0:00

["I'm Not

0:02

Gonna Give

0:05

You Up"]

0:11

Yo! We're special

0:13

guests here, special guest host. Woo!

0:16

Yo, is this racist? Jessica

0:18

Gao. It was nice

0:21

hearing that theme song because it's been

0:23

so long since I've heard that theme

0:25

song. Because as you know, I don't

0:27

listen to this podcast. This

0:30

was, first of all, we had a...

0:34

I didn't realize quite how

0:36

full miscommunication, but Jessica agreed

0:38

to cover for Tawny while

0:40

Tawny is on the Star Trek cruise, but

0:42

did not realize she was gonna be doing

0:44

Yo! Is This Racist? So that's on me.

0:49

I think Andrew did it on purpose in

0:51

a ploy to get me to finally start

0:53

listening to Yo! Is This Racist? And

0:56

I will tell you, I will give you

0:58

my thought through considered reason why that is

1:00

not true, which is anyone

1:03

who listens to our premium show, Yo!

1:05

Can We Live, available at suboptimalpods.com, knows

1:08

that Jessica is

1:11

our number one antagonist on

1:13

Yo! Can We Live? As a result of

1:16

her being the person who, I

1:18

will just frame it as the

1:20

person most comfortable with texting me

1:22

and Tawny, something, we'll

1:25

call it very blunt, very

1:27

blunt feedback about something that was, anything that

1:29

was said on Yo! Can We Live? And

1:33

only criticisms, I don't think I've ever

1:35

given you guys a compliment. Like it's

1:37

only criticisms and it's every week. And

1:40

thus, I think it's very

1:43

clear, I am highly incentivized for you

1:45

to not listen to anything else that

1:47

I do. Because

1:49

I don't need the fucking static. What

1:52

do you think about that, Jessica?

1:55

I thought you were going to say

1:58

that that's highly unlikely because Because

2:00

you just wouldn't put in the effort

2:02

to do anything and also aren't smart enough to

2:05

think one step ahead. I

2:08

am also not smart enough, but it's more just

2:11

I'm too stoned, baby. We're just talking about

2:13

how I got stoned last night and I

2:15

made an automated spreadsheet

2:17

to track my poker winnings. Oh

2:20

boy. Like real

2:22

like, oh, I thought I thought

2:24

I was afraid you were going to spend a ton

2:27

of time making that. And then when I asked you, like,

2:29

how are you doing? You said like, oh, pretty good.

2:31

I was afraid you're going to be like really bad. Oh,

2:35

no, what part of it was I

2:37

found this extremely, we'll call it

2:41

janky and a janky

2:43

website of we'll call it questionable

2:45

legality where the

2:48

poker's fairly easy,

2:50

fairly to extremely easy. But

2:53

also because of that, most poker websites like

2:55

give you like actually like let you see

2:57

like how you're doing or some of them,

2:59

you know, you can export the data or

3:01

whatever. This I truly had to just like

3:03

write like a script that like pulls

3:05

the data from their site and like adds it

3:08

up, which is I hate

3:10

fucking programming computer stuff. But

3:13

the man your voice still got it. Your

3:16

voice can still do basic data

3:19

stuff. Hold

3:22

your basic data knowledge

3:25

to better play online

3:27

poker. Is that right? Correct.

3:30

Well, just to make sure that you're doing okay.

3:32

Make some major I'm doing I don't

3:35

have a big enough sample size

3:37

to definitively be doing great. But

3:40

on this website where yet it's quite

3:42

soft. I'm doing

3:44

phenomenal numbers, but only over let's say

3:47

I've only entered I have all the

3:49

data right here. I have

3:51

entered 237 times. So

3:54

that's not 237 tournaments, but

3:57

it's 230 Buy ins because sometimes

3:59

you can. Three by to the tournaments. And

4:02

I have an R O Y S. Thirty

4:04

one percent. This is was. Listen

4:06

to the do you explain. All

4:08

of this just now made me

4:10

wonder if I have a deity.

4:13

Because. I preferred not focus on

4:15

what you were saying and you'll suddenly

4:17

talking for thirty seconds. But it's also

4:19

I was saying the boring as thing

4:21

possible. Physicists do we say yeah this

4:23

is your this raises. Today's on about

4:25

effects of a sudden one of the

4:27

one of the not origins by one

4:29

of the like. Midpoint

4:31

inflection points early and our friendship

4:34

was when we took a trip

4:36

to Las Vegas and I managed

4:39

to make gambling. About as

4:41

on fine as humanly possible set.

4:44

Up is that is that accurate? Just

4:46

sucks. Won't know. It was fun in

4:48

that it was very eye opening because

4:51

I experienced a level of gambling is

4:53

that I never even thought about before

4:55

because I I'm I'm a several gamble

4:57

whenever I go to Vegas. It's all

5:00

about of a phase and other things

5:02

as sampler gambler users are those services

5:04

throw it around and and whatever happens

5:06

happens that it's fun. Yes and I'm

5:08

gonna gamble of the casinos. Love. Because

5:11

there's no strategy. There's no.

