Spoilt children, blinded by class privilege, carrying the banner of the masses

An example of the incoherence of progressive ideology in the context of the concept of "cultural appropriation". Or, in earlier terms, cultural exchange. From Making a Meal Out of Everything by Andrew Stuttaford. Class Privilege, Ignorance, Racism, Apartheid,

Stuttaford points out that ideological progressive arguments usually are not about the facts but about appropriation of power.

That the doctrine of ‘cultural appropriation’ can be used to enforce a kind of intellectual apartheid is hardly new news. And nor too is the way that finding offense in, well, just about everything, can be used as a device to assert some sort of moral authority or, at least, bring a little excitement to lives that may otherwise lack it.

Stuttaford then goes on to use a fainting spell at Oberlin as an example. He quotes an artcle from the Oberlin Review, CDS Appropriates Asian Dishes, Students Say by Clover Linh Tran.

Perhaps the pinnacle of what many students believe to be a culturally appropriative sustenance system is Dascomb Dining Hall’s sushi bar. The sushi is anything but authentic for Tomoyo Joshi, a College junior from Japan, who said that the undercooked rice and lack of fresh fish is disrespectful. She added that in Japan, sushi is regarded so highly that people sometimes take years of apprenticeship before learning how to appropriately serve it. “When you’re cooking a country’s dish for other people, including ones who have never tried the original dish before, you’re also representing the meaning of the dish as well as its culture,” Joshi said. “So if people not from that heritage take food, modify it and serve it as ‘authentic,’ it is appropriative.”

Is this an example of cultural appropriation or is this an example of ignorance and class privilege? I would argue the latter.

I am willing to stipulate that Tomoyo Joshi is correct "that people sometimes take years of apprenticeship before learning how to appropriately serve it." But in Japan as elsewhere, there is a range of food preparation from the lowest levels of society to the highest. At the bottom you have people making do with bland basics, sometimes home prepared (with widely varying results) but usually mass-produced. At the top of the pyramid you have those who can afford infinite refinements, the foodies, the seekers after exquisite cuisine prepared by someone who served a thirty year apprenticeship. This isn't about culture, it is about economics and social signalling.

The pertinent question is whether there is mass produced sushi in Japan and whether it conforms with Tomoyo Joshi's expectation that the only "real" sushi is that which is produced by people who have spent years "learning how to appropriately serve it." Is Joshi committing a category error comparing like with unlike? The answer is that she is committing a category error likely based on class privilege. While Joshi might be accustomed only to the highest end sushi, the appropriate comparison is the equivalent dining hall sushi of an equivalent type university in Japan serving mass produced food for undiscerning palates. I would wager that mass produced student served sushi in Japan bears far greater similarity to that in Oberlin than either do to high-end sushi that privilege buys.

Example one of "cultural appropriation" can be chalked up to class privilege and virtue signalling.

A second outrage has to do with the General Tso's Chicken.

Prudence Hiu-Ying, a College sophomore from China, cited an instance when Stevenson was serving General Tso’s chicken, but the product did not resemble the popular Chinese dish. Instead of deep-fried chicken with ginger-garlic soy sauce, the chicken was steamed with a substitute sauce, which Hiu-Ying described as “so weird that I didn’t even try.”

Stuttaford points out

That doesn’t sound very adventurous, and the description of that chicken dish (which, full disclosure, I cannot stand) as “Chinese” is dangerously ‘appropriative’ itself. General Tso’s outraged poultry is a Chinese-American dish invented in New York in the 1970s.

Example two of "cultural appropriation" can be chalked up to ignorance and virtue signalling.

Oh yes, one other thing:

Diep Nguyen, a College first-year from Vietnam, jumped with excitement at the sight of Vietnamese food on Stevenson Dining Hall’s menu at Orientation this year. Craving Vietnamese comfort food, Nguyen rushed to the food station with high hopes. What she got, however, was a total disappointment. The traditional Banh Mi Vietnamese sandwich that Stevenson Dining Hall promised turned out to be a cheap imitation of the East Asian dish. Instead of a crispy baguette with grilled pork, pate, pickled vegetables and fresh herbs, the sandwich used ciabatta bread, pulled pork and coleslaw.

“Instead of a crispy baguette”….

Baguette?

Hmmm…

Example three of "cultural appropriation" can be chalked up to ignorance, absence of self-awareness, and virtue signalling.

What you are left with is ideologically motivated privileged children unaccustomed to the bland sameness of mass produced food, trying to climb on the outrage bandwagon but hindered in their ascent by ignorance, lack of self-awareness, and their own class privilege.

Let's hope they grow up before they do themselves or others a damage.