HOW DO *YOU* EAT PHO?

My story of the week was an article about a Caucasian chef announcing his judgments about how to eat pho, the famous Vietnamese noodle soup, correctly. Bon Appetit magazine was facing major criticism when the Philadelphian chef said his opinion on the video. But after you watch the video of his interview, which has been wiped off the internet, you find out that he wasn’t talking about how all Asians should eat their pho, he’s talking about how “he” enjoys eating his pho, and he was describing that. However, the article wasn’t called “How I Eat Pho.” The video was mistitled “How to Eat Pho,” which made it sound like he was instructing people a universal way of eating food that wasn’t even from his own culture.

I chose this article because I thought it was interesting and misunderstood, and I found it a little sad how he got so much backlash saying his thought when his thoughts weren’t even racist or discriminating. I imagine many who got angry probably only read the article/video’s title instead of reading the entire article, and then got hyped up because a white man stated his opinion on how he eats a food not of his own culture. This got a strong reaction because a lot of people are sensitive about their race, especially when they have to endure insulting comments about their culture from people different from them. These days, judgments are especially critical due to the election. A lot of people have been conditioned to protest before they hear the whole story, not realizing that there was no actual harm done. I also chose this article because its topic was on Asian food.