Essay About Chinese Medicine And Mouse Flesh

Practicing My Cultural Relativism
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My friend recommended me a restaurant owned by Cantonese in Downtown LA. I was shocked to find they had an entrЁ¦e named ÐŽomouse flesh soup with Chinese medicine.ÐŽ± Only for the purpose of finishing my extra credit, I ordered that dish. >< It was served in a medium size casserole; the mouse flesh was cut into slices, with some kinds of herbs, and mushrooms. In our Chinese culture, mice are regarded as dirty, disgusting and one way of spreading diseases. I believe Americans hold the same perception towards them. In our Chinese language, speaking of the mice, they are connected to theft and disgrace. We use them as a negative figure in proverbs and poems. I tried to not think it as mice flesh, just take it as ordinary meat. I kept saying that ÐŽoit is nutritiousÐŽ­ÐŽ± to myself and constantly thought of ÐŽoRatatouilleÐŽ± to remind myself that mice have its lovely side. But I still felt difficult to chew it and finally swallowed it. To tell the truth, it was not that unpalatable. If nobody had told me what that was, the circumstance would have been totally different. I had a hard time because it violated my norms, and challenged my culture. To eat something one has never tried before is already a challenge; donЎЇt mention it is something unacceptable in his or her culture. I do not think I can accept the challenge of being culturally relativistic for 24 hours because that means I have to face lots of concepts that are totally different with what I believe in, or even reverse. They may impact what I think is right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. WhatЎЇs more, they can probably offend my beliefs. Actually, I am now facing that challenge everyday. Living in America, I have to learn what Americans think is right, and what I am supposed to behave in class or other occasions. Some behaviors like eating in class and walking out of the classroom during class, would never happen in Chinese school. They are regarded as impolite and seriously