I wouldn’t go so far as to say xenophobic. Ignorance is probably a better description in many cases. It is also ok not to like types of food, or be disgruntled if the only thing to eat was food that was not to your liking.
Xenophobia could absolutely be an issue in some cases, but applying it broadly is a bit harsh.
I can agree that most people who make jokes about other cultures cuisines are just being a bit ignorant.
But on Lemmy (especially at the moment for some reason) this joke/meme is made pretty much every day, and is becoming less of a one off joke and more of a constant insult to other cultures.
It’s just tiresome, lazy and it smacks a bit of xenophobia to me; but I see where you are coming from and agree it may be a bit of an overreaction.
I get it. Many people have a hard time separating a single experience from an entire population, culture or cuisine.
While I am absolutely not a fan of the Russian government at the moment, I have to force myself to remember that many of the Russian people are no different than you or I. It’s all to easy for me demonize and generalize an entire population as much as the next person, if I am not careful. (This is exploited heavily by state propaganda to foster xenophobia, in many cases.)
Still, a culture couldn’t be defined as a “culture” of it didn’t have distinctive and common traits. The same goes for regional cuisine.
After thinking about this a bit more (and also deliberating if I myself was overreacting) what we have is a fine line of context. Me exclaiming that “that countries food is crap” wouldn’t be the same as “if you let those people in this country, our food will turn to crap”.
My reaction is exactly that same as yours when I see out-of-place comments bashing Americans. I never go out of my way to troll or spread hate against any common person and it sucks when I get pulled into a generalization for no reason. Trust me when I say I hate our government as much or more than most of Lemmy and more power-hungry slobs are not what this world needs right now.
So, after considering your position a bit more and reflecting on how I react to similar situations, it’s just as easy to portray being xenophobic as it is to be perceived as xenophobic. Both could be true or false, and the only hints we have as to the actual nature of it is context. Context, unfortunately, is something that isn’t expressed well in text on social media.
I haven’t read what you have read and probably might interpret it differently anyway. So, if you think something is xenophobic there isn’t much I can say about that other that what I already have. Perception is what tips the scales in one direction or another, it seems.
There are incredible restaurants in Australia for sure, but there isn’t really a national cuisine identity overall, distinct from the Anglosphere in general. Of course there are some distinctly Australian foods, but the largest category is basically “European dish with some native/local ingredient” - which can be extremely delicious but isn’t really that different from e.g. NZ, or even North America, and basically all comes from French and English restaurant culture. Aboriginal food culture isn’t really celebrated at all (beyond what I mentioned above) and even the immigrant food cultures which are more beloved (e.g. Greek and Italian) haven’t really fused into the mainstream, but are still largely relegated to the “cheap takeaways” category. So idk. On the one hand, you’re totally right that you can get awesome food, but I think the criticism stems from a valid place even if the people who parrot it don’t really know what they’re talking about.
It’s a viable placeholder until Australia produces a cuisine good enough.
What, you don’t want to go to a restaurant where the only things on the menu are fairy bread and cans of VB?
They mass produce Wagyu cattle and yet aren’t famous for their steak. (Their Wagyu is my favourite beef too)
I’m not hating or rage bait, I truly believe in their chefs. I want them to get creative.
There are some amazing restaurants in Australia
I’ve had meals here in unassuming places that shit all over wanky Michelin starred spots in New York
You seem ignorant, and yet, somehow proud of it
There is a lot of cuisine bashing on this site.
-English food is bland.
-German food is just cabbage.
-Scottish cuisine is just deep frying.
It’s xenophobic and tiresome.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say xenophobic. Ignorance is probably a better description in many cases. It is also ok not to like types of food, or be disgruntled if the only thing to eat was food that was not to your liking.
Xenophobia could absolutely be an issue in some cases, but applying it broadly is a bit harsh.
I can agree that most people who make jokes about other cultures cuisines are just being a bit ignorant.
But on Lemmy (especially at the moment for some reason) this joke/meme is made pretty much every day, and is becoming less of a one off joke and more of a constant insult to other cultures.
It’s just tiresome, lazy and it smacks a bit of xenophobia to me; but I see where you are coming from and agree it may be a bit of an overreaction.
I get it. Many people have a hard time separating a single experience from an entire population, culture or cuisine.
While I am absolutely not a fan of the Russian government at the moment, I have to force myself to remember that many of the Russian people are no different than you or I. It’s all to easy for me demonize and generalize an entire population as much as the next person, if I am not careful. (This is exploited heavily by state propaganda to foster xenophobia, in many cases.)
Still, a culture couldn’t be defined as a “culture” of it didn’t have distinctive and common traits. The same goes for regional cuisine.
After thinking about this a bit more (and also deliberating if I myself was overreacting) what we have is a fine line of context. Me exclaiming that “that countries food is crap” wouldn’t be the same as “if you let those people in this country, our food will turn to crap”.
My reaction is exactly that same as yours when I see out-of-place comments bashing Americans. I never go out of my way to troll or spread hate against any common person and it sucks when I get pulled into a generalization for no reason. Trust me when I say I hate our government as much or more than most of Lemmy and more power-hungry slobs are not what this world needs right now.
So, after considering your position a bit more and reflecting on how I react to similar situations, it’s just as easy to portray being xenophobic as it is to be perceived as xenophobic. Both could be true or false, and the only hints we have as to the actual nature of it is context. Context, unfortunately, is something that isn’t expressed well in text on social media.
I haven’t read what you have read and probably might interpret it differently anyway. So, if you think something is xenophobic there isn’t much I can say about that other that what I already have. Perception is what tips the scales in one direction or another, it seems.
There are incredible restaurants in Australia for sure, but there isn’t really a national cuisine identity overall, distinct from the Anglosphere in general. Of course there are some distinctly Australian foods, but the largest category is basically “European dish with some native/local ingredient” - which can be extremely delicious but isn’t really that different from e.g. NZ, or even North America, and basically all comes from French and English restaurant culture. Aboriginal food culture isn’t really celebrated at all (beyond what I mentioned above) and even the immigrant food cultures which are more beloved (e.g. Greek and Italian) haven’t really fused into the mainstream, but are still largely relegated to the “cheap takeaways” category. So idk. On the one hand, you’re totally right that you can get awesome food, but I think the criticism stems from a valid place even if the people who parrot it don’t really know what they’re talking about.