Korean restaurant goes viral for labeling its least spicy food ‘white’
A picture of a Korean restaurant’s menu has gone viral for labeling its least spicy food “white.”
The Toronto eatery has a spiciness scale, with the hottest food labeled “extra spicy” and the least spicy food labeled “white.” Of course, when people saw the picture of the menu circulating online, it immediately sparked backlash and discussions of whether or not it was a joke about race, drawing on the stereotype that white people can’t handle spicy food.
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But it might not be related to race at all. Several people, on seeing the menu, pointed out that the label may have more to do with the color of the actual food than anything else. Typically, Korean broth is white, and its color comes from the added spices. So, if someone were to order food with no spice in it, the broth would be white.
To back up this argument, some online commenters pointed out that there are two different words for ‘white’ in Korean, with one referring to the actual color and one referring to Caucasian people. The Korean word in the sign refers to the actual color, not the race of people.
Grio fam, what do you think? Is this sign racist?
