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David Sedaris gets pretty offensive while discussing his hatred for Chinese food
By Ben ReiningaJuly 19th, 2011, 2:30 pmComments (78)
Isn't it terrible when you realize that two things you really like hate each other? Like when your best friend confesses he's always kind of hated your boyfriend, or when a cute dog gets in a fight with your dog as you're walking him. Or, when one of your favorite gay satirists confesses his weird, biting hatred of the world's most delicious food. Writing in The Guardian, David Sedaris goes on a bit of a tear about how disgusting the food in China is — and in the process, comes off as bit of a dick.
"It was while eating my second duck tongue that the man at the next table hacked up a loud wad of phlegm and spat it on to the floor," he writes. "'I think I'm done,' I said."
Later, Sedaris writes about eating a rooster: "Here, though, I thought of the sanitation grade, and of the rooster, pecking maggots out of human faeces before being killed. Most of the restaurants in China to me smelled dirty, though what I was smelling was likely some unfamiliar ingredient, and I was allowing the things I'd seen earlier in the day — the spitting and snot blowing, etc — to fill in the blanks."
I have a few things to say about this. I spent several years in my late teens and early twenties living in mainland China, and while duck tongue is certainly an option, no one is forcing you (or probably even encouraging you) to order it. The other parts of the duck, however, are notably delicious. Sedaris, as a self-described picky eater, probably should have just gotten duck breast (perhaps tea-smoked? It's lovely). Also, while it's obvious that everyone in China feeds their roosters human feces, the maggots that live within? That's quite rare.
What I suppose could graciously be called a satirist expressing his preferences, comes off more like a bigot playing up offf some unflattering stereotypes. Which, in my humble opinion, crosses a bit of a line. This is something a lot of people have been talking about recently, and I generally side with the comic's right to offend. But this isn't a standup comic trying out material; it's a well-known writer with an editor publishing in a national paper.
Also, the food is China is delicious. So delicious that sometimes I dream of it at night, and when I wake, cry because the Chinese food on my block is so crappy. I like you David, I really do. But don't make me choose between you and soup dumplings. You won't fare well.
Commentarium (78 Comments)
Choosing between favourite food and favourite people would lead to a lonely life for me. Lonely and delicious.
I always respected you, Anna.
I don't think the quotation you provided illustrates your point. It seems a lot as though you are ready to condemn him for his unhappiness at what, seems to me, is an isolated incident that tainted his overall experience.
Exactly - and in the second example, he specifically says, TWICE, that his negative feelings are his own unfamiliarity/his prior negative experience coloring his perception of all of the restaurants.
I would also say, it's more like "poor people eat some gross shit," which is true everywhere. I know I ate some really gross shit in Paraguay. I'm not blaming Paraguayans, they were just poor as shit and ate things that would definitely not pass muster in the U.S.
Huh? there's lots of muster in the usa. i have it on my hot dogs all the time. bumbling idiot.
Hmm. China's got some great things going on but that's not to overlook the fact that sanitation issues / food issues / corruption in those industries in China have been well-documented, so this isn't sensationalist - in my own experience this is pretty accurate...
Plus I think Sedaris has a good sense of awareness of the issues he brings to the table, so to speak.
Calling his cultural observations racist is absurd, the state of the sanitation laws in China have nothing to do with the quality of it's people
I'm afraid I fail to find the areas where Sedaris comments on the quality of the people rather than expresses disgust at their bodily excretions.
Clive James writes very amusingly of a phlegm expelling incident he witnessed in China. One assumes that hoicking gob onto the floor and eating duck tongues is a cultural more rather than a genetic indisposition, so pulling the race card is an overstep. The worst you could say is the guy is using broad generalisation and hyperbole for comic effect - some of that revealing a level of paranoia and discomfort in the writer which, itself, adds to the comic effect. Chill out.
broad generalizations serve as one of the pillars of racism.
Excellent! We need strong pillars for our racisms. God Bless America!
I have to agree with Disagree. I didn't click the link to read all of what Sedaris wrote, but what is quoted here doesn't sound anywhere close to "a bigot calling an entire nation of people filthy and vile." I don't see anything racist or "dick-" ish in that passage. The closest he comes is "Most of the restaurants in China," which perhaps could have been better worded as "Most of the restaurants I went to in China," but I seriously think you are being a little over-defensive on this point, especially when you say you generally side with the comic's right to offend.
I also agree with Disagree. Sharing a bad experience one had in another country does not make one racist.
Right, being white makes you a racist, sub-human monster.
Article fail. This isn't remotely close to being racist. He was sharing his personal experience in a foreign country. If you are familiar with his work, this is completely in line with his personality. He speaks disparagingly of French cuisine, too. And his family. And gay people. And many things. He's a satirist. Are you calling all satirists bigots?
