single non-white person you met asked you this dozens of times over the span of a decade?
- random314 5y agoAs a visible minority myself, I think you are being way too abrasive and nasty.
- cameronh90 5y agoI'm not restricting my exploration to food, it's just people often like to talk about food. It's the cultural equivalent of talking about the weather. Hopefully things can get deeper after that. Obviously I can't know what it's like to be asked this kind of thing constantly for years, but I can say that travelling in non-white countries as a white person, you do get asked that kind of stuff a lot (or people touch my hair, beard, talk about how tall I am etc.). Or stuff about Scotland or the royal family. I've never minded, but perhaps after years it would get annoying.