public - renowned comic Hari Kondabolu has a number on his forthcoming stand - up albumMainstream American Comicabout people come up to him who want to talk about Indian solid food . As an icebreaker . As little talk . All the time . And patently , this happens to people of color all the time in the US . Most people , however , are n’t able to talk over the fundamental bizarreness of it – and likely offensiveness – with such hilarious insight .
Kondabolu – a rising star on the standup scene who you ’ve probably caught onConan,@midnight , or on many a podcast – sit down to talk at length about this uncanny share cultural experience , and why it ’s weird to immediately associate somebody ’s pelt note with something you squeeze in your backtalk . Here ’s what he had to say .
" [ India ] is a complicated country with many different variations of cuisine and very exculpated deviation from one part of the country to the next .
Hari Kondabolu|Mindy Tucker
" It ’s like going up to a white person and saying , ' Hey human race , I just had gritstone . Holy shit ! '
" And [ the bloodless soul ’s ] like , ' I ’m not from the South . '
" ' I do n’t cognize what that have in mind , but holy shit , grit ! '
Flickr/Jonathan McIntosh
" ' I ’m from Boston . '
" ' Well , I do n’t know , it ’s American , correct ? It ’s American stuff . '
" It does n’t even make any sense . "
Flickr/Josh Rodriguez
" I call back a circumstances of [ understanding people sing to me about intellectual nourishment ] has to do with the slowness that people have talking to folk who have different ethnicities . I recall they suppose [ nutrient ] is a plebeian domain and it ’s well - intentioned . They ’re just trying to regain a way to refer , as opposed to , ' Oh , we ’re both human beings . That clear us relatable . '
" You do n’t really need to essay too firmly ! I ’m a human being , and I feel like we have so much more in uncouth . And if you take other questions , you ’re going to get more commonality . ' What do you do for body of work ? ' or ' Where did you grow up ? ' [ Those ] question could chair to all sorts of other things as opposed to , ' I went to this Indian restaurant , holy doodly-squat . '
" And the well - intentioned folk are just awkward sometimes , which is sad . ' I do n’t roll in the hay what to do with you not being white-hot in this party . I ’m seek . ' It ’s still annoying , and it still makes me deplorable . Jesus though , you ’ve never meet people ? I ’m a person , just like everybody else .
Flickr/Meng He
" You ’re using a mortal as a property for your experiences , for your conversation . "
" The other part of it is not necessarily well - intentioned . It ’s selfish . You have an experience and you require to talk to somebody about it , and it does n’t have to do with the person you ’re lecture to . You mother a trigger because my tegument ’s this colour and it made you intend of this experience that you had , and you suppose I might give a shit . And you want to verbalise to me about it .
" I ’ve had people talking to me about yoga , about their trips to India , about their Indian friend , about a wedding they went to . They think it ’s somehow relatable and it makes them interesting . And it ’s something they want to utter about . But you ’re using a soul as a prop for your experiences , for your conversation . Something [ that person ] is unwillingly being forced into . It also narrows their own identity operator into some generic Indian , and [ it ’s ] somehow connected to intellectual nourishment .
" In addition to being compared to solid food , we also trip citizenry ’s thoughts about intellectual nourishment . Because it seems like it ’s the only cultural thing mass connect with or they feel like they ’re trying – [ like what you eat up would be ] something interesting to me .
" If you simplify them into something that ’s not living … [ because ] you like the perceptiveness of a thing , you kind of make it spoilt . "
" We ’re babble about immigrant in such a bizarre elbow room nationally . And it ’s something that ’s either good or bad for the saving , [ as to ] whether they should be sent back . We ’re separating families . There ’s hatred violence . Yet the thing we seem to be OK with is the food . We like the food . And there ’s something that ’s so insulting about that .
" We have so many real thing – and because we ’re not seen as full human beings in a lot of ways – our parent are n’t seen as part of this nation , or are see as other . There are all these take , and while that ’s happening , the food ’s still there . ' Just do n’t make the food go away , I care that Taiwanese eating house ! ' And that ’s frustrating , because part of what [ can ] make people of color and citizenry of other ethnicity human being is demand them questions and getting to acknowledge who they are – making a human connecter . If you simplify them into something that ’s not living , into a very specific cultural thing that profit you [ because ] you care the taste of a thing , you kind of make it worse . You just remind me that I ’m something for you to read about . I ’m a subject versus a person you may get to eff . "
Sign up herefor our daily Thrillist electronic mail , and get your fixture of the best in intellectual nourishment / drink / fun .