What if i said 'i hate going to harlem because all black people are lazy and i can never get anything done quickly?'
it's just an observation. maybe in my experience, it was also true.
now imagine i published that essay in the paper. no troubles?
That might be an accurate analogy if David Sedaris's comments were in regard to an entire race of people, instead of a type of food....Nice try.
Who doesn't speak disparagingly of French cuisine? Or the French altogether?
Exactly. He says nothing of a race of people (China is a country, not a race). If he said, "Yellow people are filthy and disgusting" then that would be racist, but if you actually read what he said, you'll notice that he didn't. He complained about Chinese cuisine. If he went to Russia, and complained about the cleanliness of Russian restaurants, or said he didn't like borscht, then would you say he's being an anti-white bigot?
I'm no expert, but I believe that the ducks are not eating human feces, but are picking through them for the maggots - which they do eat. Standard organic farming practice except for the "human" part - and they may know a bit about that over there.
You're certainly not an expert.
I'm not a fan of Sedaris', but I really don't see anything he's said as being in the wrong here.
Agree with pretty much everyone above. Also, it's been a while since I read his books, but I'm pretty sure he was just as negative regarding various things about the French. Of course, that didn't make good headlines, since they're largely white.
White, and vile. Egads!
You have obviously never been to China. It's not exactly the the cleanest of places. People spit on the floor all the time, mothers have their babies crap on the ground, etc. Are you going to label me a racist for having observed these things?
You racist pig. Get your mind right: You should forget seeing those things while observing that our largely obese, television and videogame-owning poor people lead miserable lives.
Filthy racist scum! I suppose that you oppose the Arizona border fence too.
i agree with everyone here, no racism in his statements, just satirist observation. he's a comedic writer, not a UN diplomat. and even if he was being racist, who cares? that's his problem. this whole country is getting so sensitive about offending people it's ridiculous. everyone's walking on eggshells trying not to upset anyone and if they do there's weeks of apologies to follow. personally i find Chinese manners to be very lacking to say the least, if that makes me racist so be it, my problem, not yours. everyone needs to relax, enjoy themselves and stop getting so damn worked up and stressed over someones feelings being hurt, not a big deal. i have better things to worry about as I'm sure most others do as well.
I agreed with your first two sentences, then the rest of your argument voided it. Your last sentence slightly redeemed but not quite.
Chill, ho. He's just saying that Chinese etiquette doesn't mesh with his etiquette. No need to make it racist.
He said the Chinese manners are "lacking" which to me seems like K is saying that they are somehow not good enough or up to K's standards. It's important to keep in mind that the etiquette may be different, but different should not necessarily mean inferior.
There is absolutely nothing even vaguely racist about what Sedaris said. You owe him an apology. I actually have grave doubts about YOUR character, Ben.
I'll just say -- When the Japanese were committing genocide in mainland China during the second World War (look it up), the stereotype that Chinese people are disgusting pigs was a crucial to the propaganda that justified it.
Sedaris uses that -- the article starts crying out that Japan was so nice and clean, and that in China everyone is a gross toenail eater. That's a negative generalization based on origin. If that's not racism....
While it's possible that that particular propaganda influenced David Sedaris and his experience in China, I hardly think that he intentionally used it to perpetuate that stereotype. What interest would he have in doing that and why would he carry it out in his satirical writings?
he doesnt have to have any sort of political motivation to be racist. what DEVO is saying is that there is a historical precedent for this kind of thing, and that people who sense a whiff of racism about his article have a justifiable context in which to do so.
there is a definite slant against china, both in popular culture and in the news, and this kind of thing doesnt help. on the whole, people seem very at ease making broad generalizations and uninformed critiques about asians, and chinese specifically. i'm a little sick and tired of it, myself.
Back up the truck. There's something wrong with eating toenails?
Here's the original article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/15/david-sedaris-chinese...
I read no racism; Sedaris' observations on a culture that has very different ideas about health and hygiene than our own does not make him racist. Also, Sedaris has amply documented his disgust with bodily functions (even/especially his own) in his past writings, so this was just more of the same. I don't get why it's racism. China is different; he has a problem with bodily functions already; it wigged him out.
If you want people to take nerve seriously...
If you personally believe that libeling someone is bad form...
If you want to earn back an ounce of credibility...
Mr. Reininga, tear down this article!
Interesting. I wonder if he'd been talking about eating at a diner in Harlem -- drawing common and unflattering stereotypes of black people and reacting with disgust at how they live their lives -- you'd all be so permissive.
Racism might be a strong claim, I'll concede & edit. But it's still perpetuating an ugly stereotype.
Just documenting an ugly reality.
Sounds like you still don't get it, Ben, and you lack any real maturity or frame of reference. What are you, 14?
