Ugh, I'm so sorry, flea! I'm sending all sorts of ~ma your way that you guys are able to come out of this OK.

so many hugs for my friends in the box this morning.

My office is basically empty so I am getting a bit of a re-charge this week. I have not been feeling great though and today a co-worker is out with the flu, so I am hoping I do not come down with a big ugly yuck.

flea,

are they working with an agent? you'd think the agent would have told them: "you are wasting everyone's time. don't do it."

In today's Unexamined Privilege news: I used the term "ethnic cuisine" as a catchall reference meaning "one or more of the many cuisine types that is considered to have originated from and is associated with a country other than this one." (There's an article about using pictures on labels of pill bottles, so "take with food" is a picture of a taco. And my comment was "Does it have to be a taco, or can it be any ethnic food?" And my co-workers told me the phrase "ethnic cuisine" is racist because it's implying the food is different from what's considered standard American fare.)

So, unpacking this, I have a couple questions:

(1) "Ethnic food" -- racist?

(2) If it *is* racist, is the reason it's racist because it implies the food is "different"? (Because the food IS DIFFERENT. All food is different from other foods.)

(3) If it is racist, what would be a better term? "One or more of the many cuisine types that is considered to have originated from and is associated with a country other than this one"? Because that's really a mouthful.

submit to "yo, is this racist?" PLEASE! although I use the term ethnic food, I do wonder at this point what non-ethinic food is: hamburger? chciken fingers? sandwiches? anything else?

Sumi? Calling Sumi. I got a PM on Twitter from you that looks like a hack. was it? I do not want to click a link I am unsure of.

Man.

That's a lot to unpack. I have a lot of thoughts running through my head in no particular order (and I have an appt in 3 minutes so I have to leave this quick thoughts here and run away):

1) I suppose your coworkers have a point, but I probably wouldn't go that far in saying using the term "ethnic food" is racist. That's like using a fucking chainsaw when scissors would do.

2) This is not a dig at you at all, but more about my amusement that a taco is "ethnic food" when goddamn it is like pizza now, isn't it?

3) You did have a larger point, yes, that perhaps another food item would be more appropriate?

(2) If it *is* racist, is the reason it's racist because it implies the food is "different"? (Because the food IS DIFFERENT. All food is different from other foods.)

I think it must be this?

my amusement that a taco is "ethnic food" when goddamn it is like pizza now, isn't it?

Ha! I did think about that after I posted. Because -- Taco Bell Dorito taco. (Which I totally want to try.)

I think the issue with "ethnic food" is that it lumps everything else into one category. Like, Mexican food and Chinese food and Ethiopian food really have nothing in common other than being originally from places other than here, and putting them all under one label kind of makes it seem like that "not from here" quality is what defines them.

I'm somewhat reminded of when I went to see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with a friend. Afterwards, I said I really liked it. She said something like, "I thought it was OK, but you can probably relate to it more than I can, since you're from an ethnic family." It was the same issue -- my Jewish family and the Greek family in the movie both got the "ethnic" label, while her blonde, lutefisk-eating North Dakota family was the normal one that didn't need a label.

Steph - perhaps "food that June Cleaver never heard of"?

And a woman in my office tried the Dorito taco - she said it was so good she cried when she finished it (because it was gone). Then she looked in the bag and THERE WAS ANOTHER ONE. So she ate that, too.