The Exotifying Gaze
| August 16th, 2008 | Crossposted from The Blog and the BulletJohanna blogs:
I am really uncomfortable with how a lot of vegan cooking is described as “exotic” (to whom?). It assumes so much about the audience racially & culturally, & as well is loaded with really creepy connotations — the exotic is there to be conquered, mastered; it’s there purely to titillate your (white/Western/etc.) self (which also implies that white people have no culture — a convenient excuse used by people participating in cultural appropriation, but not actually true). It’s a “safe” way to imagine you’re experiencing other cultures without, you know, having to do that pesky thing known as actually engaging with the people whose cultures you’re attempting to eat via their food.
August 17th, 2008 at 11:04 am
heh. i chuckle everytime i walk past a restaurant on my block called “oriental palace.” But what to do? go in and inform the chinese immigrants who own the place that they are offending..er…themselves?
now if you where to describe indian food as exotic to my parents they’d take it as a complement, since the word is generally associated with italian supercars. We should keep in mind that the word like this are offensive primarily to progressive multicultural postmodernists (who sip lattes, of course.)
now personally i would never go to a sushi restaurant that advertised itself as exotic (and many do, especially outside of manhattan.) but mostly b/c its a class signifier…advertising to the strip mall people, not the connoisseurs and Japanese clientele. the best sushi bars don’t even put out a shingle, but that’s another story.
This comment was written by Manju.Report this comment to the moderators
August 17th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Umm, I think you might be reaching on this one. I mean, I don’t think anybody is using “exotic” in some sort of colonialist mentality, but simply that it is so utterly different from their past experiences. Alien, foreign, but without the bad connotations that those words have.
I mean, I’m all for reading between the lines, but their comes a point when you’re getting into baseless accusatory speculation.
This comment was written by Silenced is Foo.Report this comment to the moderators
August 17th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Silenced is Foo … If the “exotic” label were limited to food, I might agree with you - but I’ve heard dark-skinned models referred to as “exotic” or “ethnic.” I think those words promote the idea of whiteness being “the norm” and everything else being strange and therefore “exotic” in comparison.
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August 18th, 2008 at 12:02 am
“I think those words promote the idea of whiteness being “the norm” and everything else being strange and therefore “exotic” in comparison.”
True. But ethnocentrism is a fairly universal phenomena. To reduce it to “white privilege” is problematic, since by only asking whites t examine their prejudices, are we not assuming a certain white superiority? IE, westerners as individuals who transcend culture.
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August 18th, 2008 at 12:04 am
But I am oppossed to California Rolls…cultural appropration at its worst. If I ever call one of youse a Californial Roller, you know I’m mad.
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August 18th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Good point.
For the Vancouver-based Asian-Canadian community, the California Roll *is* our culture.
(Or *was*, in my case. *sniff* )
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August 18th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Philadelphia rolls (smoked salmon and cream cheese) are worse cultural appropriation than California rolls. I don’t care how popular they are– cream cheese and vinegar rice don’t go together!
This comment was written by Nancy Lebovitz.Report this comment to the moderators