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1. Embed this notice
   Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 04:18:03 JST Adrianna Tan

   "The degree to which British people understand Mexican food — especially compared with our American cousins — is somewhere beneath basement level. This would be fine and dandy if we all remained silent when it comes to the cuisine, or confessed to our ignorance, but instead of keeping our mouths shut we exhibit severe foot-in-mouth disease."

   "Take, for example, the correctly castigated “Mexican week” episode of The Great British Bake Off in 2022, which not only reduced Mexican culture to sombreros, cacti and moustaches, but also displayed a general British ignorance of how to pronounce Spanish words. Send Paul to LA and have him pronounce pico de gallo as “picko de gallow” and it will earn him a Hollywood headshake!"

   https://www.thetimes.com/article/b47ed1b2-e21f-4b8e-a697-a64997ae7dd4?shareToken=f5d1b6bcd51187a57ebcca0ddab22973

   Not to mention the 'your rendang wasn't crispy' debacle on Masterchef UK

   https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/04/asia/masterchef-malaysia-indonesia-crispy-rendang-intl/

   #Food

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:12:03 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Halla Rempt

     @halla mexican is my all time favorite cuisine. i think i could actually not eat any chinese, japanese, indonesian, indian even, if i lived in mexico (or had mexico-level quality food). mainly, i would be happy living in mexico.

   • Embed this notice
     Halla Rempt (halla@kde.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:12:05 JST Halla Rempt

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte I'm not British... But while I enjoy various kinds of stuff rolled up in a maize pancake with a spicy kick, broiled...

     I realized that although I can get ingredients for middle-east and asian food easily, and, maybe, if I worked hard, for north-east African cooking, I can never do Mexican.

     A Google Summer of Code student gave me a region-by-region Mexican cook book, and apart from water and oil, there were no obtainable ingredients, from plant to fish to cuts of meat.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:15:57 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Jesse Spielman

     @heavyimage i have a special hatred and dislike for wagamama

   • Embed this notice
     Jesse Spielman (heavyimage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:15:58 JST Jesse Spielman

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte This was across the street from the chain-y pan asian place for white people that had a drink on its menu called the "me love you long time" This was in like 2015.

   • Embed this notice
     Jesse Spielman (heavyimage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:15:59 JST Jesse Spielman

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte I will never forget being taken to a supposedly great Mexican restaurant by my colleagues in central London called Oaxaca only to realize when I saw the sign that it was spelled "Wahaca". A part of me died that day.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:36:22 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     This whole thing started when a British born politician currently running for California governor posted a pic of himself with a Del Taco taco and called it a street taco

     #Food

   • Embed this notice
     Halla Rempt (halla@kde.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:41:13 JST Halla Rempt

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte For me, that's all in the realm of imagination. I cannot go there, and the ingredients aren't available where I live, so.... Imagination it is! (For me.)

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:44:24 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Halla Rempt

     @halla I’ll be going for the first time in a few days, so excited

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:51:49 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     I guess the American dream is that’s the British son of a Hungarian ice hockey player can take a shot say California governor

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Hilton

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:55:19 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Nina

     @bluestocking oh? I have to hold my tongue on so many wrong ramen opinions in San Francisco (factually wrong and racist opinions)

   • Embed this notice
     Nina (bluestocking@sfba.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:55:20 JST Nina

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte I was looking at Mexican places to go to when my mom was in London earlier this month (generally not a cuisine I really try to seek out in the UK, but we're Mexican-American, so I figured it was worth a shot) and there was this LONGGGG review of one place just ripping it to pieces. some of the criticism seemed possibly justified, but it was hard not to disregard their opinion entirely as soon as they said "ugh, it definitely wasn't Mexican food, they used FLOUR TORTILLAS instead of corn!!" and "there were jalapenos on things--what would those even be doing there???" (while also complaining it wasn't spicy enough... not that fresh jalapenos are particularly spicy but like...)

