I feel like I should write my Asian immigrant take on American dessert as a counter to this 20 year old post: https://examinedlife.typepad.com/johnbelle/2004/04/what_are_those_.html

Adrianna Tan

@sumisu3 I’m learning with horror that some people abhor Japanese dessert. I guess it’s not sweet enough.

I love Japanese French patisserie and the more ‘wrong’ it is the better it tastes. I’d have ten of those over any traditional American cake.

Adrianna Tan

One time I had dessert from Milk Bar and I wanted to cry because it was so sweet. I could not believe I now lived somewhere where dessert is… overwhelmingly sweet.

I still struggle with this very regularly

Wonderdog

@skinnylatte Gosh yes the difference between "American" sweet and French or Asian sweet... it's overwhelming!

Adrianna Tan

Food media in English is extremely Anglo-centric.

It feels as if only some people’s opinions matter.

In my world, people don’t just like, they obsess about durians. It’s not our fault you’re not able to handle greatness. (Or you don’t get great durians)

But people like us don’t often get to write the trendsetting pieces like the ones mentioned here:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/durian-asian-fruits-orientalism-debate/

If you make your money in this craft, showing off how poorly developed your tastebuds are must be embarrassing.

Adrianna Tan

Linked in the post: Soon-Tzu’s tweet about what it would be like if Southeast Asians wrote about American food the way American food media write about us.

“Writing about US food the way the NYT covers Asian fruit: In a nation torn by racial conflict, one unlikely food unites. To those accustomed to chopsticks, the greasy parcel known as a 'burger', a sort of split bao, is crude and messy. Yet it encapsulates a nation's violent past.”

Von Xylofon

@caity @skinnylatte In Asia, I have only been to India, and let me tell you that no desserts anywhere else made my eyes water by the sheer force of sweetness. It was brutal, and whatever I had in America has nothing on that.

mhoye

@skinnylatte “The steak, like the vegetables next to it, has barely been prepared - fire, knives and salt all symbols of the crude cruelty that is the true cultural history of the Americas. The combined flavours of blood, tears and charred wood - as horrifying as we might find them - are familiar, even a comfort, to the imperial palate.”

Adrianna Tan

@vonxylofon @caity yeah but there’s a whole category of Indian sweets that are made just for that purpose (weddings, celebrations). You’re not really eating them on the regular. You also have like half a gulab jamun, not like a can. Or maybe it’s the type of sugar one gets used to. Most American cakes and even breakfasts are so sweet I get sick after just one and I find them harder to avoid. I can always say no to Indian sweets.

B

@skinnylatte I bought a cake from Milk Bar years ago and thought it was
overrated. So sickingly sweet.

It's cool if other people like it, but why is it touted as some amazing thing? Esp when non-white owned bakeries don't get half that kind of attention.

Adrianna Tan

@sipi_xo oh I know the answer to this one. A nontrivial number of ‘foodies’ think that non-western bakeries are.. ‘too sweet’ and ‘not complex’ or worth their time. Most have never even considered that baking culture exists in other places even when it’s in the city they live in!

K-ZO da Snowman

@skinnylatte @sipi_xo HEARD. I'll take a Vietnamese, Chinese, or Japanese bakery over a Euro one anyday.

Adrianna Tan

@kzodasnowman @sipi_xo I like good European bakeries but they have to be good. I don’t mind standing in line for an Arsicault of Fournée or Rotha (latter 2 are east bay) but also I want a hot dog and scallion bun most days from a Chinese bakery

Howard Chu @ Symas

@mhoye @skinnylatte you know you're dealing with a primitive culture when they expect people to use their own knives at the dining table, instead of having all food cut to bite size in the kitchen before serving. No civilized culture would allow weapons at the dining table.

Michelle Catherine Marcó

@skinnylatte I’m DYING with laughter. Such a great take!