The Durian Fiasco: How a Story About Asian Fruits Sparked a Debate on Orientalism
A New York Times story celebrating Southeast Asia's fruity bounty (while trading in what many say are reductive stereotypes) has prompted an outpouring of criticism online.
by Heather Chen
June 29, 2020, 11:55am

[Then] the New York Times published a piece on Thailand’s fruit culture by its Bangkok-based bureau chief, Hannah Beech, titled "Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort But Delivers Sublime Reward." The piece explores, in a florid style familiar to readers of "exotic" food writing, the pleasures, disappointments, and aggravations of regional staples such as rambutan, jackfruit, mangosteen, snake fruit, and of course, the King of Fruits, durian.

But unlike most Western media outlets’ semi-regular toe-dips into durian coverage (almost always reduced to the conclusion "hey, it smells!"), the Times’ article sparked a heated online conversation about Western coverage of Asian food, and it’s sometimes allegedly problematic tendency to traffic in colonial, orientalist tropes.

From Singapore and Malaysia to Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, Twitter users slammed the Times’ story as "poorly informed," "terrible," and even flat-out "racist," rallying to the defense of the region’s beloved fruits.

"No one insults a mangosteen. One worships it as the fruit of the gods!," tweeted the novelist Monique Truong. "Also, a rambutan looks like the coronavirus?... Why don't you just go ahead and call it the 'kung flu' of fruits?"

Full article: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8898 ... ism-debate

Hannah Beech's article for the NYT Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward can be read here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/worl ... urian.html

God, I love how people get so offended over nothing nowadays.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:18 am God, I love how people get so offended over nothing nowadays.

God knows how you feel.

retarded

durian lovers who enjoy their fruit like how Europeans enjoy wine and cheese—and Western media outlets often miss this point

sans the skill and artistry of wine and cheese-makers, obviously
is modern durian even a man-made breed?
i don't see how this point improves any stereotype, in fact the opposite

and how dare they criticize this woman giving a voice to her lived experience

the world has become post-modern, post-truth, post-rational
How French "Intellectuals" Ruined the West

Am wondering where the journalist got her education from?

I am so happy that I am a hermit - miss all this cr*p snowflake/PC trash. I call a spade a spade and a twat a twat......

Its just plain silliness to bring racism into an issue of selling and eating fruits.
If you like durian, the best I have ever tasted is on sale at 20000reil per kilo, the stones inside are small and the fruit is that of a very creamy texture. I tried to ask the variety type of fruit, but didn't get a reply.
The shop only sells durian, located street 369, righthand side next to the pharmacy. Well worth the buy.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:18 am God, I love how people get so offended over nothing nowadays.

Tell me & about 5 Aussies & several fellow Kiwis.We have all been banned from this forum over the last 2 years for also calling out misinformed tourists their inaccuracies & calling a spade ,a spade.
The farce continues . (2 ).

MarkRobinson wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:13 pm

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:18 am God, I love how people get so offended over nothing nowadays.

Tell me & about 5 Aussies & several fellow Kiwis.We have all been banned from this forum over the last 2 years for also calling out misinformed tourists their inaccuracies & calling a spade ,a spade.
The farce continues . (2 ).

Don't be so offended then. Real kiwis don't whinge.