Can you give an example? I know that some people have a hard time with the strong smells, but I honestly have never heard it made fun of in any demeaning way. Maybe at worst a character has a bad time on a toilet due to the Indian food being so spicy, but I can't think of how it would be made fun of. Seems well loved here in the States in my experience.
Can you give an example?
I thought you meant for Indian food being praised worldwide at first...
Most people I know that enjoy Indian food switched to Thai prerty quickly. They might still get Indian occasionally, but Thai food does everything better.
Most Indian dishes that are popular in other countries, aren't even Indian. At most they were invented in other countries and portrayed as authentic. So I'm not even sure that counts.
Kind of like how General Tsao's chicken is an American dish
Butter chicken was invented for the British (in India), but naan bread and the various dal dishes are authentic, and those are the first things I think of. Thai food is good too, but it's different.
Yeah...
But that was invented by people from Pakistan who were just living in India...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_chicken
So its still a stretch to call it Indian food.
And naan is from Iran...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naan
Muslims brought it to India when they conquered it.
It's like saying a Big Mac is authentic Native American food
Gee, how far back does it have to go to be authentic? Tomatoes weren't in Italy until after Columbus brought them (of course after 1300), and didn't catch on until well after the later date mentioned of 1700, so there goes all of Italy's most famous dishes.
Hamburgers are American food. Not Native American food, but American. Next you're going to tell me baguettes are Middle Eastern food because grain was domesticated there, or that camel meat is Native American food because they evolved in America before crossing the land bridge in pre-human times.
According to your source
Naan as known today originates from Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt.
The word Naan originates from Iran.
Anyway you might as well try to make the case that any Indian dish that contains tomatoes, potatoes, chillies, squash, and much else isn't really Indian because they didn't exist there until a few hundred years ago.
I think after a cuisine or manner of cooking has been used in a region for almost a thousand years we are free to say it is authentic to that region, even though it was introduced. That you would deny Indians that, while accepting that Thai cuisine only started using chilli peppers in the last 300 years, opens a broader discussion about your personal understanding of culture and ethnicity.
Further, a Big Mac is a product made by a single corporation, lmao. I’m not going to justify that with further argument. But to use your Naitive American angle; a big part of NA cuisine is a bread called ‘bannock’. It can be savoury or sweet, and every tribe cooks it a little different from every other tribe. It is an important part of Indegenous cooking… and it’s an introduced food. The word bannock isn’t even from any native word. It came about from Scottish settlers/workers surviving on meagre company rations of flour and oil in isolated regions where they had no idea how to get food from the land. First Nations were introduced to it then found themselves in a similar situation as they were pushed off their land and given flour rations by the government so they wouldn’t all die. This all happened so recently my grandparents knew people affected by this.
It’s integral to their culture, even, and anyone who would deny bannock isn’t naitive would rightly be called an idiot by any indigenous person I know. Even though it’s an introduced food. That’s how culture, and food, work.
I've not heard these jokes. I love my Indian food. Taco Bell jokes are 10x more prevalent. What are your sources for Indian food hate?
As a Mexican, I don’t take Taco Bell jokes to be offensive. Or even Mexican food jokes to be offensive, for that matter. I mean, i know my people’s food will sometimes make me shit my pants, but fuck it’s delicious. But back to the point, Taco Bell is far from being ethnically offensive, because it is far from being representative of Mexican food.
Taco Bell is far from being ethnically offensive, because it is far from being representative of Mexican food.
You’re right, Taco Bell is way better.
(just kidding pls no hate)
laughs in Mexican
Jajaja
Everyone knows it's a shitty photocopy of Tex-Mex. We eat it anyway because it's greasy, cheap food with a strong but not offensive flavour of some kind.
Yeah, the joke isn't just that Mexican food gave them the shits, it's that we still eat knowing that is the case because its so fucking good.
Do Mexicans even know how to be offended, or is it a foreign concept completely? You guys like Speedy Gonzales.