5:13

Numbers. Involved. I literally go based

5:15

on vibes and every single time Shockingly

5:17

I hemorrhage money he whenever I see

5:20

a spot and so they want it

5:22

Adam that we were all at I

5:24

had a blackjack table but you know

5:26

the point of this trip is to

5:28

like have bond with your friends and

5:30

ballesteros yeah that is. It was like

5:33

oh savvy work type. say yes It

5:35

was like a bunch of writers all

5:37

going on a Vegas trip to just

5:39

bond and you know how compliance and

5:41

the world's going on and save or

5:43

most. Of them front of the after us in

5:45

the group that this is diver and that are

5:47

amateur was not on the same concept that the

5:49

with the same plane of us as the first

5:51

hang out as really I saw it as. I'm

5:54

you know, I'm basically paying

5:56

a fifty dollar an hour

5:59

table rental. The to have like

6:01

you know, middling drinks. but the yeah,

6:03

well ransom for out for you? Yeah,

6:05

you're you're you're at all you can

6:08

drink well Seattle whiskey. ah hope of

6:10

bad. As for as long as an

6:12

hour or yeah exactly and so yeah

6:15

upon himself via whatever it's but it

6:17

says you're saying apps and so you

6:19

know And I was I'm the I'm

6:22

making bets based on five so honestly

6:24

I'm doing badly. Spawn have a good

6:26

times and answers shows up, stands behind

6:29

me, starts telling. Me how to look

6:31

how to best and so I was like

6:33

oh this is someone who knows what they're

6:35

doing because I am truly don't really understand

6:37

like any source my always ask what the

6:39

book says when it comes sublime to and

6:41

so Andrew started telling me so I was

6:44

like somebody who knows what they're doing is

6:46

helping me grace and then after a few

6:48

minutes. The. Up Pit boss

6:50

walks over and cards Andrew.

6:53

And. Wow because I didn't understand

6:55

it. I what? oh I'm like. An.

6:58

Old man at the school yes answers

7:00

like I don't know in his late

7:02

thirties yeah for wage and so I

7:04

being stupid look at society was funny

7:06

so then I start ripping speaking i'm

7:08

hilarious been like years apart this old

7:11

do look at look at his face

7:13

you think there's any chance he's under

7:15

twenty one. Are you kidding me like

7:17

it abs he went to college reward

7:19

cellphone get out against us I got

7:21

the time. So funny is doing like

7:23

now high five about how old Andrew

7:25

as as as as a season not.

7:28

Not like entertain that on hop and is

7:30

my first is very sternly card the enter

7:32

them leave. And but I'm still

7:34

like I think I'm so funny. obvious exempt

7:37

run off of well tossing. well during snow

7:39

I'm silver the other Andrew finally like under

7:41

his breath through gritted teeth. go. If

7:44

he's like ah that was a what what

7:46

did you see it as he said that

7:48

was a sign on that was only job

7:50

it was a warning to help. Oh yeah

7:52

they're they're They're going to back me, offer

7:54

and pie back you off of Elise. Prevent

7:56

you from playing blackjack but. and then

7:59

as you and then as he stayed around, like, at least

8:01

throw us out of the casino. So Andrew

8:03

goes, Andrew, that was a warning. I'm

8:05

low key counting cards for you. I

8:07

went, what? Holy

8:10

shit. It was not like

8:12

perfect card counting, but I was, it was more,

8:14

we were at this, it's a long story. We

8:17

were at this. You don't have to explain the

8:19

nitty gritty of the game. The

8:21

type of payball. And you were about to do something that

8:23

was going to lose you a bunch of money. And I

8:25

was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah.

8:27

And they didn't like that. They

8:30

liked it as little as they

8:32

liked my hilarious five minutes on

8:34

Andrew being old. So then Andrew

8:37

left. Andrew just straight up

8:39

left and was like, and we were like,

8:41

the point is for us to all hang out

8:43

together. And Andrew goes, no, I'm going to go

8:46

join a poker tournament at a different casino. Straight

8:48

up left the casino that we were all, I

8:51

mean, we were all there to hang out with each other.

8:53

And Andrew left to go to another casino so he could

8:55

join a poker tournament. And he just said,

8:57

I'll see you guys for dinner. I

8:59

did make it in time for dinner, but I

9:02

barely missed cashing

9:05

in the poker tournament. It was a small tournament, made

9:07

it to the final table, but not the money. It

9:09

was the whole thing. Wow. Yeah.

9:14

But yeah, basically, yeah, I'm

9:18

the person who could suck the fud

9:20

out of anything as evidenced

9:22

by this very podcast. And almost

9:24

got me kicked out. An innocent.

9:27

Yeah. An innocent. A

9:30

true innocent. You were doing beyond nothing wrong.

9:34

But I was just like, shh, shh, shh,

9:36

shh, shh. Yeah. He's poker. Yeah.

9:40

I know. I did truly everything

9:42

wrong to you in the sense from

9:44

your perspective because I loudly called so

9:46

much attention to the fact that you

9:48

were getting warned to back up. It

9:53

was, anyway, yeah. That

9:56

was what I was like. OK, well,

9:58

now Jessica finds out who I really am. I

10:00

really am. And a fiscal friend after that was

10:02

like, yes, we're friends. I

10:06

guess I just, I guess I should have always

10:08

known just because you are at your core an

10:12

old Chinese man. Yeah. Well,

10:14

yeah, I'm like an old Chinese

10:16

American because old Chinese men also

10:19

love to gamble. And

10:21

even even the ones that are, you know,

10:23

quote unquote, able to do the math, they

10:26

don't do it in Vegas. You watch,

10:28

you watch some old Chinese folks in

10:30

Vegas say some stuff where I'm like,

10:33

like, I literally have family

10:35

members. I'm like, you are a statistician.

10:38

So I know that you should know that

10:40

the shit you're saying about what number is going

10:42

to come out that you're a literal statistician.

10:45

So you should know the thing you just said is unbelievable

10:49

bullshit. And they're still going for

10:51

it. They literally put their money where they're about this. I'm

10:53

like, you know what? You clearly believe

10:55

it. Yeah. We're really

10:58

going hard on Chinese bullshit, huh? Yeah.

