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Speak On It! Oriental fried rice

November 2nd, 2011  |  Published in Speak On It!  |  6 intelligent opinions  |  Tags: , , , ,

I was shopping in Woolworths and came across their Select brand of “Oriental fried flavoured rice”:
They called it “oriental”. WTF? It’s like if they called a product “negro”. They probably think “oriental” is the same as “Asian”, but it’s not. “Oriental” is a racial classification created by Europeans or Westerners (the “Occident”) to group millions and billions of people to their east (“The East”). It’s annoying because fried rice is not a pan-Asian food nor is the “fried rice flavour”. This product and the name chosen reinforces the apathy many non-Asian Australians have towards Asians who are also consumers and citizens of this country.

It’s the racial insensitivity and apathetic “Who cares? They’re all the same” mentality that is racist. That’s why they didn’t care to check what sort of flavour they were creating or what to correctly name it.

Woolworths isn’t the only ignorant company doing this. Nearby was Continental’s “Oriental fried rice”:

- George Wu.

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  • http://twitter.com/liliandarmono Lilian Darmono

    Jeepers, George, this product must’ve been invented in England. They call us ‘Orientals’ there, and Asians refer to Indians/Bangladeshis/Pakistanis/Sri Lankans. No need to get panties up in a bunch about it..I dont find the terem that insulting..

  • rage-a-hol

    Who is “they”? The hegemony? Why do they get to assign a term steeped in racist sentiment to an entire population?

    Edward Said, 1978, made the excellent point that Orientalism – the label, the philosophy, the movement – stems from the process of hegemonic Othering of all that is not Western (or belonging to the inverse of Oriental, “Occidental”).  The term’s history comes from the long tradition of romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East in Western culture which had served as an implicit justification for European and American colonial and imperial ambitions.

    An Oriental is not an Asian person, it is a caricature. Caricatures are de-humanising.

    Furthermore, if George finds it offensive why should the fact that you’re okay with everyone calling you an Oriental change that?

  • Anonymous

    What pisses me more is the way in which this ‘oriental’ food is always promoted for white people’s benefit. White people get to engage in ‘multiculturalism’ on their terms a ‘what can these ethnics do for me’ kind of way. Oohhh Oriental food! – However homogenised. Pisses me off.

  • Anonymous

    What pisses me more is the way in which this ‘oriental’ food is always promoted for white people’s benefit. White people get to engage in ‘multiculturalism’ on their terms a ‘what can these ethnics do for me’ kind of way. Oohhh Oriental food! – However homogenised. Pisses me off.

  • Anonymous

    What pisses me more is the way in which this ‘oriental’ food is always promoted for white people’s benefit. White people get to engage in ‘multiculturalism’ on their terms a ‘what can these ethnics do for me’ kind of way. Oohhh Oriental food! – However homogenised. Pisses me off.

  • Anonymous

    Unlearning white racism is tough, I don’t blame you for not understanding George. Think about how this term has been used historically. Think about how it is used now. Asians have been racialised under white hegemony. We will always be a group of chinks. Orientals we are, not people.

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