Our world is so full of various cultures, with their own customs, beliefs, and cuisines. What's even more beautiful is that no matter where we come from, we can learn about each other, try out things from different cultures, and maybe even respectfully bring them to our day-to-day lives.
That's exactly what today's original post's author was trying to do — he tried authentic Chinese cuisine. The bright side of the whole situation was that he loved the food. But there was something else — his girlfriend didn't like that he liked it, and it somehow became such a complicated situation that there was nothing else left to do but turn to netizens for their input.
More info: Reddit
Our world is interesting in the sense that there are many cultures all around us and we all have a chance to get to know them if we want to
Image credits: wayhomestudio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
That's what this man intended to do — get accustomed to Chinese cuisine, since his Asian girlfriend urged him to do so
Image credits: fatir29c / Freepik (not the actual photo)
With such an intention, he went to a Chinese restaurant with her
Image credits: dragonimages / Freepik (not the actual photo)
There he ordered jellyfish tentacles over vinegar and fried pork intestine
Image credits: PorkGastromancer
This annoyed his girlfriend, as she kept saying that he chose the weirdest dishes on the menu just to prove her prediction that he wouldn't like it wrong
The OP and his girlfriend had been dating for 2 years as of the original poster’s date. Their different races didn’t play a big part in their relationship, except when it came to food. You see, the woman was Asian, while the guy was white. And so, she kept urging him to try real Chinese food.
By saying real Chinese food, she was likely insinuating that he should try something more traditional to their cuisine than what’s served in common Chinese restaurants, where the food tends to get westernized.
For instance, a majority of westernized Chinese food is deep fried or soaked in sauce, while in China itself, authentic dishes are more often stewed, braised, baked, steamed, or boiled and prepared with spices instead of sauces.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that fried foods are non-existent in an authentic Chinese kitchen; they are, they just might not be as common as in the West. Same with meat – it’s more prevalent in American Chinese cuisine, but it's also used in authentic Chinese cuisine.
Overall, China has a very broad cuisine, full of a wide variety of dishes, ranging from dumplings that are kind of similar to what other countries have, like Polish pierogi, to less common ingredients, such as fugu, simply said to be a dish prepared from pufferfish.
So, a picky eater might not be keen on trying authentic Chinese cuisine, as it might be way out of their comfort zone. Yet, the OP wasn’t one of them – he was willing to do what his girlfriend urged him to do. What bugged him the most was that despite trying to encourage him to try out those dishes, the woman was also skeptical about his willingness to try. Not very motivational, when you really think about it, is it?
Image credits: Sodanie Chea / Flickr (not the actual photo)
One day, the couple finally ended up in a Chinese restaurant. As the OP described it, they had all kinds of dishes that he never even imagined. He started by ordering jellyfish tentacles over vinegar as an appetizer, to which his girlfriend reacted by saying that he must have chosen the weirdest thing just to prove her skepticism wrong.
He ended up loving it. Then, he ordered fried pork intestine, which the waiter tried discouraging him from, saying he wouldn’t like it, something his girlfriend agreed with. When the dish arrived, one of the chefs even poked his head out of the kitchen to watch the man eat it. Again, he liked the interesting food.
His girlfriend interpreted his choices and enthusiasm towards the food as him being passive-aggressive and even threatened that he might never meet her parents because of how he acts. This confused the man – was he actually being passive-aggressive? He didn’t mean to; he was just doing what seemed best for him in the situation – trying out food after being urged to do so for a while.
So, as many do, when they’re not sure on how to interpret their life situations, they turn to Reddit – netizens will always have something to say. In this case, netizens dubbed the man a non-jerk. In their eyes, the only passive-aggressive person in this whole story was none other than the woman herself – she was acting beyond weird, while the man didn’t do anything wrong.
What do you think? Do you agree with the netizens’ opinion? Perhaps you, just like the girlfriend, view the man’s actions as passive-aggressive? As always, we’re waiting for your takes in the comments!
He didn't see any bad intentions in his actions, so to make sure, he went online and got reassured by netizens that he didn't do anything wrong