11:00

Yeah. Yo, is this conversation

11:03

racist? Oh,

11:05

man. I just found out yesterday I'm going

11:07

to Vegas on my birthday this year because

11:09

my friends are getting married the day after

11:11

my birthday in Vegas. So they're doing a

11:14

Vegas weekend. So I will be there in

11:16

about six months. Oh,

11:18

what a not run place to eat for a vegan.

11:22

Oh, yeah. That

11:24

is tough. We found some spots last year.

11:27

We went last year and they

11:29

did a good job of fighting spots for me. I would

11:31

have done a lot of like, do you happen

11:33

to? Oh, you don't? Okay. Yeah.

11:37

Yeah. We'll find it. Yeah.

11:41

Most of my Vegas trip last year was

11:43

just me looking at the Harley Davidson t-shirts

11:45

and being like, I would look so

11:47

cool in that. What if I, yeah. Well,

11:50

it's a place to reinvent yourself or in my

11:52

case, reveal your true self. Yeah.

11:55

Yeah. One of those two

11:57

things will happen. It's definitely happened. Well,

11:59

I guess also since. we're here since

12:02

the the Foo Fighters

12:04

are here, we should we should talk

12:06

about I finally made the smoked tofu

12:08

delivery. This is also a Yoko we

12:11

live, not exclusive, but might

12:13

as well pull back the curtain on this. Have

12:15

we talked about it on Yohsus

12:17

racist? It doesn't really matter because Jessica's here

12:20

so we can get a fresh perspective. Jessica

12:22

is our

12:24

friend groups premium purveyor of,

12:27

I always call it, I've been calling it

12:29

like smoked or cured tofu just to like

12:33

explain it to non-Chinese speakers. Yeah.

12:35

Is there a better phrase for this? I

12:38

mean it's like it's like fried tofu.

12:40

Yeah, I bet if it was packaged

12:42

and labeled they'll probably they would probably

12:45

label it as fermented but it's not

12:47

quite fermented. It is more marinated and

12:49

cured. Yeah, yeah. I

12:52

mean it's like I

12:54

guess like jerky but

12:56

it's not jerky. Yeah. It's

12:59

very hard to explain. But it's

13:01

delicious and oh good and I

13:04

don't think I'm the tofu plug. I

13:06

feel like my aunt is the tofu

13:08

plug. Well, you're the tofu plug for

13:10

you guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah and she's

13:12

my distributor. Yeah, you're

13:14

keeping us away from your aunt.

13:17

I can't help but notice. Well,

13:20

she's keeping me from her

13:22

sores. Yeah. So my aunt,

13:25

well it was actually my aunt's boyfriend who first

13:27

showed up with these just unmarked

13:29

bags of loose tofu that were

13:31

so delicious. It's just like a

13:33

plastic bag. Yeah. Just a

13:36

normal, not a ziplock even. No, just

13:38

a plastic bag. Just like a kind

13:40

of like a food handling bag of

13:43

irregular shaped but amazing

13:45

tofu. Yeah, just nodded. No

13:47

labels, nothing. And it was so

13:51

good I asked for more and my aunt

13:53

started buying it for me and she tells

13:55

me that they just buy it directly from

13:57

a tofu factory in the San Gabriel Valley

13:59

and she's like, She was like, yeah, there's no

14:01

sign in front. She was like, there's no

14:03

door. She was like, I just walk up

14:05

to the loading dock and they sell me

14:08

bags of tofu. Wow. Yeah. It's

14:10

like the most unnecessarily

14:13

illegal seeming transaction possible.

14:17

And I never know when I'm gonna get a

14:19

tofu drop. It'll just be like, suddenly I'll see

14:22

my aunt and she'll give me like

14:24

10 pounds of it in a box. Yeah.

14:27

And she'll be like, oh, well, you know, you said your friends

14:29

like these. So I bought extras for your friends, which is very

14:31

sweet of her. Yeah. It

14:33

really, but yeah, this is the tofu that, I

14:37

can't remember which awards show it, Tani brought

14:39

it to. Oh,

14:41

this is the Critics Choice. Critics Choice Awards.

14:43

It has been the source

14:45

of now multiple late night

14:48

gatherings, slightly drunken gatherings at Gao's

14:50

place where I just whip on

14:52

an apron and fry it up

14:54

tofu and vegetables at fucking midnight

14:56

or later. My favorite is Andrew

14:59

keeps referring to it as, quote,

15:01

our late night tofu jams. It's

15:07

like, it was, well, cause it's

15:09

a thing that like, spirals so

15:12

quickly. It goes from someone being like, I'm

15:14

kind of hungry to like

15:16

me at your cutting board with

15:18

like, more than three types of

15:20

aromatics. Like

15:23

making food. Sometimes when your

15:25

husband is trying to sleep, usually

15:28

when my husband is trying to sleep. Yeah,

15:33

the hold that this tofu and the

15:35

process has over me is I don't

15:38

know what it is. Also, this is a food I didn't

15:41

particularly like when I was a kid. I

15:43

think it's like when you're an American,

15:45

it's like, it's at

15:47

least like visually on the weird,

15:50

quote, unquote side of Asian stuff,

15:53

I feel. Not

15:55

for me, Andrew. Not being

15:57

somebody who's raised very Chinese. Exactly.

16:00

Some of us didn't have to grow up in Michigan.

