Food is food... Right?

One summer I took one of my good friends with me to a family BBQ. I am an Asian person of colour. We were on our way to the picnic table with all the food on it and she said “Ew I don’t want to eat this. I want to eat normal people's food. Your people are weird.” At the time I was in grade five and I didn’t find that offensive because racism against Asians was pretty normalized in our society and still is. The fact that she said “normal people” and “your people” didn’t really sit well with me though. I was ashamed of my culture after she said that and I didn’t know why. I never brought any of my cultural meals to school for lunch because I didn’t want to be judged.

"Sometimes I still feel embarrassed to talk about my culture and embarrassed when my parents talk in our native language in public. I never brought any of my cultural meals to school for lunch because I didn’t want to be judged."

I asked what “normal” was and she responded with “Hamburgers and hotdogs are normal, not this gross stuff.” After that statement, I still didn’t find what she said offensive. Looking back at it, I now know that what she said was really terrible and racist. Sometimes I still feel embarrassed to talk about my culture and embarrassed when my parents talk in our native language in public. I never brought any of my cultural meals to school for lunch because I didn’t want to be judged. I only wanted my parents to speak to me in English when we were out in public. I am ashamed of myself for feeling this way about my own culture.

- November, 2020