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Oh, I don’t know about that. Would it have caused the same uproar? Prob not. But, depending on whether said hypothetical chef was Japanese vs. Japanese-American and depending on what generation said chef belong to, it absolutely would’ve gotten a response from within the community, if “that culture” operates anything like other East Asian communities.
Posters have said here that part of the reason why this whole incident is getting so much attention is b/c the chef is white. Well, that works in multiple ways. Perhaps intra-ethnic culinary conflicts don’t get as much popular press is b/c it’s not considered particularly “important” unless it involves a white person…?
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Yes, again that is why Asian Americans are not happy because unfortunately racism does exist in America and it permeates throughout our society and affects our personal experiences day to day. This is getting more and more personal but I think it’s important to add personal anecdotes and color to these discussions as a means of perspective, as I respect most members of this board and hope that by having a lively but respectful discussion we can all see each other’s points of view.
My wife is pregnant and neither of us are comfortable with her walking to the grocery store by herself due to asian american targeted violence in this country. I am born and raised in America and this is 2021 and I have to worry about carrying something around to protect myself and my family during the day solely on the basis of my skin color? I’ve never been what you would describe as “woke” person but clearly something isn’t right in our society.
Now back to the topic at hand, whether David’s post was directly racist or just denigrating of the Japanese culture, I guess everyone has to decide that on their own. You’ve voiced your opinion that you don’t feel its racist, which I respect. I personally don’t even know that if I feel that his post is directly racist, but what I know for my own self is that it’s not ok and should be called out especially here on FTC in a community where we clearly all are passionate about food. Does his race and the type of cuisine and the minority culture that it originates from factor into this specific discussion? IMO it definitely can’t be ignored, but others may disagree.
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I think it’s more like if the Japanese chef of a French restaurant in Japan complained that other French restaurants weren’t serving pain au chocolat with dinner.
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To make the analogy a little tighter…
I think it’s more like if the Japanese chef of an acclaimed Chinese restaurant in Tokyo complained that other Chinese restaurants in Tokyo weren’t serving [the equivalent of Sakura Mochi in Chinese cuisine] with dinner.
I think some may say that French nationals and French-Japanese are not a historically marginalized class in Japan.
The problem with that analogy is that traditional Japanese and Chinese menus are similar as regards sweets. A meal might end with fruit or a thin, not-very-sweet soup. You buy mooncakes at a bakery and share them with your family.
The position of Japanese cuisine and restaurants in LA are similar to French cuisine and restaurants in Japan. They’re the opposite of marginalized.
That Japanese-Americans were historically marginalized certainly explains part of the antisocial media brouhhaha, but I think it’s more a response to Schlosser’s imported-from-contemporary-Japan aesthetic. (“My followers know that I’m about preserving Japan, it has nothing to do with Japanese Americans.”)
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This is an Incorrect statement 
.
It’s akin to saying French and Italian desserts are similar. The lack of appreciation of the subtleties of a culture you have not grown up or fully ingrained is the point many posters are making. And glossing over these subtleties while being an arrogant pompous ass is what many find offensive.
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How do you figure it’s incorrect? Neither Japanese nor Chinese menus traditionally conclude with pastries, ice cream or the like, the way French and American menus do. Both have traditional seasonal sweets not traditionally served at the end of a restaurant meal.
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I believe Robert’s reference is about what types of “dessert” concludes a meal in Japanese or Chinese course progression AND both cultures having a distinctive category of sweets that do not necessarily get consumed at the conclusion of a meal. Not intended to mean that Japanese and Chinese confectionary are the same.
Chef Schlosser is assuming that Sakura Mochi should be a “dessert” course after a Japanese meal, and that’s a placement of a Japanese confectionary not necessarily intended for that purpose. More like a forced placement to fit the American expectations of a sweet dessert.
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Case in point. You’re basically pulling a Schlosser move with your statement above.
I’m of Chinese descent and I’m telling you that Japanese and Chinese desserts are not similar. There are ingredients that are similarly used however the end product is distinct to each culture and even within the culture there are regional differences.