16:03

Most of us. Almost

16:07

all of us, exactly. Yeah,

16:10

it just was one of those things I

16:12

was like, but yeah, I had it for

16:14

breakfast this morning. This is my... Oh

16:18

yeah, every time Andrew picks some up from

16:20

my house, he says that on the drive

16:22

home, he just eats it out of the

16:24

bag like their Cheetos. Like, he just has

16:26

the bag sitting on the passenger seat. Because

16:29

we're raw dog in it. Yeah, and he's

16:31

just pulling out handfuls of tofu and eating

16:33

it. Because it's basically like

16:35

tofu and soy and... Whatever's

16:38

on the marinade. I mean, we don't know because

16:41

there's no label. We have no idea what's in

16:43

there. Yeah, Five Spice, probably, Star Anise. Maybe?

16:46

Maybe. Who knows? I don't know.

16:49

It could be anything. I'll fucking know. That's true,

16:51

Kevin. We'll say we're 99% sure it's

16:53

vegan. I will have to say I'm not 100% sure it's

16:55

vegan. I

17:00

would say I'm pretty certain it's

17:02

vegan only because they

17:05

would not spend the extra money

17:07

on more expensive animal products when

17:10

everything plant-based is cheaper. Neither

17:13

of us are 100% sure. We

17:16

can never be 100% sure. I'm totally okay with that because

17:18

I think you could say that about 100% of vegan

17:21

food of like, we're pretty sure this

17:23

is vegan. And it does have

17:25

the... Even with the vegan certified stamp, they're

17:27

like, probably vegan. Yeah. Yeah.

17:31

Oh, okay. So... We didn't... We don't want to

17:33

put meat in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

17:35

We didn't try to put any meat in this.

17:37

Yeah, but... I don't know.

17:40

Anything could happen. Factories

17:42

are crazy. That's basically the very bottom of

17:44

the label. Yeah. Yeah. They're

17:46

like, look, if you're buying this from a

17:48

loading dock in a marked bag, like, you

17:50

got to lower your standards, dude. Yep.

17:53

I love... Yeah, but yeah, it's because

17:55

it's like, you know, yeah, I just

17:57

love... I love the... Just the

17:59

loose. bag of tofu. It's

18:01

the, now that cannabis

18:04

is legal, it is the most contraband

18:06

thing in my house. My

18:08

favorite is just how irregular all the sizes and shapes are.

18:15

Yeah, it's the best. It's the best

18:17

food. Yeah. It

18:19

feels like she's buying the like, the whatever

18:21

the version of burnt ends of the tofu

18:23

is. You know, like that's what it feels

18:25

like. I know we don't,

18:28

this doesn't get to be a food podcast,

18:30

but someone needs to pitch, I guess Doughboys

18:32

is probably the closest food podcast we're sort

18:34

of close to. Just loose bag

18:37

of tofu. No,

18:40

we go to the loading dock of the un-named factory.

18:43

Loading dock in the San Gabriel Valley. You don't

18:46

even know where it is. I will say

18:48

the one time you forwarded a

18:50

picture from your aunt

18:52

of the loading dock, I was

18:55

like, every time I drive by places

18:57

that look like that, I assume they're cement

18:59

factories. Like I was like, I

19:01

did not know that was possible. You would

19:04

never think to drive in there and say,

19:06

Hey, do you guys have any tofu to

19:08

sell me? Yeah. Just like,

19:10

yo, yo, who got tofu? Oh,

19:16

God. Anyway, that's Jessica.

19:18

Welcome back, Jessica. Oh yeah. Is this

19:21

your third time? Oh

19:23

yeah. Oh, who knows? Who knows? Because I'm

19:25

apt to be a guest on this podcast

19:27

so infrequently and true. Well,

19:30

you know, it's just that like, you're

19:32

just, you're so much better on Yoko we live. Our

19:38

premium show available at some optimal podcast. All

19:44

right, we're gonna, we're gonna take ourselves a little

19:46

break and then we'll come back and we'll do

19:48

at least two voicemails,

19:50

maybe more, maybe, maybe some text

19:52

messages. Anything could happen. We're

20:02

back. We're back. We're back.

20:04

We're back. We

20:07

were going to do voicemails. And I actually, so I think

20:09

last week I realized

20:12

slash said, Hey,

20:15

there's, there's

20:18

actually a text message function of our voicemail box available

20:20

about three, two, three, three, nine seven, two, two, three,

20:23

that's three, two, three, three, eight, nine, race. So people

20:28

can text in. And then I realized people had

20:30

been texting in. Oh my God. Most

20:33

people, let's see, I'm just gonna,

20:35

there's not a ton of texts, which makes sense. It's

20:37

kind of an awkward way to do it. And they

20:39

are less likely to be used because as

20:42

an audio medium, no one wants to hear

20:44

me reading texts. And I'm

20:46

realizing another reason why, which is I'm

20:48

just looking. Number

20:50

one is someone asking if I'm single. Good.

20:53

Yes. One of them is a

20:56

very complicated one about Portuguese

20:59

people that I, we

21:01

might use at some point, but not today. Cause it's

21:03

too complicated. One person

21:05

offering to give Kevin

21:09

a masterclass on trains,

21:14

including, I thought I was so afraid

21:16

you're going to say producing podcasts. Gladly,

21:22

we'll accept the train masterclass. All

21:24

right. So train, train, train,

21:27

text her, I guess, send them in some,

21:31

oh yeah, you can, it's like a full

21:33

text messages. So someone checks it in some

21:35

pictures, someone's trying

21:37

to domain squat.

21:40

Should I play a voicemail while you're

21:42

looking through the messages? No, no, no.

