I came across this youtube clip either on Digg or Reddit, most likely Reddit.

It was pretty mesmerising to watch. Generally I don’t comment on youtube clips but this time something perturbed me. Towards the end of the clip the guy says “Now as for slurping, well, it will just be plain rude not to”. Nothing wrong with that statement until I saw this in one of the comments.

“slurping is rude, i am Chinese.”

Excuse me?

I replied with:

“I don’t know what part of China you’re from but we definitely don’t consider it to be rude”

in which I got replied with (by an American):

“I don’t know where you’re from, but slurping is considered rude everywhere, especially China”

Especially China?!

I just had some ignorant American, trying to educate me on my own culture, yes I admit, I actually don’t know a lot in terms of our thousands of years old history but I know how to eat!

Yes I know it’s late and I really shouldn’t be up trying to prove somebody wrong on the internet, but I thought this would be pretty interesting for people of non-asian descent.

Slurping is rude in Western Cultures, sure, we all know that but it’s different in Asian cultures.

I was raised on the idea that you can’t enjoy a good noodles meal without slurping. Confused?  So is this gaijin.They should seriously scientifically test it out. Do our taste buds react more positively when we slurp as opposed to biting into it without slurping?

For the record, we (Chinese people) actually invented the first noodles so we have the right to say it’s NOT rude to slurp! Ha!

Other common food etiquette involves double dipping with chopsticks (in family dinners anyway) and spitting food out.