Gene Weingarten is being DRAGGED for his article hating on indian food

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shrugs.

I spent enough time eating in India as well as in Dubai, which probably has the best Indian dining scene outside India and in many ways, possibly even better than India itself, and there's truth to that so much of Indian cooking is essentially overcooked brown mush tasting of the same handful of spices (hi cumin!). Can it be more complex than that? Sure, but there's also a kernel of truth to it. The prevalence of certain spices seems to be so dominant and it's not to everyone's taste.

On the whole, I liked South Indian better than North Indian despite being spicier as there seemed to be more variety in flavors involved.

Nor is it racist to say one doesn't like Indian food. How many of you would argue it's racist to say you don't like Russian or Polish food? Neither are award winning cuisines and both, especially Russian, can have very unpleasant but common flavors. Pickled herring isn't for everyone.

You might have a global experience of Indian food, but it hasn't stopped you from being completely ignorant of the diversity of Indian food. I'm really curious about where you've dined in India and Dubai, since I'm shocked that you walked away with this impression. As an Indian American who grew up eating Indian food, I'm can't think of a single dish of "brown mush". Okay, well, maybe certain varieties of daal. So, there's actually no "kernel of truth" to this statement, unless of course you've only ever sampled a very narrow variety of foods from a small region of India. Please name to me one South Indian dish that is overcooked brown mush. Or one Goan dish. Do you know how many Indians' cuisine you've blithely argued doesn't even count?

Your statement is no more accurate or informed than my saying that Italian food mostly consists of a red tomato sauce with pasta. The only scenario in which this has a "kernel of truth" is one in which my entire understanding of Italian food is limited to the offerings of Chef Boyardee.

Anyway, surprised Padma Lakshmi's response didn't make it to this thread, so I'll share it now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/08/25/padma-gene-weingarten-indian-food/

Take a long look at Indian restaurant menus, both in India and the US. Look at the colors of curries and other dishes. Many are variant shades of brown and beige. Even you admitted it to some degree.

A lot of Indian cooking does involve very long cooking times, with meat cooked to the point of falling off the bone in thick sauces, whether wet or dry fry. A lot of it is mushy (hi daal!).

I stand by what I said. I can occasionally enjoy Indian and I've eaten widely among the various regions of India but so much of it really is overcooked, overspiced brown mush in one form or another. Personally, I liked the Indian influenced curries of Malaysia and Thailand better as they're more developed and flavorful and the various ingredients, especially vegetables, are crisper rather than mushy. But that's all right. Not every cuisine is for everyone. Just like Russian or Polish isn't for everyone (heavy, stodgy, some weird flavors, beet!).

The real question is whether a thread on how terrible Russian food is would be called out as racist? Or the dull stodginess of much of Northern European food? I doubt it. But a thread on Indian cooking, with strongly dominant flavors and spices that not everyone likes, is racist. Got it.

I said you were ignorant, not racist.

And I have looked at menus in both countries. In the US I will grant option are limited, but even then it's not all mush. Dunno where you've eaten in India, but your experience isn't even close to mine. And, no, my agreeing that certain varieties and preparations of daal are brown and mushy is no more conceding your point than an Italian agreeing marinara sauce exists in my analogy.

I find it odd that you are insisting on arguing with a person of Indian origin that you understand the food I was raised eating better than me. Your sampling of restaurants which are typically limited to a narrow set of Indian cuisines doesn't mean you know everything about a millennia old food tradition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weingarten is a great satirist. To appreciate satire one must be open-minded. Since more and more people are becoming more rigidly close-minded (both on the left and right of the ideological spectrum), satire is — regrettably — less appreciated and less understood.

Satire punches up, not down.

This old white dude is entirely within his rights to dislike a certain variety of food. However, it's not satire to say so. Moreover, the idea that someone deserves a platform in order to make fun of people with less political, social, and economic power than him is something WaPo should probably evaluate.

If he's run out of things to say, he can stop retire. But he does not deserve an international platform for this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weingarten is a great satirist. To appreciate satire one must be open-minded. Since more and more people are becoming more rigidly close-minded (both on the left and right of the ideological spectrum), satire is — regrettably — less appreciated and less understood.