21:44

Let's just do five minutes of Andrew

21:47

going, Oh my God. Let's

21:50

see. This

21:53

is anyway, the voice, the

21:55

text box. It's

21:58

an experiment. We're working. working on it. The

22:00

other thing is we also last week

22:02

called to see if anyone had just

22:05

general non-racism advice questions and we haven't

22:08

gotten any that are usable yet mainly

22:10

because they're still they're like this is

22:12

an advice question that also is really

22:15

about racism and they're all just normal.

22:17

So those have been put into the

22:19

queue we'll use them at some point

22:22

but. Great. Anyway,

22:24

yeah, let's do a regular ass voicemail. Here

22:27

we go. Hey, I'm a

22:29

black male and I

22:31

live in a state where there's a

22:34

ramen place that's owned by what I

22:36

assume is Japanese people called

22:39

Sasuke ramen. So

22:41

I don't know if you guys watch

22:43

anime but there's you know that Naruto

22:45

and there's the character Sasuke on

22:47

there. So I thought

22:50

this is just a thought like what

22:52

if somebody made a

22:56

ramen place called Naruto ramen

22:58

and only that I was like anime

23:00

thing is that would that be racist? So

23:02

that'd be cultural appropriation. I

23:04

don't know. Let me know. Love

23:07

the show. Bye. I

23:11

love the wording of I live in

23:13

a state where there's a ramen place.

23:21

That's true. That's

23:24

true. You can't you can't fuck with that.

23:27

Maybe I can find your you guys talk.

23:30

You're gonna find a state that has the ramen place. Is that

23:32

what I know? I do I

23:35

do write down on a different file

23:37

the where the phone numbers are. So

23:39

I'm just gonna check an area code

23:41

while you tell although this it's I

23:45

mean I'm gonna go ahead and assume based

23:47

on this that it's a state that doesn't

23:49

have a big Asian population. Yes.

23:51

Right. Yeah. At least

23:53

you know obviously this this is cell phones

23:56

can kind of mean anything but

23:58

this is from the Denver area. area.

24:01

Oh, yeah. So extra, even

24:03

fewer Asian people than you

24:05

thought. Yeah. So I mean,

24:07

you know, well, it

24:10

seems like it seems like the

24:12

question isn't about the actual place he's

24:14

talking about, but just a general hypothetical,

24:16

because you think he thinks that it's

24:18

on Japanese own. So the Japanese, these

24:20

are they can name it whatever they

24:22

want. But also, I

24:25

would say given that it's, you know, as

24:27

Jessica as a coastal Asian person, you don't

24:29

you don't know what it's like in the

24:31

middle of the country. But I will just

24:33

tell you, there's a reasonable to

24:37

high chance that it

24:39

is owned by non Japanese other Asian people

24:42

who are just looking to look at for

24:44

looking to make a buck. Yes,

24:46

sure. Yes. Yeah.

24:51

At one point in my life, my

24:53

dad owned owned and

24:56

operated a little like a little restaurant. It's

24:58

like a kind of like a strip mall

25:00

diner. And it was

25:02

like pan Asian American pan pan Asian

25:04

food. Like it was, you

25:07

could get like pancakes and tuna and

25:09

milk, but you can also get like

25:12

Korean barbecue, but then also like

25:14

Chinese fried rice and stuff like

25:16

it was just whatever,

25:18

like whatever the whites were

25:20

buying, like selling, you know,

25:23

yeah, it's like an oriental

25:25

restaurant, essentially. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

25:27

That's like, like super common.

25:30

That's the tough part about

25:32

any any sort of like,

25:34

especially a restaurant or small

25:36

business based cultural appropriation slash

25:38

racism stuff in the

25:41

Asian front is because I would

25:44

just generally say as a community,

25:46

we are super cool with leading

25:48

into whatever stereotype we think makes

25:51

us like Yeah, because making money

25:53

trumps everything. Apparently, you can absolutely

25:55

do a racism.

25:57

Yeah, yeah, yourself. Yeah,

26:00

on other Asian people. Oh, yeah but

26:05

but like, you know, he's what he's I think what

26:07

he's talking about is a hypothetical of like what if

26:10

Probably I'm assuming of why in this

26:12

hypothetical What if a white person opened

26:14

a ramen restaurant and called it and named

26:17

it after an anime character, right? Yeah, you

26:19

know, I think like just

26:21

to naming your restaurant sasuke I

26:23

mean, I think that's just a name I mean

26:25

even if it's a reference to anime but that it also

26:28

it just is a Japanese name Yeah,

26:30

so, um, I

26:32

don't know. I feel like it's kind of

26:34

like naming your restaurant like Steve's burgers or

26:36

whatever, you know Well,

26:45

okay here here's my and and

26:48

as as everyone on this pod currently

26:50

is Knows

26:52

like and give it given the way his

26:54

career is going I think we could say we

26:57

are we are friends with former producer of

26:59

this show and One

27:02

of really America's premium

27:04

blackwebs Cody Ziegler As

27:08

far as profile goes, you know, you're

27:10

it's it's a he's in the top

27:12

He's near the top and my

27:14

question is You know

27:16

sort of sort of going with the

27:18

caller's question about whether he could open

27:21

a ramen shop make an anime themed

27:24

and It's

27:26

something that I always like in theory

27:28

struggle with but in practice It's like

27:30

very like whatever but this this

27:32

like there's an element of like

27:34

not exactly cultural appropriation with

27:37

like like some black

27:39

folks relationship to anime, but

27:43

It's always like a very theoretical thing where

27:45

I'm like, yeah, I don't know it seems

27:47

fine. Yeah always I think

27:49

on the spectrum of things that do

27:51

harm it's Extremely

27:54

low. Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

27:56

Yes. Yes. Yeah, maybe that's

27:58

it. But I also it's

28:00

like also like such a specific

28:02

culture, like a real culture now.

