Fake Foodies

Friday night I ate with my favorite person in the world- Bwoy. We went to a hole in the wall place nearby, populated by cabdrivers and uncles from the motherland.

So this hole in the wall place. It was funny to go there, and see all the non-brown pple come in confused. I think a lot of people come in expecting a chic, posh, tabla-music-playing-in-the-background place where everyone speaks English and they can get their chicken tikka masala. Instead, they see a tiny, bustling single room with a TV playing Pakistani satellite television, lots of kebobs stacked like enticing dollar bills behind the counter, uncles scarfing down biryani rice, and "waiters" (if you can call them that) shouting at each other in Urdu over the television set.

Anyway, based on my observations, I've very un-PC-like characterized the non-brownies into two groups: the Scared Ones, and the Brave Ones.


The Scared Ones:

The Scared Ones come in. I think they wandered in by accident. They- the women especially- look startled at all the din and testosterone around- they squint at the faded menu above the bustling counter, circumvent the tiny space with wide eyes, and whisper among themselves. A few go to the counter hesitantly, asking a million questions to the sweating brisk owner behind the counter. Eventually they motion to the owner that they're going to keep deciding (among the 5 things on the menu!), retreat to a dusty corner, whisper again, and eventually slink away without ordering any of the yummy food. Some of them didn't even get to the counter!

The Brave Ones: The Brave Ones, however, took a different route. They too looked around with apprehension at first (dude, where are we??), but then the glow in their eyes went from worry to excitement- especially when they started staring, fascinated, at the Pakistani satellite TV. They ordered food, asked a million questions (out of curiousity not fear), smiled at the owner who grudgingly smiles back, sat down cheerfully at the dilapidated tables, gobbled their yummy food like the rest of the customers, and in general embraced the situation. I LOVE the Braves Ones. They're mad cool.

.

.

.

.

I've done it too (many times =P) :

I like to think that when I go into a random place of a culture I have no idea about, I try to be brave too. It can be scary, I can look foolish ... like the time I kept ordering bibimbap at a Korean place, but for months kept pronouncing it "Beep-Beep-(pause)-Pop." hehe.

*Oh Beep-Beep-(pause)-Pop, how I love you! *

I mentioned the place once to a coworker of mine (Miss Prissy- the one who's getting an office) and she wrinkled her nose and said it looked "sketchy." Ahhh, Miss Prissy. Miss Prissy who claims she loves ethnic food and likes to say things like, "There's this great place with good bibimbap nearby..." and likes to drop names of all kinds of food she has eaten. For someone who pretends to be so liberal when it comes to food, she is pretty classist when it comes to who is making it.

That's the problem with some people, even in this great multi-ethnic city. They're not racist, but they can be pretty classist. *In my mind, those two are pretty close. *