I don't understand, if HE SAW IT IN PERSON, and everyone else is also saying they saw it, too, how it could be it's racist. As a matter of fact, the whole phlegm thing has to do with traditional Chinese medicine and preserving a yin yang of fluids or whatever in the body. He never says anything about "Chinese people are horrible and I hate them." He says, in essence, "They cough up phlegm all the time and I find that really, really gross."
@RReagan
The reality in China is far more complex and multi-faceted than "ew, people gross me out over there."
Black is a race; Chinese is a nationality.
@kas - A very good point. Like referring to the Hispanic race - no such thing - or referring to anti-semitism as racism.
@duh - No kidding reality is more complex and multi-faceted. Show me one observation made anywhere about social conditions that includes all the complexity and facets of the underlying system. Can't be done and doesn't need to be done. The salient point here, made by several people here, is that hygiene standards in China are not what might be expected in the West.
for a lengthy article in the guardian, i think Sedaris could have afforded a slightly more multi-faceted account.
I hate all fucking people!!!!!! That's not racist, is it?
I read the article well before reading this commentary here and thought it was a little offensive and saddening. I guess the part that got to me was where he no longer could interact with the Chinese cashier at the grocery without being physically disgusted by things he imagined about her. She doesn't do anything offensive, you know? She gives him back money. But he can't even accept the money without thinking of her squatting and spitting and shitting and blowing snot out of her nose.
I guess it bothers me that he generalizes his disgust. Not everyone in Shanghai or Beijing or Chengdu spits, and not very many people in the cities do the kids/slit rompers thing anymore. And squatting, for chrissakes, is not offensive. And the China/Japan: crude/sophisticated analogy is super-offensive, especially because of China and Japan's shared history. Japan committed genocide in China, and rape on a mass scale.
Anyways, I am Chinese... do I remind you that you piss and have an asshole, Mr. Sedaris?
I completely agree with amy's comments. I can see how Sedaris was 'disgusted' by some of the experiences he had in China and how as a satirist he would exploit these events for comic effect. However, he crossed a line when he generalized his feelings towards certain Chinese customs into disgust towards all Chinese people he countered (like the cashier lady). Also, the genocide committed by the Japanese is a part of history that is still very painful for many Chinese people today. Given that, Sedaris' use of the Japan/China comparison is extremely insensitive and ignorant.
What makes food in China potentially disgusting is their scary lack of food laws. Our genetically modified, pesticide-doused food has nothing on their chemical free-for-all. It's inhuman.
Not a lack of food laws, mind you - just a lack of enforcement. This is a problem endemic to nearly every part of Chinese society.
Everything is against the law but no one gives enough of a shit to enforce any of the laws + police officers, government officials, corporate PR guys, etc. get paid piles of money to keep shit like that under wraps.
I live in a student housing complex where the majority of my neighbors are Chinese. The food we've shared is amazing. The hawking of luggies pretty much anywhere, anytime (the time a guy from my building was standing directly in front of me on a packed bus and hawked one right in mid-sentence (he was maybe 4 inches from my face, we'd been talking about good Chinese restaurants on campus)I felt like I had nearly hawked one myself. Stuff like that is gross when anyone, anywhere does it.
Maybe the next article from this author will something about the amazing experiences he had traveling instead of one about him looking to be offended and succeeding.
this comments section is a demonstration of the way soft racism has seeped into the culture. Sedaris' article is myopic, with an extremely negative slant. That he has approached his subject with such a clear, preconceived distaste is disappointing, and that he slips ridiculous bits of hyperbole in with fact (ie, there being feces in his scrambled eggs) makes this all the more disappointing. The broad generalizations and hyperbole that people seem to have so little problem with (despite the fact that these are cornerstones of racism) serve to paint a one-dimensional, unsightly picture of a people. It's crumby reporting that happens to fall in lock-step with previous, extremely unflattering caricatures of the Chinese.
I'm Chinese, and the fact is that I'm insulted by this. I'm also very disappointed that so many people are so eager to reinforce, with their own personal anecdotes, Sedaris' narrow perception. An analogous article about a black or gay community would never be accepted like this.
I'm sorry if all of you post-racial, enlightened individuals are offended by my, or Mr. Reininga's, displeasure with Sedaris' work. The fact is, though, that I'm a pretty good humored individual who has laughed at plenty of jokes, Asian-centric or not. What I don't find funny is a snide, condescending account of a people, let alone a people I happen to identify with racially. And please don't try to argue that Sedaris' article is acceptable because that's how all of his work is. The fact is that context counts for a lot, and in this context--a travel essay written for a major periodical--I think Sedaris' attitude is pretty disgusting.