28:05

It's like, yeah, black American anime

28:07

fans. You see it at,

28:11

you know, conventions. And it's like, even

28:13

just like when it's like fucking, whatever

28:16

the hell happens downtown in Little

28:18

Tokyo, where, you know, every, I

28:20

feel like every other month, I'll

28:22

be in Little Tokyo on an afternoon in the

28:24

on the weekend. And I'm like, I

28:27

guess the goddamn anime festival is

28:29

happening again, because everyone's just like,

28:31

cosplayed out and carrying the biggest

28:33

swords you've ever seen on the

28:35

street, which I wouldn't say this. Not

28:39

very, not very good for

28:41

pedestrians. That's Andrew's

28:43

problem with smaller swords. Yeah, I

28:45

will say I know more black

28:48

weaves than Asian weaves. Yes.

28:51

Yeah. But that then gets

28:53

into like the specific of Asianness, because

28:56

you're you and I are Chinese. And

28:58

like, I

29:01

feel like I mean, relatively

29:03

speaking, I have fewer

29:05

Japanese friends, by

29:08

choice, by political

29:10

and historical choice. There

29:13

is some I mean, you know, this

29:15

is like probably not that surprising. But

29:17

maybe it is like, you

29:19

know, of the like groups of people

29:21

that my very right wing

29:25

grandparents and family kind of hate,

29:27

Japanese is like right up there. Like,

29:30

you know, because it's like, it's like in

29:33

Asia, it's the two colonial

29:35

powers having, you know, taken

29:37

over and slaughtered each other

29:39

and everything for fucking millennia.

29:42

It's like, yeah, there's a lot of

29:44

animosity. And then when it comes to

29:46

America, it all kind of melts away

29:48

because we're all we're all Ching Chong

29:50

here. Kevin, don't title the

29:55

Episode We're All Ching Chong. Yeah

30:01

but but I guess I'm like is

30:03

I wonder if there's like a specific

30:05

arm. I think just the

30:08

thing for the color like in the world where the

30:10

doing this it is. I think the important thing is

30:12

like. Represent again not

30:14

necessarily as this is a Japanese

30:17

restaurant. But. This is sort of

30:19

like a black American. You.

30:22

Know Japanese inspired. Robin.

30:24

Joints. Eve sure like

30:27

I like your mean satellites that like

30:29

if you were like I'm opening a

30:31

restaurant and I'm and I love Anna

30:34

May so my restaurant is animate been

30:36

because that's one of my interest in

30:38

a want to shares our other people

30:41

who love animals that's very different them

30:43

like I'm. Lying. Make a

30:45

purchase for yes and I'm up your

30:47

they are of Japanese culture and cuisine.

30:49

Young you know because there is this

30:51

big trend of like white chefs. Who.

30:54

Love that you know like perfect

30:56

be like been like the guy

30:58

who makes thai food or the

31:00

guy who's like elevated be enemies

31:02

but or whatever and like trying

31:04

to be like better. At.

31:07

Home and always more successful at

31:09

selling it to a mainstream audience

31:12

them you know, the movies And

31:14

on for yeah, Definitely, Yeah, exactly.

31:16

And so for defer more money

31:18

somehow? Yes, Yes. So orderly and

31:21

so like. That's a very layered.

31:24

Like. Subjects that.

31:27

Is. He is an overall bummer

31:29

when you look at our and scheme

31:31

of like systemic reasons why that always

31:34

happens as successful but I think in

31:36

this instance if you're if the hypothetical

31:38

is hey I'm a black we've I

31:41

love animals. Ah, and if

31:43

I opened a restaurant that was

31:45

anomie themed with that. With.

31:47

Abby race as I would say know like

31:49

you can yeah you can told you like

31:51

have an enemy themed restaurant as he does

31:53

love animals. But. I think it's

31:55

if it's site bad. Yeah, just. I just like.

31:58

that's that's the culture you're talking

32:00

about, not like Japanese, I

32:04

think would be the difference. I will say

32:06

actually this is a slight broadside, although Jessica

32:09

probably knows more about this than I do. As

32:13

far as like black folks and Asian

32:16

folks like culturally appropriating or whatever it

32:18

goes, how

32:21

is it that your algorithm, because you've

32:23

poisoned my algorithm now too, with mostly

32:27

Instagram videos of, I will

32:30

say this, more Chinese people than

32:32

I'd like, but mostly Japanese folks

32:35

trying to like use whatever

32:37

process to make their hair

32:39

into quote unquote afros or

32:41

whatever style is fucking called.

32:46

How the fuck did this happen? I

32:49

think, okay, so if

32:52

you were a listener of Yo Can We

32:54

Live, you would be very familiar with suboptimalpods.com.

32:57

You'd be familiar with the pickle that I'm

32:59

in, which is that for some

33:02

reason my Instagram algorithm thinks

33:04

I am a black

33:07

Christian woman who

33:09

is very proud to be educated, because those

33:11

are the types of ads I get. I

33:14

get a lot of like, and

33:16

it's that specific because I kept getting

33:18

ads for shirts that would say,

33:20

the first one that I sent to the group

33:22

chat was a t-shirt that said, degreed

33:25

up, so nuck if you buck. And

33:28

then I got another ad for a shirt that said,

33:30

hood and holy, that means pray

33:32

with me,

33:34

don't play with me. Wow.

33:37

Yeah. It's really

33:39

weird. I mean, no specific too.