Satire punches up, not down.

This old white dude is entirely within his rights to dislike a certain variety of food. However, it's not satire to say so. Moreover, the idea that someone deserves a platform in order to make fun of people with less political, social, and economic power than him is something WaPo should probably evaluate.

If he's run out of things to say, he can stop retire. But he does not deserve an international platform for this nonsense.

Good lord. I don't think he's making fun of Indian people. I read it as making fun of himself for being the pompous a-- he has always been about his opinions. His food critiques were a mainstay of his chats for years.

But he certainly goosed a bunch of people and I'm sure the Post is enjoying the kerfuffle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weingarten is a great satirist. To appreciate satire one must be open-minded. Since more and more people are becoming more rigidly close-minded (both on the left and right of the ideological spectrum), satire is — regrettably — less appreciated and less understood.

Satire punches up, not down.

This old white dude is entirely within his rights to dislike a certain variety of food. However, it's not satire to say so. Moreover, the idea that someone deserves a platform in order to make fun of people with less political, social, and economic power than him is something WaPo should probably evaluate.

If he's run out of things to say, he can stop retire. But he does not deserve an international platform for this nonsense.

Good lord. I don't think he's making fun of Indian people. I read it as making fun of himself for being the pompous a-- he has always been about his opinions. His food critiques were a mainstay of his chats for years.

But he certainly goosed a bunch of people and I'm sure the Post is enjoying the kerfuffle.

I doubt it. I've seen a lot of BIPOC WaPo staff online breaking ranks and speaking publicly about how offensive they found this. Couple that with how much he's doubling down on his bad opinions, I think the Post is probably pretty mad about this.

[Anonymous]

I had not realized that Weingarten is only 56. In reading his “humor” columns over the years, I assumed he was in his 80s-90s. You know, great uncle “humor” that you steel yourself for in the days leading up to Thanksgiving!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had not realized that Weingarten is only 56. In reading his “humor” columns over the years, I assumed he was in his 80s-90s. You know, great uncle “humor” that you steel yourself for in the days leading up to Thanksgiving!

??? GW is 69.

[Anonymous]

I used to LOOOOVE Gene. Witty, smart, excellent writer, self-deprecating.

And then, he dipped into Gross Old Man Territory about 5-8 years ago. He and his wife got divorced and he started dating his very young coworker whom he'd mentored. Vomit. Such a cliche and just all around gross. She is a similar age to his daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had not realized that Weingarten is only 56. In reading his “humor” columns over the years, I assumed he was in his 80s-90s. You know, great uncle “humor” that you steel yourself for in the days leading up to Thanksgiving!

??? GW is 69.

Oops - not sure where I got the idea he was 56! He is 69. BUT still - his humor seems a decade older than that at least. The 69 year olds I know would not spout the stuff Gene does!

[Anonymous]

I know this is a minority opinion but I rather thought he was playing the doofus in a self-aware way. Like, look at me, I'm kind of stupid about this, aren't I stupid?

But I may be wrong about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a minority opinion but I rather thought he was playing the doofus in a self-aware way. Like, look at me, I'm kind of stupid about this, aren't I stupid?

But I may be wrong about that.

That is how I read it, too, but obviously we are in the minority.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think he’s funny. This column was full of racist tropes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shrugs.

I spent enough time eating in India as well as in Dubai, which probably has the best Indian dining scene outside India and in many ways, possibly even better than India itself, and there's truth to that so much of Indian cooking is essentially overcooked brown mush tasting of the same handful of spices (hi cumin!). Can it be more complex than that? Sure, but there's also a kernel of truth to it. The prevalence of certain spices seems to be so dominant and it's not to everyone's taste.

On the whole, I liked South Indian better than North Indian despite being spicier as there seemed to be more variety in flavors involved.

Nor is it racist to say one doesn't like Indian food. How many of you would argue it's racist to say you don't like Russian or Polish food? Neither are award winning cuisines and both, especially Russian, can have very unpleasant but common flavors. Pickled herring isn't for everyone.