Schlosser’s original post “Sakura mochi is the most iconic dessert in Japan. Yet no Japanese restaurants are featuring it? So sad… It’s because these Japanese restaurants don’t understand, appreciate or care about promoting what Japanese cuisine is all about”.
Basically reads as - if you are serving any form of Japanese food and you are don’t offer sakura mochi in spring you don’t appreciate Japanese cuisine. Schlossers proclamation that his view is the definitive truth over an entire culture’s cuisine is what I find offensive. Just plain stupid and arrogant.
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I didn’t say Japanese and Chinese desserts were very similar (nobody would confuse mooncake and sakura mochi), only that neither traditionally concludes a meal with sweet desserts the way the French and Americans do.
I knew we were regulars at my favorite Chinese restaurant when they started bringing us orange slices instead of fortune cookies.
Here is a sample dessert menu from a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong. I’d say sweet desserts feature quite prominently. The chinese characters “甜品” for dessert literally translates to “Sweet Product”
Btw mooncakes are not typically available year around, only leading up to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
that’s what sorta been glossed over. Japanese friends have told me sakura mochi are never found at restaurants or served as dessert even in Japan.
They are found at specialty Wagashi shops and they usually served at tea time.
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Right, which is why they’re comparable to sakura mochi.
Sweet dishes in Chinese cuisine are commonly not served as desserts.
“The art of the Chinese dessert” by Fuscia Dunlop:
https://www.google.com/search?q=“the+art+of+the+chinese+dessert”+site%3Aft.com&client=firefox-b-1-d&ei=_eeJYI7xOIzP0PEP8e6X-AU&oq=“the+art+of+the+chinese+dessert”+site%3Aft.com&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6BwgAEEcQsAM6CAghEBYQHRAeOgUIIRCgAVDNF1iGLWCKL2gBcAJ4AIABhwGIAYcJkgEDOC41mAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpesgBBMABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwjO46nBhKLwAhWMJzQIHXH3BV8Q4dUDCA0&uact=5
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Thank you for illustrating and reinforcing the ignorance of Schlosser’s post.
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Some of my best best food memories during my childhood in Asia are of dining with my grandfather. After supper on cold winter nights, we’d enjoy sweet warm soups like red bean broth or a bowl of potent (well, potent for a kid at least) of fermented rice porridge with black sesame tangyuan. During the lazy, humid summer evenings, chilled mung bean soup, or a refreshing wood ear mushroom soup with dates would be served. “All to balance out the chi of the season,” as my grandfather would say. The mung bean soup during summer has been a tradition in our family for generations. In the North, grandpa would recall, sweet pancakes would often be treats for the table after a large family meal when he himself was a child.
I must have been mistaken in those silly memories. Thanks to you and Ms. Dunlop (whom I consider an ambassador for bridging Chinese cuisine to the West) for correcting the errors in my upbringing.
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Like I said, thin, not-very-sweet soup. If something starchy, like a pancake, again they’re not very sweet, and there’s a “healthy” element and some sense of balance. The dessert I had at Shibumi was sweet potato with miso.
Those are at the opposite end of the spectrum from western-style, very sweet, utterly imbalanced desserts like pie, cake, ice cream, sticky toffee pudding, or gateau Victoire.
Yeah. I commented on the Instagram post only to have it removed a few hours later.
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Except mooncakes aren’t served in restaurants and aren’t considered a “dessert.” It’s something you share w/ family and friends outside of a restaurant. I would completely baffled if I even saw one on a menu at a restaurant. And it would feel SUPER weird to eat one anywhere outside of my home (or in a similarly, “non-commercial” setting).
But that goes to @hppzz’s point that, apparently, sakura mochi apparently also aren’t served in restaurants, even in Japan, and probably aren’t considered a dessert, either. So Schlosser took a high horse attitude and was wrong.
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Exactly like sakura mochi. That’s precisely what Schlosser was missing (that and not being an arrogant asshole). It was implicit in my first post regarding this antisocial media brouhaha:
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