     I just stared at my phone blinking for a while

   • Embed this notice
     Nina (bluestocking@sfba.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 05:55:20 JST Nina

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte like I'm not about to sit here and claim the Mexican food I prefer isn't very Mexican-American, or that the versions I make at home are super authentic but! where do they think jalapenos are from! who do they think invented flour tortillas! this is going in my list of "weird rich white people food opinions" that rattle around in my brain all the time forever!

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 06:05:05 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     Inspired by all of this I am now getting Yucatán food

     There’s live music (great guitarists)

     I love this cuisine so passionately

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 06:05:18 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     Prior to falling in love with food from the Yucatán region, I personally really struggled with any sour or acidic foods. I just didn’t come from a culture that used any citrus or vinegar or anything sour (I’ve talked about this before, we don’t need to ferment or pickle foods when you have summer all year)

     But after trying food from this region of Mexico

     I’m much more open to it now. I find they have a way of being super tasty even when overwhelmingly sour (I don’t like many other sour-forward cuisines)

     It also helps that Yucatán foods are legitimately spicy in a great way I enjoy

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 06:06:12 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     @bluestocking oh god.

     I was at TJ’s the other day and I heard someone say oh yay this specific salad dressing is back! I haven’t eaten vegetables in six months! (Because they only use salad dressing out of a bottle.. I guess. Puzzling)

   • Embed this notice
     Nina (bluestocking@sfba.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 06:06:13 JST Nina

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte the main one I think about, which I share often so you might've heard it already, is from when I was working at the Whole Foods on Franklin in SF. this lady came in who was clearly a tech worker--she definitely had the money to buy whatever she wanted at Whole Foods with no issue.

     anyway, she asks me if I can recommend a pasta sauce to her, because she's been eating the basic Whole Foods-branded marinara and she's bored of it. I start trying to make recommendations and gauge her taste--maybe a vodka sauce? or arrabbiata if she'd like something spicy? and she wrinkles her nose like those sound disgusting and says no, she doesn't want those. I continue getting more and more basic in my recommendations and she shoots them all down, until eventually basically her only option is the same sauce she said she didn't want. I say "oh, well, you can always customize it with any herbs or spices you have at home." "I don't have those." I'm pretty sure I made an actual error noise when she said that tbh

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 07:58:18 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     That’s not even getting to all the soups, stews and beverages. And snacks.

     There wa as guy in my neighborhood who sold marquesitas. Rolled up wafers stuffed with good chocolate and good cheese

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 08:27:06 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Matt Blaze
     • DeeAnn Little

     @chillicampari @mattblaze when I was last in Berlin, I would go to this Vietnamese restaurant where I once joked with the owner ‘please shoot chillies into my mouth’

     She actually bought a little syringe and we did it as a joke. I really needed it there

   • Embed this notice
     DeeAnn Little (chillicampari@layer8.space)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 08:27:08 JST DeeAnn Little

     in reply to

     • Matt Blaze

     @mattblaze I'm from California, living in Germany the last 10 years and yes, many people in Germany can't handle spices (though horseradish doesn't seem to have an effect). I once ordered nachos in a well regarded cafe and got a small plate of microwaved store bought salted tortilla chips with a slice of processed cheese food product and a couple of lonely overly-brined jalepeno bits for color. It was six euro. There is a place in Berlin that can do it well but I forgot the name. @skinnylatte

   • Embed this notice
     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 08:27:10 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte But not quite at the "German tourist" level of Mexican food ignorance. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/16/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-new-york-taqueria-sauce

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 09:37:43 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Rebeca

     @rebe_gc hehe it was in the TL. Most people here from Mexico or Guatemala are Mayan so we have some of that

     I haven’t seen him recently tho

   • Embed this notice
     Rebeca (rebe_gc@beach.city)'s status on Thursday, 14-May-2026 09:37:44 JST Rebeca

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte wait, marquesitas?!?! Tell me, where, where, pleeeeaaaaseeee 😲😲😲😲😲