Exclusively for Patreon supporters, I posted a short video sharing some thoughts about why food features so heavily in Asian American politics. So much of how we have experienced racism, and also how we create identity, comes out through the medium of food.
https://twitter.com/reappropriate/status/1428874586741874695
When people appropriate our food, it’s not really just about the food. It’s about how Asian Americans have used our traditional food to connect with and celebrate one another, and to create comfort and warmth on the face of racism that treats us as cold and foreign.
Food is one of the few ways that we have historically had to build and define Asian American identity for ourselves. Appropriating our food while ignoring those politics is especially disrespectful because food became politicized as a direct reaction to appropriation and erasure.
Asian American politics is more than just food. But food features heavily in our politics because of the way that racial fears of Asians is articulated through disgust of what we eat, and how we defy that through celebrations of our food.
When white authors/entrepreneurs position themselves as cultural ambassadors to translate our “strange” and “alien” food for white audiences, they draw upon our cultural cuisine for their own benefit while simultaneously reinforcing stereotypes that harm us.
Anyways, those are among some of the ideas I kicked around in this exclusive vid for my Patreon supporters while stuck in traffic today. Hope you enjoy!
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