Appropriation or appreciation? White owner of NYC Chinese eatery in hot water over insensitive comments

Associated Press

A New York City restaurant owner who touted her “clean” American-Chinese cuisine and derided Chinese dishes as swimming in “globs of processed butter,” sodium and MSG is renewing the long-simmering debate about stereotyping and cultural appropriation in the restaurant world.

Arielle Haspel, who is white and a certified health coach, told the dining website Eater she wanted to offer modified, “clean” versions of typical Chinese menu items. In a now deleted Instagram post. Haspel said the Chinese noodle dish of lo mein can make people feel “bloated and icky.”

Online critics pounced. New York Baohaus restaurateur and author Eddie Huang dismissed Lucky Lee’s as “the Fyre Fest of food & ‘wellness,’” on the restaurant’s Instagram page.

Haspel’s comments are the latest misstep in a succession of restaurateurs and TV chefs who have been criticized for insensitivity when dealing with food from a culture not their own.

Robert Ku, a professor of Asian-American studies and food studies at Binghamton University, New York, said Haspel came off as relying on age-old stereotypes of Chinese food. It was especially tone-deaf in New York City where most locals regularly eat Chinese food.

Haspel was apologetic in an interview Friday with the New York Times .

“We were never trying to do something against the Chinese community. We thought we were complementing an incredibly important cuisine, in a way that would cater to people that had certain dietary requirements,” she said. “Shame on us for not being smarter about cultural sensitivities.”

She previously acknowledged the uproar via Instagram and promised to listen and reflect on comments.

She did not return messages from the AP seeking comment.

Being against cultural appropriation doesn’t necessarily mean being against anyone cooking outside of their ethnicity or culture, said Ku. It’s the line between appropriation and appreciation where things can get tenuous.

“What people are reacting to is saying, ‘For generations, Chinese in America were doing stuff but they did it horribly. As a white person, I can do it better,’”Ku said.

New York restaurateur Stratis Morfogen, who is of Greek descent, doesn’t worry about the cultural appropriation accusations against his steakhouse for its Chinese-inspired items.

Brooklyn Chop House, which opened last fall, offers cheeseburgers, pastrami and French onion soup encapsulated in Chinese-dumpling form. Morfogen is collaborating with singer Patti LaBelle to bring the dumplings to frozen food aisles later this year, packaged in reusable bamboo steamers.

“If people didn’t move forward or innovate or create and fuse different cultures together, the culinary landscape would be pretty boring,” Morfogen said.

Morfogen employs more than 15 chefs from China across his restaurants and a Chinese chef is also one of his partners. He thinks restaurant owners worried about inadvertently stereotyping just need to think twice before they speak.

“I really believe that those words are insensitive and it hurts people,” Morfogen said. “I don’t think that is what food is meant to be. I think food is meant to bring all the cultures together and respect each other.”