On Wed, 6 Jul 2005 21:53:47 -0400, " dwacon"
> wrote:

>My buddy and I had Pho for lunch and stopped by the Asian Market near the
>restaurant. When I purchased some "water spinach" the cashier asked, "Do
>you know how to eat this?" I said, "Yeah, I put it in my mouth and chew it
>up."
>
>Eric thought it was hilarious -- because we get those questions everytime we
>purchase food items from any Asian market.
>
>What is up with that?

Well it's better than the first time I went into the Asian market in
the town were I grew up, and when I asked the lady at the checkout a
question about the item I was purchasing, she reacted like I was
being racist by assuming that *she* might know something about the jar
of horseradish- I was so embarrassed! I know it's silly but I felt
like I'd committed a giant faux-pas by assuming an (incidentally Asian
but that's not the point) person WHO WORKS IN AN ASIAN GROCERY might
know, geez! So I'm still grateful for a hint that it's ok to ask
questions, recovering from that trauma 15 years later!


Hope