Fortune cookie weirdness

[Urban Ranger]

We don't have General Tso's Chicken either. I heard it was invented in New York.

[Sikander]

I don't like fortune cookies and never touch the things. I usually find the fortunes a lot less interesting than whatever else is going on.

[mindseye]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger

We don't have General Tso's Chicken either. I heard it was invented in New York.

I had often heard the same of "Sweet and Sour Pork" , i.e. that it was created in the US for American palates, and was not known in China. However that's not true, I've had it here. It's called gulao rou if I recall.

Also, I have found the equivalent of General Tso's chicken, although it's made with pork. It's called guobao ruo, it's part of DongBei ("Northeastern") cuisine. YUM!!

[Ecthy]

Gulao rou

[Sava]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
We don't have General Tso's Chicken either. I heard it was invented in New York.

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN ZOMFG PWNAGE^99999

sweet and sour PWNAGE

flied lice

potstickers

Hey!

I got a question.

What is wrong with the word, "Oriental"?

Like 10 years ago, Asian people were called Oriental... but now, Oriental is like considered racist.

What happened?

[Ninot]

my girlfriend insists that for every fortune cookie fortune, "in bed" should be appended at the end.

She's silly like that.

But it makes fortunes more arousing certainly.

[Sava]

bump

need answer to my oriental question!

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Sava
bump

need answer to my oriental question!

I'm not sure why oriental is considered racist or insensitive, but I can tell you that people who used that term made me uncomfortable even as far back as the 1960s. They tended to be pretty damned ignorant. Perhaps the reason that it has become an objectionable term is that it is so often used as a racial term (ie Chinese, Japanese, Koreans etc. are orientals) when anyone with any sort of familiarity with east asia realizes that these peoples are very different both physically and culturally.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Sava
What is wrong with the word, "Oriental"?

Like 10 years ago, Asian people were called Oriental... but now, Oriental is like considered racist.

What happened?

I reckon "Orient" refers to just East Asia. That would annoy persons from Southeast and South Asia.

Of course, we don't have a problem with that term

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
We don't have General Tso's Chicken either. I heard it was invented in New York.

Actually, it's just a variant of gongbao jiding, a Sichuan dish that no two restaurants in Hangzhou make exactly the same.

[Ecthy]

Dà shi = grandmaster

[DaShi]

That sounds about right.

[Sikander]

General Tso is chicken, like Sir Robin.

[Ecthy]

When in China I did a wushu crash course under the instruction of a guy we were supposed to address as shifu

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Sava
What is wrong with the word, "Oriental"?

Like 10 years ago, Asian people were called Oriental... but now, Oriental is like considered racist.

What happened?

It's mainly an American thing, particularly on the West Coast.

Much of it comes from Edward Said's book "Orientalism" which looked at how the West viewed Asia and that the term "Oriental" is an imperialistic way of dividing people. (This is a simplistic summary of Said's book)

Also, Sik is correct about the way it lumps people from different cultures together.

In the U.S., many Asian-Americans objected to the term because it implies that an "Oriental" is not an American.

I've met some Asian-Americans who equate it with ****** or chink.

In Asia, there seems to be less objection to the term, but then again, I can't remember the last time I heard someone using it. "Asian" has replaced it.