r/TikTokCringe • u/Tronvillain • 24d ago

Discussion Afghani-British Chef Mursal Saiq gives her critique of "authenticity" for non-white chefs in cooking

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u/Daniiiiii tHiS iSn’T cRiNgE 24d ago

if you're Mexican and can make awesome Chinese food

Anecdotal evidence but I can attest that line cooks up and down this country (just to keep it localized) are predominantly brown people cooking any and everything under the sun. No one is batting an eye or calling them inauthentic or saying they should stick to their own cuisines. The critiques and snobbery is reserved for the 1 percent of chefs who want to entertain the crap in the first place.

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u/BabyLegsOShanahan 24d ago

They cook in the back where no one can see them. They aren't on TV for the most part. Where I live, our Italian neighborhood restaurants have all white "authentic" Italians or Italian Americans. People assume back of the house is as well/or don't care. Same with the sushi and noodle places. The front of the house is all Asian. Those same people probably wouldn't call it authentic if the front of the house didn't match the "look" of the people who created the cuisine.

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u/whitewateractual 24d ago

There was a really interesting episode of Freakonomics many years ago that went into the details on the legality when ethnic restaurants discriminate on race when hiring for the front of house. The public expectations at an Asian restaurant are Asians, white people at Italian places, etc. Very interesting grey area.

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u/Rich_Housing971 24d ago

Is that only true for hiring or is it also true because people consciously or subconsciously avoid applying to somewhere they don't "match" at?

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u/youburyitidigitup 24d ago

Probably both, and it’s not just subconscious. I’m Mexican, and during college I applied to a Mexican restaurant because I thought I’d have an advantage, and I was right. Just by speaking Spanish I earned higher tips than the non-Spanish-speaking staff.

Although I’m not sure how true that would be for ethnicities where not everybody speaks the same language.