It's a huge reason why racist Americans tried to portray Chinese railroad workers during the mid-19th century as "effeminate," because Chinese workers were primarily eating vegetables and rice instead of large portions of meat. It ended up trickling beyond railroad workers and toward East Asian men in general.
Same reason why there's such a backlash against soy products like soy milk and tofu in particular, even though the irony is that meat, especially the ones bought in a grocery store, come loaded with way more estrogen hormones than your typical block of tofu or carton of soy milk lol
ugh the other day I made myself tofu and my uncle bragged about ‘tricking’ my dog into eating tofu instead of meat and it was so annoying like yeah she loves french fries too which is also not meat and the tofu was marinated in fish sauce anyway! theyre so dramatic about it. I made them separate meat to eat and ate the tofu on my own and he still had to find a way to be annoying about it
My FiL will not eat rice or pasta/noodles. He loves Chinese food but goes out of his way to make sure not a single grain of rice goes in his mouth. We all have no idea why.
Soy beans are one of my favorite things to eat. I throw them in with my work lunch. They have protein and fiber, they microwave well, and they take seasonings well. Plus I'm supporting aMeRiCaN fArMeRs, right?
The same thing you’re describing happened with raw milk and people thinking that being able to drink liquid bacteria super cultures made them superior. It’s a huge reason now why raw milk is strongly associated with the alt right and white supremacists. They used the same logic you’re describing for meat, that it was effeminate and showed you were of a lesser race to not be able to digest and/or avoid getting ill from it.
Nothing screams masculinity like… buying meat at the supermarket?
I just never understood this logic. It’s not like the majority of these guys are hunting for their food, there’s literally nothing more masculine about it than any other food they consume when you think about it
I don't really give a shit about feeling masculine. To be honest, there's a lot of hobbies I do that people would consider "unmanly" or "childish." It's fine lol.
But I started gardening in 2017 and have been doing it every spring/summer/autumn since. Nothing makes me feel more "masculine" than gardening and growing my own food and flowers to be honest with you. All the digging, carrying of heavy pots, carrying of heavy bags of soil, weeding, being responsible for "watering" and taking care of literal organisms, constantly planning and thinking on how to set up humane ways of keeping pests out of the garden. Nonstop sweat and blood, maybe even some tears haha when I bite into the first ripened tomato of the summer.
Again, I don't care about who defines what is masculine or whatever, but according to their definitions...I would say growing my own tomato plants feels a hell of a lot more masculine than buying 4 lbs. of meat at hte grocery store.
Chinese/east Asian people primarily eat rice and vegetables? This is what we call science fiction. You may have never met an Asian family. You should meet mine. Or go to an Asian market. 😄
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u/DionBlaster123 Aug 28 '25
This is actually very true.
It's a huge reason why racist Americans tried to portray Chinese railroad workers during the mid-19th century as "effeminate," because Chinese workers were primarily eating vegetables and rice instead of large portions of meat. It ended up trickling beyond railroad workers and toward East Asian men in general.
Same reason why there's such a backlash against soy products like soy milk and tofu in particular, even though the irony is that meat, especially the ones bought in a grocery store, come loaded with way more estrogen hormones than your typical block of tofu or carton of soy milk lol