COOKING AS A FORM OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION: I've already forgotten where I got this from--it's a really great debate between Francis Lam and Eddie Huang. Is it fair for chefs to cook other culture's foods? is the question. Here, taste something flavored with out of context:

That type of “modern” food with international influences is like diversity at a law firm or Ivy League school. There is an “international class” that produces similar individuals worldwide. At a certain point, food isn’t an ethnic thing, it’s a class thing. You can go to Taichung and there are “modern” restaurants like Wein that use “international class” techniques like sous-vide, foam, square plates, and exotic reductions “inspired” by Taiwanese folklore and Shanghainese flavors. The food at Empellon could be the food at Wein could be the food at Aquavit could be the food at Kin Shop. There is a formula to these restaurants and the foreign influences are interchangeable like WWF characters.