I think a very interesting part of Mexican culture is to learn how to not take ourselves too seriously. I had to learn to deal with being made fun of for the stupidest things. It was always “el que se enoja, pierde (he who gets mad, loses).” So you had to learn how to take it and dish it back. And the idea was to keep it as a battle of wits, without becoming irate and physical. I have to admit, I lost more times than I’d like to own up…
You guys like Speedy Gonzales.
They (a good amount of Mexican immigrants at the time) like Speedy because it was pretty much the only remotely positive representation of Mexicans in American television back then...
What's weirder is they also thought his cousin slowpoke was funny. Even tho Slowpoke was a common stereotype of Mexicans, having him on the same show as Speedy made it less bad, because a lazy relative was something everyone of all cultures can relate with.
If they showed all of Speedy's family as the same as Slowpoke it would have been more problematic.
But especially back then, minorities were pretty pumped to get any positive representation
I'm American and I can't think of a comedy show that makes fun of Indian food. Can you name one of them so I can check it out?
I'd say most medium to large sized cities in the US have Indian restaurants, so it's not so unusual.
Casual xenophobia/racism. Much like the whole MSG thing here.
Indian food is very popular in the US and I have never heard anybody rag on it ever. Don't know what kind of media you must be consuming.
Do they? I rarely see jokes about it and if I do see jokes they are spicy diarrhea related which I will admit is odd because Americanized Indian food is not spicy at all.
I don't know if I've ever seen jokes about Indian food, but if you're right I would guess it's for the same reasons Taco Bell gets the same jokes - it's still spicy by "mayonnaise is spicy" standards and (at least my orders) are usually bean heavy and that's a lot of fiber by average American diet standards. The joke is really on us, not the Indian food.
exactly the spicey diarrhea jokes, as well as direct comparisons to vomit. American Dad and Family Guy writers spring to mind.
That's the kind of jokes those shows make; cheap shots and poop jokes.
The spice jokes happen in any nation that culturally lacks a pepper based heat as a common seasoning, towards any food with said spice. Southern states, who share food inspiration with mexico, do not have these jokes. They eat the hottest nonsense sauces, theyre used to the effect.
Do they?
It's not just Indian food. A number of mostly older Americans like to make fun of any spicy "foreign" foods that are more adventurous than the local Taco Bell. They do it because their tummies can't handle anything that's not bland to the point of being tastless. These are the same people who think salt and pepper are exotic spices. For the record I am American and I love Indian food
Who made you the expert on old people and their tummies?
I did. I decide those kinda things.
Don't ask who tasked me with this responsibility
Its not that they arent used to flavored food. You have a built up tolerance to a mildly toxic chemical such that it doesnt cause you intestinal inflammation anymore.
I love heat as much as the next guy, but lets be clear. You dont taste with your butthole, and its a toxin that doesnt discriminate between tongue and tookus.
It gets the same jokes as Mexican food usually here. Really, some people's guts just can't handle any amount of spice, and poo jokes are always a hit.
Do they? I don't watch much TV and nobody I know makes fun of Indian food, it's awesome.
I haven't seen too many shows make fun of Indian food, but to be fair my taste in TV often isn't very mainstream and doesn't tend to include a lot of comedy, so I may not be the right one to answer this.
When I do see it, usually I see them joking about the smell, and I can kind of get that. Don't get me wrong, I love Indian food, I love the flavors and smells and all that goes with it. But all of those wonderful spices can create a powerful smell, it can kind of cling to clothing and such, if you live in an apartment it's very likely you'll smell when your neighbors are cooking Indian food, etc. and I can get how that can be annoying or unpleasant for some people. Honestly, if I was constantly smelling Indian food wafting into my apartment through a shared vent or something, I'd probably get sick of it too.
There's also the fact that a lot of Americans just have a very bland palate, and all of the spices, not to mention heat, can be very overwhelming to people who aren't accustomed to it. Personally when I see these jokes, and again, my experience may not be typical, it tends to be more at the expense of the American having boring taste in food than actually making fun of Indian food itself.
