A social justice warrior and culture writer complained on Twitter about the alleged problematic nature of a white chef publishing a cookbook about dumplings and noodles.
Roslyn Talusan insinuated in a tweet that she found the idea of a white woman writing a cookbook about traditional Asian food to be a form of cultural appropriation. Talusan tweeted, “Why did a white woman write a cookbook about dumplings and noodles.”
Twitter/@roslyntalusan
Talusan is a freelancer at outlets such as The AV Club, B*tch Media, Refinery29, and Vice. She has posted a slew of controversial takes against white women online, including one that dubbed white women as “a plague.”
Her tweet was directed at BBC recipe writer Pippa Middlehurst, a former cancer research scientist turned winner of Britain’s Best Home Cook. She studied Chinese cookery at Lanzhou Noodle School and created a cookbook to help people create her favorite dumpling and noodle recipes at home.
Twitter users opted to dunk on Talusan for trying to call out someone so well-versed in Chinese food culture. One user pointed out that Middlehurst had been studying Chinese food culture for over 15 years.
“LMAO the woman has been learning east/southeast Asian cooking for over 15 years and attended an actual f*****g NOODLE SCHOOL in China,” the user said. “It’s like you think it’s impossible for anyone who isn’t Chinese to be just as versed in preparing dumplings as anyone of the culture.”
LMAO the woman has been learning east/southeast Asian cooking for over 15 years and attended an actual fucking NOODLE SCHOOL in China.
It's like you think it's impossible for anyone who isn't Chinese to be just as versed in preparing dumplings as anyone of the culture.
— IGP ✪ (@igp) August 16, 2021
A second user noted that other cultures make traditional American foods and that dumplings are not a food exclusive to Asia.
“Wait till you find out that Arabs can make pizza, Russians can make omlettes [sic] and Japanese can make burgers,” the second user said. “That should be fun to watch. Btw, dumplings aren’t exclusively Asian. They’re also native in Europe. In German they’re commonly known as Knödel of Klöse.”
Wait till you find out that Arabs can make pizza, Russians can make omlettes and Japanese can make burgers.
That should be fun to watch.
Btw, dumplings aren't exclusively Asian. They're also native in Europe. In German they're commonly known as Knödel or Klöse.
— Captain Bearatio Hornbearer (@Bearocalypse) August 16, 2021
Another Twitter user said that Talusan was trying to “segregate cooking.”
“Because she’s passionate about dumplings and noodles and is really good at making them? You really trying to segregate cooking?”
Because she’s passionate about dumplings and noodles and is really good at making them?
You really trying to segregate cooking?
— ŠarŠarrāni (@Nebuchadnezzar9) August 16, 2021
Middlehurst responded to the intense backlash lobbed at her from Talusan’s tweet in a long Twitter thread.
It read:
Hi Roslyn Talusan – trying to approach this [without] defensiveness & it seems as though your issue is with the larger system of injustice in food publishing/under representation of BIPOC authors/over representation of white authors, rather than *me personally* or I think so anyway.
Attacking an individual that you know nothing about, pasting a picture of my face and calling me an arrogant and uncreative white woman allows others who respect your opinion to justify harassing me. In my experience, tweets like this don’t challenge the systemic issue, or instigate any change. It just serves to temporarily make me the poster child for that system of injustice — that no doubt I am part of — and simply leads to dog piling and mounds of threatening DMs telling me for .e.g to “go and drown,” “you deserve to fail” and it ends there.
Following the online blowback, Talusan posted her PayPal account to her Twitter feed in hopes of raising funds for her alleged $130 therapy sessions.
“Anyway, therapy costs me $130/session and I’m gonna need it after almost 48 hours of harassment from nazis. Thank you to everyone who sees what’s happening. Tips, solidarity, heart emojis appreciated,” Talusan said.
Twitter/@roslyntalusan