Why is mixing a thing suddenly?
Definitely not new, people have been doing this since at least the 90s, when I was a kid.
I also know plenty of Japanese people who say dipping the rice lightly into soy sauce is the correct method, so take literally any “sushi etiquette” guide with a grain of salt.
Eat your food in whatever way brings you joy. Anyone that says otherwise is a pointlessly-gatekeeping idiot.
Come at me bro! Ketchup is good with everything. And I’m willing to die on this hill. Name me one thing that is not better with ketchup and I’ll tell you you’re wrong.
I found that I liked bibimbap in the stone pot, and ate it a few times enjoying it, before one time one of the Korean waitresses saw me eating it unmixed as it had come out, grabbed my bowl away from me, squirted a bunch of the hot sauce into it, mixed it aggressively for me with my spoon, and then handed it back to me explaining that that’s the way to do it and I should do it that way from now on. And, some of my friends were in Thailand and had some kind of dessert come out for them that was in the shape of a snowman, and they had a member of their party who was a big fat guy, and when the food came out all the wait staff started messing with him that he and the snowman were the same shape.
I feel like Japan got all the politeness for the whole region rerouted to them and everyone else just kind does whatever kind of elbow-jabbing food-correcting baldness-making-fun-of thing that comes into their head to feel like doing at whatever time and if you don’t like it you can deal with that on your own.
Hehe. Yeah, Bibimbap is Korean. So not exactly the same thing. And as far as I know the word literally means “mixing” and “rice”. I think it’s really tasty. And it comes pretty spicy in the restaurants I’ve had it (Which is far away from Korea.)
Asia in general is just much more “honest” than the West. If you’re fat, they won’t beat around the bush and say “you’re beautiful the way you are.” If you’re ugly, they won’t hide in platitudes, they’ll say “damn, it must suck that you’re so ugly.”
It’s not malicious, these are simply facts that they don’t ignore. And, to be honest, I think it’s healthier in a lot of ways. The west has a ridiculously massive weight problem that we just completely ignore - or even actively support - because people are afraid to make anyone feel bad.
I took the phone to do a video chat with someone’s central Asian friend and he immediately said “Aw, shit, big fake American smile.” I sort of checked myself like yeah he’s right I do have a big fake bullshit meeting-someone smile on my face. Well now I feel like a dummy.
It gave me some cultural perspective.
That’s true. On the other hand, frying a good piece of beef beyond well-done also isn’t how it’s supposed to be. It’ll just get dry and destroy the thing. And similarly, if you put a high quality piece of raw salmon on rice and then proceed to make it just taste of too much wasabi and salty soy sauce, makes the salmon kinda pointless. I’m not sure. People do all kinds of silly stuff with foreign food. Including mixing all the sauce, wasabi and ginger and stuffing it in their mouths… There are worse sins available to do, but I always wonder what kind of taste buds these people have.
I mean I don’t care about that stuff too much. I just put whatever I like on sushi. I think that happens to align with what is deemed appropriate. It’s a bit boring without salt, but I want to taste the fish and rice so I use the sauce sparingly. In the end the important thing with food is that it ends up in my stomach and feeds me.
I can taste the fish quite well with soy sauce and wasabi. The saltiness raises specific flavor profiles and the wasabi kicks as those profiles are coming down. Don’t put your mouth feel on someone else unless it’s identical (it’s probably not).
The more important difference is the quality of the meal. I’ll do whatever I want with low- and mid-tier meals. I don’t know about you; my dining out budget isn’t regularly hundreds of dollars a plate so it doesn’t really matter what the chef intended they can’t express it that well at that price point.
My budget for going out also isn’t that high. But I don’t think there is a strict correlation between price and tastiness of food anyways. Sure it’ll get more fancy the more you pay. And there is some minimum if you want some quality. But after that it’s not necessarily getting more and more tasty. At least in my opinion. I’m perfectly fine with the more affordable food. Some nice Tantanmen ramen every now and then, or those tasty rice bowls with tofu and minced meat. Or middle eastern food. That’s almost always nice. It’s not super cheap, but doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either. Unfortunately my favorite pizza and burrito place isn’t around anymore.
There are some exceptions to the rule though. Some ingredients are just pricey. But I really don’t need those kinds of things on a regular basis. Sushi also isn’t something I get often.
