native foods

Another spat with Portugal today, this time slightly accompanied by France. It was lunchtime and we were eating our food in the cafeteria, when she brought up that she couldn't wait to go home for the holidays, that she missed home food so much.

"Amen, sista!" we said, because as good as some of the food I've had here was, the food you get in America really is par none in terms of freshness. So, I guess I'll take a moment to thank the conglomerates and vastness of the process of getting spankin' fresh stuff (albeit probably stuffed with chems) to US grocery stores.

Then she said something along the lines of, "Yeah, I can't wait to eat real food." Excuse me? Earlier that morning she had accused me of being ethnocentric because I said that Chinese people in America don't drink 白酒 (because me saying that means that I think Chinese ppl are the best and rule the world, of course). Now/then, she was accusing Chinese food of not being real food? So, I asked her, what do you mean, this is not real food? to which she said that Chinese food isn't real food, that it's not fresh and full of msg and it doesn't taste nearly as good as Portuguese food. To this, French boy said yes, not as good as French food, too.

It is my opinion that you will always view your own homeland's food, or whatever food you grew up with, as the best food because that is what you've been conditioned to. To not recognize this and to go on a rant about how Chinese food sucks and how the only thing you can eat is sweet and sour chicken because everything else you've tried tastes disgusting (because of your own inflexible mindset) is ignorant. You people are ignorant. I also agree that the food I've eaten here is not very fresh, the ones that are are hella expensive, but I'm tired with the generalizations. I'm tired of people stating it as a fact, rather than an opinion, of the people I've met here who claim to love Chinese culture and language, yet condemn it on an everyday basis and don't give a disclaimer.

I don't condemn Asian culture, but I often criticize it in an attempt to understand why the culture is the way it is, how it came to be, how it is so different from "Western" culture. It's fucked up, but I'm trying to understand it. I wish others would do the same.

As a side story, one day I was forced to share a taxi ride with Portugal, someone else, and the kid I met my first day here. On the way to whatever location we were going to, Portugal was talking, then started complaining about something to which the kid actually said, "Dude, stop complaining about it." She was momentarily speechless, then proceeded to say "Well, I'm just saying that-" "No one cares, stop complaining." Yet, he did it in such a lighthearted manner that she didn't take it nearly as bad as I thought she would (tantrum). Kid has a magic touch, or she really restrained her indignation. I thought it was awesome, and he did something I didn't dare do (because I have to see her every day).