Much of China is utterly filthy -- but so are a lot of third-world countries. Your pathetic blubbering about racism doesn't make that observation racist. The disgustingness of China has nothing to do with its inhabitants being Chinese and everything to do with them being poor.
I'm with Oh please on this. Sorry you're offended, duh, but it's your problem. "Soft racism" does not mean "saying something completely true that I can tie back to a (multi-) racial group." Your suggestion that this would not be allowed if the facts related to African Americans - I'm insulted you used the term "black," btw, as black refers to pigmentation and not ancestry - when there are stories periodically on nerve related to health issues among racial or sexual preference groups.
I'm glad you're good humored and I'm sure some of your best friends are non-Asian.
China isn't "third world," because it is communist. I know that that's not really what you meant, but still. It's second world. Or just "developing," that works.
And now I realize I might have misread your comment, and you might have meant "third world" in opposition to China, as in "China, like many third world countries..."
Whatever, I'm blathering on at this point. Sorry if I corrected you and but it was just me misinterpreting your comment.
There's no "soft racism" here, duh. He made an observation about a place that happens to be non-white, but there are no racial slurs or stereotypes. It happenss to be what he found there.
what about "narrow perception," "broad generalizations," "myopic," and "condescending" don't you get? "
Aggravated, I'm sorry, but there are stereotypes at play in the article. I've already explained what they are.
And, Oh Please, the "disgustingness of China?" That little turn of phrase makes it clear that discussing this topic with you any further is pointless.
i think it's important to point out that i don't find the whole of Sedaris' article big-r racist. my point is that he happily traffics in some very hyperbolic descriptions, both in terms of China and in terms of Tokyo, to which he compares China. it makes a caricature of the people, and i think he should be more careful.
I love how the title of this post was originally "...gets pretty racist..." and then the author backpedaled to "offensive." Way to stand by your writing, dude.
I re-read the article and changed the headline. In retrospect, racism sounded a little strong -- and I don't like bandying around laden words like that when they might not be called for.
Still stand by what I wrote -- I could have taken the post down.
how many of these commentators have read the article,and not just the excerpt of an excerpt shown here. He is a humorist not an anthropoligist.
I live in China. I date a Chinese man. In general, I love Chinese food. But I will always find some dishes absolutely disgusting. And when someone hacks phlegm in my face or lets their child shit on a crowded sidewalk I will still find it utterly gross. Does that make me a racist?
Hm. The fussy, repressed Midwestern gay man finds something unappealing about food? Shocker. Let's not blow this out of proportion.
North Carolina is the Midwest? Oh, yeah, homophobic much?
@duh: I think what you're missing here is that Sedaris' writing was fairly self-effacing. It was about his own neuroses, and his inability to stop imagining ever-grosser origin stories for his food, more than it was about anything that was actually happening around him. Nothing wrong with being offended by it, I just hope that you're familiar with his writing and not taking Nerve's contextualization at face value.
I've read the article, and I'm familiar with his work. I addressed the point of context above. While Sedaris' aesthetic might be a good fit when talking about himself, I don't think it comes off well in a travel essay about a foreign people, who have lived under stereotypes very similar to the cartoonish characterization in the article.
I'm less concerned about the cleanliness of restaurants in China than I am about the the suppression of human freedom, forced abortion, slave labor, organ harvesting, religious persecution and on and on and on.
Now the title should be changed to "Gay Satirist Offends Delicious Chinese Cuisine"
Three of us here at Nerve got Chinese food for lunch, and it was terrific!
What, there's a physical Nerve place?
There is! We call it "The Office" after a British TV show. Everyone on this comment thread is invited to continue the discussion over Tsing-Taos and wonton soup.
Serve some good beer - not industrial lager - and I'm there!
I think you're all missing the point. He’s not a racist, he’s an ignorant douchebag. the propagation of stereo types are a slippery slope. Sure the humorist has the right to offend but also has a social responsibility. How’s this example. “when I’m around gay people I don’t like them touching me. it’s just a phobia of mine. It’s not that I dislike them, I’m just afraid of getting some diseases. I know I can’t contract anything that way, it’s just me.” nothing untrue and if I said it in a funny voice would Mr Sedaris think it funny? Or to Devo’s point the is a history there, substitute Jews for Chinese and Germans for Japanese.
Anna,
You missed the point. He didn't have a problem with the duck's tongue as he was eating his second one. He had a problem with the mannerisms of people of the general population who do things like hock phlegm and spit it on the floor in restaurants. You may have a gut of iron and the sensibilities of of a concrete block, but most westerners would be extremely put off by such actions. I too have spent some time in China, and to see a waitress wipe up a pantsless child's feces from the dirty floor with the same rag she was using to clean tables, rinse it out, and then continue to use it while not a single other person takes absolutely no notice beggars belief.
I bow down hmbluy in the presence of such greatness.