Another clebrity chef self-destructs

[Hawkmoon]

https://pagesix.com/2018/12/28/tv-chef-in-hot-water-after-horsesh-t-chinese-food-diss/

Andrew Zimmerman, in pushing his chain of "Chinese" restaurants, calls all the Chinese restaurants run by, like Chinese people, "horseshit restaurants." The result is that his shows have been moved to a graveyard slot on Saturday mornings, and filming of new episodes has ceased.

It astonishes me that any American could have the chutzpah to suggest that he can do Chinese cuisine better than the Chinese.

[Fly320s]

Zimmern is right, but he will pay for it.  Most Chinese food is sugary, fatty, gloopy horseshit.

Cooking well has nothing to do with one’s nationality or heritage; it is all about skill.

[lupinus]

Well he's not technically incorrect. Pretty much everything you'll find on the standard/typical Chinese restaurant menu are American creations bearing little or no resemblance to actual Chinese cuisine. And even then what is very loosely based on actual Chinese cuisine is generally from two maybe three regions. Some Chinese Americans by the second or third generation actually love a weird combo of the real and Americanized stuff, but they all understand what it is. 

But all that said, Zimmerman now has the misfortune of having said a fairly true statement in a very unsavory fashion.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Ben]

Authentic Chinese. 



https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2018/12/29/so-woke-white-whole-foods-vegans-shamed-for-cultural-appropriation-neocolonialism-xenophobia/

I'm pretty sure I have a "get out of jail free" card on making fun. One of my favorite German dishes is rouladen, but there's no getting around that it looks kinda like turds on a plate. 

[Hawkmoon]

He's also not technically correct ... he made a sweeping and unjustified statement with no supporting evidence.

My roommate in graduate school was Chinese American. His father was Chinese American (born in Boston, served in the USAAC during WW2), and his mother was Chinese. Glen knew the good Chinese restaurants around the school, and that's where we went. I've eaten Chinese food from Germany to California, and from Maine to Chile. It's simply unfair to characterize all Chinese restaurants as "horseshit."

Case in point: A few miles down the road from me there are two Chinese takeout places within a quarter mile of each other. The "good" one is closed on Mondays. Awhile back I was in the mood for some vegetable fried rice. It was a Monday. So I went to the second place. HUGE mistake, their vegetable fried rice was completely inedible. I threw it out. I have never gotten anything bad from the "good" place.

[Ron]

Is this another case of a white guy offending one of the rest of the planets races/ethnicities? When will these white guys learn that you are only allowed to offend white men on the political/religious right when you are a white man. Otherwise you are cast into outer darkness.

Diversity isn’t our strength. It’s a weakness and obstacle that must be overcome.

[Sindawe]

It astonishes me that any American could have the chutzpah...

It's what we do darling, it's what we do. /Mal

Most folks don't seem to be able to handle being a celebrity.  They get an inflated sense of self-importance and forget that they are just dancing monkeys their for our entertainment.

[French G.]

South Park was once again ahead of it's time.

And he's not wrong.

[Perd Hapley]

https://pagesix.com/2018/12/28/tv-chef-in-hot-water-after-horsesh-t-chinese-food-diss/

Andrew Zimmerman, in pushing his chain of "Chinese" restaurants, calls all the Chinese restaurants run by, like Chinese people, "horseshit restaurants." The result is that his shows have been moved to a graveyard slot on Saturday mornings, and filming of new episodes has ceased.

It astonishes me that any American could have the chutzpah to suggest that he can do Chinese cuisine better than the Chinese.

He's also not technically correct ... he made a sweeping and unjustified statement with no supporting evidence....It's simply unfair to characterize all Cinese restaurants as "horseshit."...

Where did he say all these things of which you accuse him?

The statement that I saw said, "I think I’m saving the souls of all the people from having to dine at these horses**t restaurants masquerading as Chinese food that are in the Midwest."

Now, he's being overly dramatic (probably joking) with the soul-saving stuff, but he didn't denigrate anyone by ethnicity, or say he was better at Chinese cuisine than the Chinese, and he didn't say anything about "all Chinese restaurants."

So what, other than being a white man, does he have to apologize for?

The fact is, it's entirely possible that a white American could make more authentically Chinese, and better-prepared food, than every single Asian restaurant cook in the whole American Midwest. I have no idea if he is, but just sayin...

We have this tendency to treat non-whites as holy, untouchable beings that are too good for us to criticize. It's bizarre.

[K Frame]

Isn't the simple fact that he's attempting to cook "Chinese" food cultural appropriation?

Where's the outrage for that?