And since I mentioned that people may not be accustomed to it, let's not forget that America is a big, diverse country, and not every part of America has a big Indian population, which means a lot of the country doesn't necessarily have a lot of exposure to indian food. I do happen to live in an area with a lot of Indian families, but you only need to drive maybe about an hour away for your options to dry up pretty quickly. I have friends who genuinely do not have any Indian restaurants anywhere near them, and their grocery options are sometimes kind of limited which may get in the way of making it at home if they wanted to (and not everyone is a great cook or willing to risk messing up dinner with unfamiliar recipes) And that much spice and flavor when you're not used to it can be a bit off-putting. I'm a fairly adventurous eater, but I didn't grow up eating Indian food (my mom is one of those kinds of people who thinks a McChicken is too spicy,) and I know the first time I had Indian I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, I didn't dislike it, but I had to have it a couple times before I really came to appreciate it.
Personally, in my circles the people who don't like Indian tend to be the odd ones out that get made fun of, but again I'm not necessarily representative of America in general, that's just been my own experience. I even know some people who love indian food but can't/shouldn't eat it due to all of the spices and such not sitting well with their stomachs (and there may be a discussion to be had about many American's bland, super-processed diets having negative effects on their gut microbiomes possibly making it harder for their systems to handle certain cuisines, but that's well outside of my depth to really go into, I'm a foodie, not a nutritionist, so take my speculation with a heaping helping of some coarse finishing salt)
let's not forget that America is a big, diverse country
We just did a 5 week trip in the US which was LA, drive to Vegas, fly to NYC, then drive 5000k to the middle of Texas, and man... I keep hearing about all this diversity but that joint is the same all over. Having some mountains in the background instead of a desert, and having a majority RAM 2500s instead of majority Teslas is not the "diversity" I'd been led to believe existed. It's all just chain stores, tipping, and bad coffee anywhere you go.
Yeah I'd like to see some examples. Everyone I know loves Indian food. Hope you're not some kind of troll. Give me that curry, man!
odd, never heard of comedy making fun of foreign food.
I personally enjoy a fair bit of Indian food, it's quite varied.
What is the punchline you see in American media about Indian food?
The stereotype of Indian cuisine is that it sometimes has really strong flavor, sometimes a strong smell to match. Those are not bad things.
I don't have any overall negative associations with Indian food. There are certainly dishes that don't appeal to me, but if anyone wanted to go to an Indian restaurant for dinner, I would say "yes, please".
Edit: I see some comments about "spicy diarrhea" jokes. I see those as a function of people not acclimated to spicy food, not that the spicy food itself is bad. I'm impressed by people who can eat full spicy level Indian food. I would be on a toilet for a day if I ate fully spicy level; that's my problem, not the fault of Indian cuisine overall.
It's so common people don't even see it. But it's the same thing as Mexican food. The perception is it is spicy and will give you diarrhea.
I firmly believe this is because American people in general don't understand what spices are. Spiced does not mean spicy hot. Spiced is flavourful and they just can't have that. I have dined with Americans that truly believe black pepper is too spicy. We had a Starbucks chai which is absolutely terrible, and they've said "it's too spicy"... What? Their brains equate flavour to spicy heat to bad.
It's stupidly infuriating.
bland shows catering to bland tastes, maybe?
Maybe it’s that I don’t watch much comedy, but I’ve literally never seen anything dump on Indian. There is nothing more delicious than Indian. Nothing. Not even Mexican food. I do not say that lightly.
What? I've never seen anyone rag on Indian food.
At worst, the way they eat it, but never the food.
I honestly can't think of seeing anything like that.
If anything we might make fun of some of us who can't take anything spicier than mashed potatoes.
Dang. Now I'm hungry for some saag paneer.
Any time I used to bring anything with so much as a waft of cumin for lunch, the bitchy conservative office manager would complain.
I now happily WFH.
Hollywood and reality are very different. Hollywood makers can be slightly out of touch. In reality people here love Indian food. Many people I know tolerate decent spice levels too.
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