33:42

It's so it's it truly is like,

33:44

because this also like happened, this has

33:46

been going on for a while. Yeah,

33:49

for years. Yeah, it's really, it's

33:51

really just a bizarre. Yes. And

33:54

then rhythmic. I mean, you're just in a box

33:57

that yes, a computer that I can't break out

33:59

of. And then. Nor do you want to.

34:02

Look, I'm just seeing me and Tawny

34:06

Then we started realizing slowly that Tawny's algorithm

34:09

either thinks she's Chinese or just thinks she

34:11

only likes Chinese content because that's all it

34:13

feeds her Yeah, that's on us though. I

34:15

think because we're sending her a lot of

34:17

shit We're sending her a lot of food

34:19

videos, but also because she keeps watching videos

34:21

of that little Chinese poodle It

34:24

was like it was like

34:26

oh this person loves Chinese things

34:28

not necessarily dog things just Chinese

34:30

things and so And

34:33

but because Tawny and I are in the

34:35

script where we're constantly sending each other the

34:37

videos that we get I think

34:39

that my Instagram now is like starting to

34:42

learn but it's taking the wrong lessons because

34:44

it's like you Do you

34:46

like some Chinese content, but you're still

34:48

but you're still black Yeah

34:53

It's so so deeply bizarre anyway,

34:55

so off of that. Yeah, we've

34:57

been we've been getting I

35:01

Don't I don't know what this is and

35:03

again I I'm thankful to not speak again

35:06

for mostly Japanese people but I've seen it

35:08

now in Chinese people doing this Which is

35:10

it is just like this Asian folks trying

35:14

to in

35:16

their minds pay homage

35:18

to black American culture in

35:21

ways that are Unbelievably

35:23

tone deaf at best. I don't think they're

35:25

I think that's too generous. I don't think

35:27

they're trying to pay homage I think they're

35:29

like I think that's cool and I want

35:31

it like I don't think there's anything more

35:33

than that I think they're just like I

35:35

want that because it's cool. Well, yeah. Yeah,

35:37

maybe that's what I mean It's like they

35:39

would say they think it's cool and this

35:41

is a good thing and it is like

35:44

You know at least some

35:47

of them don't actively darken their skin,

35:49

but you know very black face II

35:52

Like and I don't think they're

35:54

thinking about how black people feel about I don't

35:56

think they yeah I don't think that has ever

35:59

entered their minds I think it's literally

36:01

about what they want. They're

36:03

like, I think that's cool and I want that

36:05

for myself. I don't think at any point they

36:07

were like, gee, I wonder how black people will

36:09

feel when they see me do this.

36:12

I don't think that even is part of the conversation

36:14

for them. Yeah, right?

36:17

I guess, I mean, yeah, it's one

36:19

of those things where it's like, ugh,

36:21

you know, this to me is a

36:23

billion times worse than any anime scene.

36:25

Yeah, and you know, the

36:27

Japanese especially have had a long

36:29

history of really appropriating other

36:32

cultures. They get really, really into

36:34

it because they also love LA,

36:37

like Cholo Chicano culture, you know, like

36:40

the writer culture. They kind

36:42

of just get into something and then

36:44

there'll be this whole

36:46

subculture of it there. But

36:49

because it's a

36:51

homogenous country where there isn't a

36:54

lot of, where, you know,

36:56

race relations and like being kind

36:58

of a melting pot of cultures

37:01

just isn't present the way it is in

37:03

a place like America. So they

37:05

don't have to have those conversations because

37:08

they have one culture, you know? So

37:10

like it's not like they have to accommodate for

37:13

an ethnic minority that's

37:15

still part of their nationality. You

37:17

know? And also like oppression

37:19

is very, like racial oppression

37:21

of, in this case, gay black

37:23

folks is very theoretical. Sure,

37:26

sure, yeah. But it is very interesting

37:28

with China, especially in recent years, because

37:30

over the past like decade, China has

37:33

been like doing so much in

37:36

Africa like that there is much

37:39

more of a mix of cultures now because

37:45

China does so much business in Africa. They also

37:47

send so many workers there. Like workers

37:50

will sign like three year contracts to go and

37:52

just live in Africa and build like, you know,

37:54

roads and buildings and developments and things

37:56

like that, you know, and so now

37:59

there's this. Like so now

38:01

a lot of there's a lot

38:03

of interracial marriage in China Between

38:05

these Chinese men who have gone to Africa

38:08

and live there for years to work there

38:10

And then they like marry African women and

38:12

then bring them back to China to live

38:15

And there's like really really popular

38:17

like influencers that are like check

38:19

out our interracial life in like

38:22

the Chinese countryside You know, yeah,

38:24

and so some of those I'm like I think

38:26

I mean I think they're all like real but

38:29

some of them are definitely the popularity. It's like

38:31

propaganda probably Oh for sure.

38:33

For sure. Yeah. Well because they're trying to

38:35

like be like Strengthen

38:37

like Chinese African relations because

38:39

there's so much money tied. Yeah

38:42

Well, also they're trying to say

38:44

like what we're doing in Africa.