[zxcvbob]

We have this tendency to treat non-whites as holy, untouchable beings that are too good for us to criticize. It's bizarre.

Or too weak (or stupid) to take criticism.  I actually think it's that more than that non-whites better than us.  Consider who is being outraged.

[Viking]

Isn't the simple fact that he's attempting to cook "Chinese" food cultural appropriation?

Where's the outrage for that?

Asians are White, except for when they aren't.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Yeah, so he didn't say he was better at cooking Chinese food than all Chinese.

He called all food served at Chinese restaurants in the Midwest horseshit. Which actually is a very different statement and we are the ones assuming at all the cooks involved are actually Chinese. I'm betting at least some of them are not.

Pretentious and obnoxious, but not really anything I wouldn't expect from a food snob that gets pissy about anything that isn't gourmet food.

[Ben]

Yeah, if it's just calling some restaurant type in particular regions of the country crappy as a generalization, I get that. I've had Mexican in the middle of the country that was basically Taco Bell. In CA you have to try really hard to get crappy Mexican. Chinese too, really. On the other hand, I'm sure there is some famous midwestern cuisine you have to be lucky to find done well in CA.  All depends on the region and food type.

[Perd Hapley]

He called all food served at Chinese restaurants in the Midwest horseshit.

He didn't say it was all of the restaurants.


This is just another case of "anything a white guy says is racist."

[charby]

He called all food served at Chinese restaurants in the Midwest horseshit. Which actually is a very different statement and we are the ones assuming at all the cooks involved are actually Chinese. I'm betting at least some of them are not.

From my experience most of the Chinese cooks in the Midwest tend to be Latin American looking.

[Perd Hapley]

From my experience most of the Chinese cooks in the Midwest tend to be Latin American looking.

This. They're from south of the Yangtze-o Grande.

[Scout26]

From my experience most of the Chinese cooks in the Midwest tend to be Latin American looking.

Unless you are in and around Chicago.  Especially if you go to Chinatown in Chicago.  However, I'm very lucky in that about a mile from me is a hole in the wall Chinese place that is all staffed by the same family.  When you go in just picture the "Greek Restaurant" SNL skit, but in Chinese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uShCUp2QYGs&list=RDY1tFx5xKrSI

[Viking]

From my experience most of the Chinese cooks in the Midwest tend to be Latin American looking.

Maybe they identify as ethnically Chinese.

[Ron]

Those catagories are just social constructs, borders in your mind.

[T.O.M.]

First, what's with the shot at the Midwest?  The two Asian restaurants I frequent both are owned and operated by Asians, and the food is good.

Second, he may be right about some Chinese restaurants producing food that isn't authentic.  But...

Third, you would think that someone who has managed to make a career in the media would be just a bit more media savvy.  Especially a guy who claims to be such an "open to all cultures" kind of guy.

Too bad. I enjoyed the show.  Can he save himself by touting his status as a recovering addict, or is this outweighed by his white male status?

[Ron]

My go to Chinese is run by a Chinese family and my go to Thai is run by a Thai family.

My taco/burritos place is run by Mexicans.

Oddly all of them have fallen off in quality over the years.

Maybe cheaper ingredients and smaller servings in order to stay in business?

Of course I live in a major Midwest cosmopolitan area flooded with immigrants so my options are unlimited regarding ethnic food.

[Scout26]

Just to finish my thought from above...

There are three Chinese places near work all run and (mostly) staffed by Chinese (The buffet has Hispanic busboys, but Chinese cooks).  The buffet and one other are pretty good, quality, quantity and taste-wise.  The third place is horrible.  Unless you like food that tastes like garlic.  No matter what you order it's heavy on the garlic.  I had broccoli beef from there a while back (The boss was buying and he loves the place),  I couldn't taste the beef over the garlic in the sauce.  Same with the Cashew Chicken.  Even the Sweet and Sour sauce was loaded with garlic.

I like garlic, but as a flavor accent, not the primary flavor.

[Pb]

Well, if I owned a Chinese restaurant in the midwest, I would be offended, but why in the world would anyone else care that a chef insults competing restaurants? 

[dogmush]

I tend to think the whole thing was some bullshit clickbait to fill column inches.

Dude said something to make a WaPo person write an editorial and some blogger disagree with him.  Not a hard thing to do.

It happens to coincide with Travel Channel cutting back on all their cooking programing.  INSTANT OUTRAGE ARTICLE!! Click Me!!!

The article even mentions that his multiple shows on Food Network and Cooking Channel (both also owned by Discovery) are still going strong, and not canceled.  And Travel Channel is moving ALL their cooking content out of prime time, not just this guys.

Molehill made into mountain, and internet folks played for clicks.