CLEVELAND ― A ruckus over the cultural sensitivity of cafeteria food at Ohio’s Oberlin College has led to heaping servings of both derision and sympathy.
The complaints of some international students were first published in the Oberlin Review, the college newspaper, in early November. The article discussed a Japanese student’s complaint that rice used in the cafeteria sushi bar was undercooked and the fish wasn’t fresh; a Vietnamese student’s outrage that a beloved sliced pork and pickled vegetable sandwich called Bahn Mi was more American barbecue than Southeast Asian street food; and a Chinese student’s pan of the cafeteria’s version of the sweet and saucy favorite, General Tso’s chicken.
The story was gradually picked up in ― and picked apart by ― media across the country.
“Students at Lena Dunham’s college offended by lack of fried chicken,” the headline read in the New York Post, referring to a student’s complaint that the General Tso’s chicken was steamed instead of fried ― and to one of its more famous alumni.
The Washington Post in a story posted on its website Monday discussed the cultural appropriation of food and, as did The Atlantic Magazine, detailed the complaints first published in the college newspaper.
“It was ridiculous,” Diep Nguyen told the Oberlin Review. “How could they just throw out something completely different and label it as another country’s traditional food?”
Japanese student Tomoya Joshi called the cafeteria’s efforts at serving sushi “disrespectful.”