38:46

Is it colonialism? Yeah, it's a

38:48

partnership. It's romance Story,

38:52

is it this one? Yeah But

38:56

you know what I gobble up that content cuz

38:59

I know I even look we are probably the

39:01

literal target audience for it Hopefully

39:04

it's not quite as the most sinister

39:06

version of it but It

39:09

is I'm just like, ah man this fucking rules

39:11

and then I'm like, I'm probably

39:13

being played here But yeah, I know and

39:16

those kids are pretty fucking cute. Yeah,

39:19

and the food always looks amazing I always I'm on

39:21

the cooking side of things Wait,

39:23

this is this is not Yoko We live our

39:25

premium show available at some often old pots calm

39:27

But we did get a request for more food

39:30

content and Tani is not here Obviously, but is

39:32

there there any any food that

39:34

you've been doing Jessica? I think we're just

39:36

gonna do a one voicemail show by the

39:39

way. So oh wow We're

39:41

gonna crescendo out on good I've

39:47

just been chugging on that that tote. Yeah

39:49

fucking love it Should we talk about the

39:51

one food topic that almost tore our group

39:53

chat apart and started a race war between

39:56

me Tani and Zig? Oh Yeah,

39:59

we should do it quickly. We got into

40:01

a huge fight over oxtail. Like

40:03

the realest fight I think we've

40:05

ever been in. And you know

40:07

what, this is the perfect time

40:09

to do it because only the

40:11

Asian side of that fight is

40:14

present. I know. And so therefore

40:16

I'd like to just preemptively declare

40:18

ourselves the winners. Oh my god.

40:20

Well, it was the thing where

40:22

I essentially the fight was, I

40:25

ultimately wasn't a real fight because it

40:27

was just sort of defining terms. It

40:30

wasn't a real fight. It was a

40:32

race war, Andrew. Call it what it

40:34

is. The fight was over whether or

40:36

not oxtail is

40:39

well, here's the problem is on

40:41

one side was arguing

40:43

the thought the argument was is

40:46

oxtail exclusively black. That was

40:48

our side. We're saying that's

40:50

absurd. Yeah. And they were

40:53

hearing is oxtail black. Yes,

40:55

yes. It really was. It truly was

40:58

a miscommunication. Well not even a miscommunication.

41:00

It was really just like a war

41:02

of semantics. Yeah, that got. Yeah, I

41:05

will just clearly admit like

41:07

more heated than I thought was possible. I

41:09

know. I think that

41:11

was pretty cute because yeah, truly you and

41:13

I were on the same page in that

41:15

like I mean, it all started because

41:18

Zig was Zig sent us a video of

41:20

like, I don't know, like an oxtail burger

41:22

and oxtail this or that. And I was

41:24

like, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead

41:26

and say it. We don't need to put

41:28

oxtail on everything because oxtail is delicious

41:30

and perfect in like on

41:32

it. You don't have to add it to

41:34

things that you know, like let's not we

41:36

don't need a dress. I

41:38

eat the most oxtail of anyone I

41:41

know. Yeah, for real. Yes.

41:43

And guess what? Between the four of

41:45

us, who's the one cooking with oxtail

41:47

the most me? And

41:50

so so then I was like, so I said that

41:52

I was like, look, I don't need oxtail to be

41:54

put on everything like it's this is too much, you

41:56

know, and and Zig, you know, was

41:58

like black. And so

42:01

then Andrew... And that happens to be

42:03

true in your case, but not over.

42:05

But not for the reasons he thinks,

42:07

yeah. And so Andrew was jumped in

42:09

and was like, you know, that's

42:11

crazy to say. It's like, it's very

42:13

Asian, but they took it to mean

42:15

that... It's only Asian. Yes. They took

42:17

it to mean that Andrew was saying

42:19

Oxtail is exclusively Asian when really he

42:21

was saying, no, you were saying Oxtail

42:23

is exclusively black. And that's

42:26

wild because it's so prevalent in Asian

42:28

cooking. It really... It was

42:31

the tensest like 10 minutes

42:35

of chatting back and forth. Where I was like,

42:37

this isn't real, right? Oh, no. And

42:41

then I was like, wait, wait, wait, this

42:43

is crazy. We're just talking about different things.

42:46

Which is true. But, oh

42:48

boy. Yeah. But that was... Andrew T starting

42:51

a race war at like 8 30 a.m.

42:54

by the way. This was like at 8

42:56

30 a.m. It was also the fucking morning

42:59

for no reason. Anyway,

43:04

except for the fact that we've all agreed

43:06

I need to be eating and we all

43:08

probably need to be eating less meat significantly.

43:10

I do love Oxtail.

43:13

I know. And you know what really, I mean, fight

43:15

the real enemy, which is white people elevating

43:18

Oxtail and now it's expensive. It used to

43:20

be like the cheap cut of meat. And

43:22

now it's so expensive. I'm furious. Yes.

43:25

Yes. Even at beloved Costco.

43:28

Yes. Even... God. Like when

43:31

bad things start trickling into my sanctuary,

43:33

as you know, Andrew can experience. Well,

43:35

and as listeners to Yoke Can We

43:37

Live, we'll know about Costco. We had

43:40

a disastrous Costco trip and we'll do

43:42

the rest of the Costco review on

43:44

this Friday's Yoke Can We Live. Jessica

43:47

Gao, thank you for being on Yoke's

43:49

Racist to show you around now. Do

43:56

we want people to find you? No,

43:58

absolutely don't find me. I'm almost

44:01

not on social at all. So don't

44:03

find me, don't even try. But

44:06

if you do want to say anything to me, you

44:08

can do it at Andrew T. On

44:13

Instagram or on Twitter. And

44:16

I guess thanks for tricking me into being

44:18

on this podcast. Thank you for being here,

44:20

Jessica. We appreciate it. Listeners,

44:22

323-389-7223, that's 323-389, race. Does

44:26

it have to be race? Call, text,

44:29

questions about race. But special

44:31

preference is just regular, degular

44:34

advice. Just advice. We're

44:36

going to try to cleanse our palate

44:38

with normal shit, for one. That's

44:41

it. Right. This is an optimality.