It’s great to shine a light on the glorious ball of meaty broth that is xiao long bao, but bloody hell Time Out London, at least do it right.
The British publication did a short video feature on Chinese soup dumplings, but made the horrible, horrible choice of telling people to “try popping” them apart — the exact opposite of how xiao long baos are supposed to be eaten. What are we, savages or something?
By jove, did that clip severely rustled our jimmies. Here’s a lesson on how to properly consume soup dumplings:
To be fair, the correct method of eating xiao long baos vary among Taiwanese and Hong Kongers — but the one exceptional, biblical, absolute act of vileness is popping them open and letter the soup dribble everywhere.
Oh, and you bet Singaporeans — who certainly know their way around dim sum — were fuming mad.
But! At least Time Out London acknowledged that they were in the wrong, apologized, and invited folks to point them in the right direction:
“So, first off, apologies to anybody who was peeved by our post. Secondly, we’d like to invite the knowledgeable food-lovers of China and Asia to tell us what traditional delicacies we Londoners should try – and how to eat them properly. We’re an inquisitive bunch at heart you know, and while we don’t always do things the traditional way, we’re always looking to learn.”
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