Serving up Supremacy? Grad Thesis: 'Authentic' Ethnic Restaurants Support White Supremacy

P. Gardner Goldsmith | January 24, 2019
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When are eclectic dining tastes not signs of “diverse” interests?

When a Social Justice Warrior says so, and that’s that.

The College Fix recently reported that Sara Kay, a grad student in the field of “Food Services” at New York University, just penned an article for Eater based on her “research” into the use of the word “authentic” when reviewers described dining establishments. And, using absolutely untouchable science, with no predetermined bias whatsoever, Ms. Kay has come to the enlightened conclusion that, surprise:

(T)he word ‘authentic’ in food reviews supports white supremacism.

Of course it does. Now, rabid “white supremacists” out there might ask to see her data and methodology so that, of course, they could see how well they conform to the evil, “Eurocentric”, scientific method, so Kay offered a wonderfully rigorous template for her “study”. She looked at 20,000 Yelp reviews, and assumed pretty much everything from there.

(Kay) reports that seven percent of the total reviews she looked at contained authenticity language,' and while she concedes she doesn’t know 'anything about the specific demographics of the reviewers', her sample size 'reflects the dominant culture: one which is continuously and historically rooted in favoring the white, Eurocentric experience.'

So, yeah, that puts the kibosh on any pretense that this is an actual study. In a “study” that concludes there is pervasive “white supremacy” in restaurant reviews, not knowing the demographics of those who left the comments pretty much makes said study worthless.

But that’s okay, because Eater published her article based on the “study”, and Kay is using this “study” for her Master’s Thesis at NYU. Go figure.

Here is a great example of how Kay simply assumes the valuations of the reviewers prior to them going into an “authentic” restaurant, an example that begs a simple question...

When reviewers picture authenticity in ethnic food, they mentally reference all the experiences they’ve had before with that cuisine and the people who make it — and most of the time, reviewers view those experiences, whether from personal interaction or from interacting with media, as not positive.

And here is the question: If that’s the case, and reviewers “mentally reference” previous experiences, as you claim they do, Ms. Kay, and those experiences with the cuisine and the “people who make it” (easy to read your own underlying racial subtext here) were not positive, why would they go for more?

No need to address that little logical problem. She uses the Postmodernist tactic of “Critical Theory” to tell others what they really think, and to explain to them that they don’t even know it, because, of course, they grew up in this biased society, and only she, the enlightened one, can see things clearly and tell them their trouble:

Reviews tend to reflect the racism already existing in the world; people’s biases come into play.

Good thing she knows this, and she’s so divorced from bias herself.

The CollgeFix adds:

Kay says Yelp reviewers who use 'authentic' note things like 'dirt floors, plastic stools, and other patrons who are non-white when reviewing non-European restaurants.' On the other hand, when that term is used to describe European eateries, it’s 'associated with more positive characteristics.'

Which appears to tell us more about Kay’s views regarding “positive” and “negative” characteristics than the minds behind the reviews.

If, for example, one notes her distinction between non-European restaurants and European “eateries”, one sees that she mentions “non-white” patrons in the former. Then she implies that in European restaurants, the comments are associated with “more positive characteristics.” But, unless the Yelp reviewers were explicitly saying that non-white patrons were a drawback, then the attribution of “negative” here is all Kay’s. That seems kind of Eurocentric and a possible sign of evil “white privilege,” doesn’t it, Ms. Kay?

It’s easy to see how this “interpretation” game is a double-edged sword best left on the rhetorical table, and it’s easy to predict that others will engage in the same kind of non-scientific SJW “research” (i.e. producing half-baked studies that support predetermined conclusions). After all, conclusions like this bounce well in the echo chamber of SJW orthodoxy. Kay explains that “authenticity” is used to:

…promote white supremacist norms [and] furthers an atmosphere that’s antithetical to the spirit of authenticity.

So you just sit back and let the SJW set tell you what you think. Let them tell you what’s authentic, and let them shove their ideology down your gullet – without end.

It’s gotta be delicious, and goodness knows, it’s “good for you.” Ms. Kay seems to have all the insight she needs to tell you all about it.

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