Filed under: Comment
So I recently went to a conference in Singapore and as the audience walked out for the mid-morning break, my eyes came across this …
2 samosas, a pot of chilli sauce and a strawberry … all covered in cellophane.
Jesus, how depressing … even more depressing than going out in Nottingham on a rainy Wednesday night.
Because I’m a sick bastard, I hung around because I wanted to see who would pick it up and eventually – once most people had walked back into the conference room – a Western man sheepishly walked up to the table, grabbed the food off the counter and ran away … as if being seen with it was the equivalent of being seen in bed with a sheep.
And I found that interesting.
No seriously, I did.
Because as much as China operates by group acceptance – meaning peer acceptance dictates much about how people act and interact with life – here was a Western guy operating in pretty much the same way.
And here’s the thing …
While there are many things that are different between Chinese/Asian culture and the West, a lot of the big stuff that people talk about isn’t as different as many like to say. In fact, in my experience, the really different stuff is found in the little things – the stuff many ignore because on face value, they think it’s the same as their own frame of reference – but when you dig deeper, you realise the cultural and contextual differences mean they’re miles apart and appreciating and understand that is the difference between cultural resonance and repulsion.
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A cultural lesson via a vegetarian samosa. Amazing.
I agree the really interesting differences between Western and Asian culture are not the obvious things, but the small, almost unidentifiable things that only show their true level of difference when you look deeper in to them. Though this post highlights a similarity between cultures that may not be recognised, rather than a difference.
Comment by Pete May 13, 2014 @ 6:29 amAnyone who eats a vegetarian samosa is a freak who doesn’t belong to either the west or the east.
Comment by Billy Whizz May 13, 2014 @ 6:32 amMore than someone who wears birkenstocks?
Comment by DH May 13, 2014 @ 6:48 amSame.
Comment by Billy Whizz May 13, 2014 @ 6:58 ama conference that serves samosas. yeah, advertising still is the home for the fucking madmen isnt it. fucking pathetic.
Comment by andy@cynic May 13, 2014 @ 6:40 amGold.
Comment by DH May 13, 2014 @ 6:48 amwell done pete for highlighting campbells last paragraph completely fucking contradicts the rest of his boring shit. theres hope for you yet. not much but much fucking more than anyone guessed.
Comment by andy@cynic May 13, 2014 @ 6:41 amThat’s a good point Pete. Though given many people talk about ‘group acceptance’ as if it’s only an Asian trait [and then they say it with a disparaging tone] … it’s nice to highlight that the things many think are different – aren’t – and the things people think aren’t, are.
Comment by Rob May 13, 2014 @ 7:55 amWhat those veggie samosas really showed was there are some freaks out there. Though the one who sat waiting to watch who would eat the samosas is worse than the one who did.
Disappointed you didn’t eat it Rob, just to fuck with the person who had asked to be specially catered for. What’s happened to you?
Comment by Billy Whizz May 13, 2014 @ 6:35 amgood fucking point billy boy. campbells gone soft. which is what jill complains about too. boom fucking tish.
Comment by andy@cynic May 13, 2014 @ 6:43 amTo be honest, that’s because I didn’t see it until I’d stuffed my face with jam doughnuts … otherwise it would have been in my mouth quicker than a b-grade starlet could wrap her lips around a directors appendage in the hope of playing an extra in his next blockbuster. Or something.
Comment by Rob May 13, 2014 @ 8:01 amThat’s never stopped you in the past.
Comment by Billy Whizz May 13, 2014 @ 8:40 ama conference that serves samosas. yeah, advertising still is the home for the fucking madmen isnt it. fucking pathetic.
Comment by andy@cynic May 13, 2014 @ 6:43 amno campbell, i dont know why the above comment has appeared twice. its your shitty blog, sort the fucking thing out.
Comment by andy@cynic May 13, 2014 @ 6:44 amMaybe it missed you too much?
Comment by DH May 13, 2014 @ 6:46 amPeopel are people. #Great planning insights of our time.
Comment by John May 13, 2014 @ 6:44 ampeople cant fucking spell.
Comment by andy@cynic May 13, 2014 @ 6:45 amPeople have eyes full of swimming pool.
Comment by John May 13, 2014 @ 6:48 amTrue John … but not according to planners. Though to be fair, this ‘global human truths’ thing still pisses me off, simply because while people may feel the same about a bunch of things, how they express it is determined by so many contexts.
Comment by Rob May 13, 2014 @ 8:03 amWasn’t making any global truth claim – just that national differences shoudl be proven not assumed.
Comment by John May 13, 2014 @ 3:01 pmA post about a samosa wrapped in cellophane. I don’t understand why all the business sites don’t flock here to get their cutting edge news stories.
Comment by DH May 13, 2014 @ 6:47 amIt can only be a matter of time.
Comment by Rob May 13, 2014 @ 8:03 amAnd did you stop to consider the possibility that he ran away because he was freaked out by the weird Birkenstock-wearing stalker who was loitering by the food?
Comment by John May 13, 2014 @ 6:47 amDid the venue consider the possibility a birkenstocked, queen fan would enter their premises. They won’t make that mistake again.
Comment by DH May 13, 2014 @ 7:13 am