You might have a global experience of Indian food, but it hasn't stopped you from being completely ignorant of the diversity of Indian food. I'm really curious about where you've dined in India and Dubai, since I'm shocked that you walked away with this impression. As an Indian American who grew up eating Indian food,[/b] I'm can't think of a single dish of "brown mush". [b]Okay, well, maybe certain varieties of daal. So, there's actually no "kernel of truth" to this statement, unless of course you've only ever sampled a very narrow variety of foods from a small region of India. Please name to me one South Indian dish that is overcooked brown mush. Or one Goan dish. Do you know how many Indians' cuisine you've blithely argued doesn't even count?

Your statement is no more accurate or informed than my saying that Italian food mostly consists of a red tomato sauce with pasta. The only scenario in which this has a "kernel of truth" is one in which my entire understanding of Italian food is limited to the offerings of Chef Boyardee.

Anyway, surprised Padma Lakshmi's response didn't make it to this thread, so I'll share it now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/08/25/padma-gene-weingarten-indian-food/

NP here. In addition to Dal, chicken curry is essentially chicken cooked in ‘brown mush.’ These are 2 common dishes that people eat in Indian restaurants. I happen to like the mush but understand if other people don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shrugs.

I spent enough time eating in India as well as in Dubai, which probably has the best Indian dining scene outside India and in many ways, possibly even better than India itself, and there's truth to that so much of Indian cooking is essentially overcooked brown mush tasting of the same handful of spices (hi cumin!). Can it be more complex than that? Sure, but there's also a kernel of truth to it. The prevalence of certain spices seems to be so dominant and it's not to everyone's taste.

On the whole, I liked South Indian better than North Indian despite being spicier as there seemed to be more variety in flavors involved.

Nor is it racist to say one doesn't like Indian food. How many of you would argue it's racist to say you don't like Russian or Polish food? Neither are award winning cuisines and both, especially Russian, can have very unpleasant but common flavors. Pickled herring isn't for everyone.

You might have a global experience of Indian food, but it hasn't stopped you from being completely ignorant of the diversity of Indian food. I'm really curious about where you've dined in India and Dubai, since I'm shocked that you walked away with this impression. As an Indian American who grew up eating Indian food,[/b] I'm can't think of a single dish of "brown mush". [b]Okay, well, maybe certain varieties of daal. So, there's actually no "kernel of truth" to this statement, unless of course you've only ever sampled a very narrow variety of foods from a small region of India. Please name to me one South Indian dish that is overcooked brown mush. Or one Goan dish. Do you know how many Indians' cuisine you've blithely argued doesn't even count?

Your statement is no more accurate or informed than my saying that Italian food mostly consists of a red tomato sauce with pasta. The only scenario in which this has a "kernel of truth" is one in which my entire understanding of Italian food is limited to the offerings of Chef Boyardee.

Anyway, surprised Padma Lakshmi's response didn't make it to this thread, so I'll share it now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/08/25/padma-gene-weingarten-indian-food/

NP here. In addition to Dal, chicken curry is essentially chicken cooked in ‘brown mush.’ These are 2 common dishes that people eat in Indian restaurants. I happen to like the mush but understand if other people don’t.

My point is they aren't the foods people eat at home. I am guessing that pasta Bolognese is the most common Italian dish consumed be Americans in restaurants, it's still not representative of the extent of Italian food

PP listed all the places they've eaten Indian food in restaurants to establish their credibility...but they still are belying their ignorance. Notably, they never did name a South Indian or Goan dish that consists of brown mush...

Also, chicken curry the way I was taught to prepare it isn't brown or mushy. It's got a thin broth...so you all insisting you know Indian food based on American-ized restaurants is just bizarre. Guess what, Panda Express is also not representative of Chinese cuisine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a minority opinion but I rather thought he was playing the doofus in a self-aware way. Like, look at me, I'm kind of stupid about this, aren't I stupid?

But I may be wrong about that.

That is how I read it, too, but obviously we are in the minority.

That was absolutely the style he was going for. But you still have to avoid racist tropes, and he failed in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Jesus, who cares?