After opening “Sushi Counter,” an NYC-based sushi store that sells “Australian-style” rolls, the owner was met with backlash – simply because she wasn’t Asian. The woman who launched the shop is known as “Sushi Sheila.”
The outrage began when one of her videos about Sushi Counter went viral on X (formerly Twitter) after it was shared by chef Eric Rivera (@ericriveracooks). Rivera tweeted, “but it’s ‘stralian sushi. give me a break colonizer.”
“Why is someone who is not of Asian descent, better yet from Australia opening a sushi spot in NYC?” asks @TheAfrocentricI. After the outrage, people allegedly stormed to give her a one-star review on Google. Luckily, many people came to her defence, and Sushi Counter’s average rating stands at 4.8 stars at the time of writing.
The irony is that Rivera, who is an immigrant from Puerto Rico, had plans to open a Japanese fusion restaurant in North Carolina.
Getting mad at a white person for opening a sushi restaurant is a chronically online take. There’s a big difference between “cultural appropriation” and appreciating one’s culture. Besides, food is a universal language – even England’s national food is the Tikka Masala. It’s 2023, and instead of encouraging each other to appreciate other countries’ creations, people are criticized for it.
