[ SECRET POST #5748 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5748 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 56 secrets from Secret Submission Post #823.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

06. https://i.imgur.com/Bpb3zfq.png

[scissorsevered]

A vegan pork belly recipe is something that I would want to see in a vegatarian/vegan cuisine focused episode. Having it thrown in next to meat dishes is kind of offputting, especially when most of the other dishes have a heavy emphasis on meat. Vegan pork belly does sound delicious though.

[(Anonymous)]

With focus being on the different cities, I liked seeing a vegatarian focused food in there. There was so much emphasis on either bbq or fried meats in most every other food cart that seeing something different was nice.

[(Anonymous)]

Well... Portland is a very white city (just under 80% I think). Oregon had a ban on non-white settlers for a rather long time. But also, yes, that is NOT the best representation of our food cart culture. We have so many food carts run by natives of the cuisine who aren't....like that.

[(Anonymous)]

Like what, exactly? Who looks like the "right" of "natives" for you?

[(Anonymous)]

I never said anything about the "right kind" or "looks"....

[(Anonymous)]

...I think you just don't like her.

All your complaints seem like you're nitpicking to cover up that you just didn't like her personally. Making non-meat proteins is a time honored vegetarian tradition so this isn't really anything odd. And two of the four focal points were women of color so to say it was 'so white' seems pretty disingenuous (Portland is not as ethnically diverse as LA. It just isn't) And really? You're going to nitpick on how you didn't like her facial expressions when she was talking about her childhood? That's low.

[(Anonymous)]

I completely agree with this comment (and I think vegan pork belly sounds potentially yum).

[(Anonymous)]

"Making non-meat proteins is a time honored vegetarian tradition so this isn't really anything odd."

Yeah, but they don't try to pass it off as fake meat, they're just... vegetarian dishes. Seriously, why call it "vegan pork belly"? It's not pork belly, it's some other kind of protein instead and there's nothing wrong with that! Things like tofu and mushrooms and beans are delicious, you don't need to give them cutesy fake names. Just call them what they actually are.

[(Anonymous)]

It's because some vegan dishes/ingredients are in fact trying to mimic the flavor and texture of animal products, people go vegan for ethical reasons and may be looking for a cruelty free way to enjoy these meals too. Also, "vegan pork belly" is a way easier way to tell what something is supposed to be cooked as or taste like than elaborate made up names.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly. But it wouldn't be as effective of a marketing gimmick if she just called it braised fried tofu. Look at the nonny who doesn't even know what vegan pork belly is made of and still thinks it "sounds potentially yum".

[(Anonymous)]

I don't like her. I sympathize that she had a tough time in school because of racism. (I am also a POC who grew up in a predominantly white area and faced bullying from racists.) That's why I find it a little distasteful that her success is based on modifying her own culture's food so it's more palatable for the white western culture that gave her such a difficult time about it when she was a child.

"Making non-meat proteins is a time honored vegetarian tradition so this isn't really anything odd."

It's not odd, but that doesn't mean it's not occasionally eyeroll inducing. Taking something as fatty and meaty as pork belly and making a vegan version strikes me as a cheap gimmick (along with the weird implications about westernization of Vietnamese food), because pork belly is trendy and of course people love the idea that you can have a vegan version. Substituting the real thing with tofu and some kind of gelatinous flour paste is ridiculous - and I say this as someone who loves tofu and regularly eats vegetarian food. It's delicious and creative in its own right, it doesn't have to try and mimic meat.

[(Anonymous)]

Your first paragraph sounds reasonable. The second one sounds insensitive. Even if you don't want to watch her relive her anxiety (understandable), anyone with a normal healthy amount of compassion should be able to understand why she had it instead of going "WTF."

Kids throw away lunches their parents make for them just because they don't like them. Throwing a lunch away to escape anxiety over being bullied for "weird" food is downright reasonable. (And I say this as someone who thinks it's overboard to accuse other kids of being racist if they don't want to eat with you because they don't like the way your food smells and thinks schools should ban pungent foods of all types and cultural backgrounds. You don't have to eat with the kid whose lunch bothers you, just be nice about it.)

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I mean, "I felt ashamed of my ethnic food and was bullied so I threw it away" is so, so common!

[(Anonymous)]

You are absolutely being a hater but I honestly do have to kind of respect how much of a hater you're being

[(Anonymous)]

I can't believe I'm saying this but...

You sound American. And white.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't believe you can't believe you're saying it.

[(Anonymous)]

huh, her looks and smile are really off putting.

[(Anonymous)]

I think some of it is the lighting, but she looks like a haunted doll.

[(Anonymous)]

I saw this episode and her features are fine except... she comes off as noticeably anxious and tense. Maybe she's not comfortable in front of the camera, or maybe she's just an anxious person in general. I can relate. But it was obvious to me and yeah, a little uncomfortable to watch.

[(Anonymous)]

Fun fact: Oregon has a rapidly growing population of people with alpha-gal syndrome and NO ONE KNOWS WHY. The ticks known to trigger it are not and cannot live in that region.

Vegan pork belly would be amazing and it’s great that vegan food is presented alongside non-vegan food. It’s especially good since every day at least one new person in Portland is suddenly deathly allergic to mammals and mammalian by-products and even the fish and poultry they technically can eat are usually adulterated with mammalian byproducts.

[(Anonymous)]

That second paragraph is the reason why some Asian American kids have a difficult time opening up about their experiences 😬

Already grew up feeling intense pressures to "fit in" in school and at family functions only to feel ostracized in one or both environments.

We decide not to speak our truth because better Asians will talk down about "white washed" Asians and how we're cringe or embarrassing.

Asian expectations of perfectionism and putting community before yourself are already difficult enough to grapple with. I wish people would allow us the grace to talk about our less than fun or ideal upbringing. We are aware how shameful it is to feel ashamed of your culture and doing things to distance yourself from your culture.
Feels like the same ol' "you're a disgrace" shame game to get upset that she is making vegan pork belly.

If OP isn't Asian....😬 the whole secret comes off extremely ignorant. The Asian American diaspora is still something Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z are working towards discussing in every subgroup (Chinese Americans, Vietnamese Americans, etc) in more nuanced ways. Because a lot of us didn't have the same experiences or support systems and we often feel like our experiences will be met with ridicule rather than compassion. And seeing the secret maker's comments aren't encouraging lol

[(Anonymous)]

I hoped out when you started deriding her sharing her experiences of school. Who the fuck are you to judge her for that? Ugh.

[(Anonymous)]

Why, yes, I think listening to someone talk about their adolescent experience with internalized racism would be painful because that's such a harsh yet common thing that children of immigrants go through and... oh, you meant that in the judgmental, utterly-devoid-of-empathy sense. Oh.

Bonus point for literally calling an Asian woman not ethnic enough for your liking. I love that about being a minority in America. First we were expected to assimilate and not stand out, but now we have to be good representatives of our cultures and be the most authentic dancing monkeys possible to be on TV. Great.

[(Anonymous)]

ONE OK ROCK has a great song about this specific thing called 'Stand Out, Fit In'. The video is honestly heartbreaking.