2 Generations 1 Mic

Is white privilege real?

ANDREINA & MARK LANDIS

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The episode reveals the interplay between white privilege and food experiences, discussing how cultural expectations shape dining practices in various countries. By sharing personal anecdotes and reflections, the hosts explore the influences of privilege and identity on culinary adventures, prompting listeners to consider their own experiences abroad.

• Exploring the meeting of two generations' perspectives 
• Sharing travelers' stories that illuminate cultural experiences 
• Discussing the concept of white privilege and its implications 
• Highlighting the differences in culinary customs across cultures 
• Examining American dining etiquette versus international standards 
• Unpacking food portion sizes and societal norms 
• Recognizing the connection between entitlement and food experiences 
• Encouraging listener engagement to share personal food journeys

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Two Generations, One Mic.

Speaker 2:

My name is Andreina, aka Andy, and I am a 20, no, it's not 20, listen to me, I'm 36 years old. You wish, I wish.

Speaker 1:

I wish.

Speaker 2:

Shut up. I'm 36 years old and I am an international beauty business owner, and this one here is my trophy husband.

Speaker 1:

Well, participation trophy at this point. But I'm actually 61 years old. That's henceforth the two generations. So I'm right there, I'm baby boomer, exactly on the year between baby boomer and ex You're a baby boomer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I'm right there. So we have different perspectives for different generations. If you just started watching this, please like, subscribe, follow to our channel, share and please share comments and questions you might have and we'll be happy to answer as much as we can. If you want to hate, that's fine too. We just want the interaction and Don't hate, don't, hate, don't hate.

Speaker 1:

We'll see where we go from there. And we just did this because we travel so much, we do so many things. We have a lot of followers on social media and people always say oh, we like following you because of your. They said we live vicariously through you Because we have the international beauty businesses. We live in the US and also in Europe and we go back and forth every couple of months. We travel all over the world a lot of Europe, asia, everywhere and so we get to do some really cool stuff and travel a lot of cool places. So friends always say we live vicariously through you. So keep it up, and we'd love to hear more about what you do, what you encounter, but apparently a lot of that encountering doesn't sit well with you.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's because you, my man, well, you're white, of course, and an American, and you grew up in a time and I mean it still happens nowadays but you have white privilege which, when I married you, I started having it. Well, no, I rephrase that when I got my American passport I started having that right Because I am a citizen of the world, as you know, I am Mexican, spanish, italian and now an American, proud American. I will say, and I don't know how to explain it to you, like you, quite, privileged is a thing, but you guys don't realize it and I'm not saying, I mean, I'm a very light colored Latin person, right, and you don't realize it that the color of your skin influence in different, influences in different, how you say, like activities or like perceptions from other people. And then if that doesn't, if that doesn't suit with you, then you get mad, like the time we were in Spain and the guard at the door asked you to look at your shopping bag and you were outraged by that. Why?

Speaker 1:

Do I look like I'm stealing stuff from your store?

Speaker 2:

They don't know that there's a lot. Hey, they don't know that, like they don't know that, but that has never happened to you here in the US.

Speaker 1:

No, why? Well, like you said, I think that it is. While I acknowledge there is a lot of white privilege, especially culturally and how marginalized communities get treated in America, versus how white people get treated, you do get a certain amount of just privilege that comes your way and the perceptions that people have of you, that people have of you. But even also there, it wasn't just the grocery store.

Speaker 2:

Look at the reverse Myself or my daughter, tiffany, who is a lot more blonde than I am she had prepped with you for an hour over all the questions they might ask Because she was coming to Spain to visit us by herself and usually you have to have an invite letter if you go to visit your family that we are responsible for her in case she misbehaves or whatever. You have to have like an invite letter from if you go to visit your family Right.

Speaker 2:

That we are responsible for her in case she misbehaves or whatever. So we had this whole thing planned right. Like you're here to visit some friends and you guys are going to go touring through Europe.

Speaker 1:

And primarily because when you go to Europe or any country there Spain is no different is you have to say well, here's where I'm staying. Right, here's my hotel, right. When you don't put a hotel they want to know, well then, how are you here?

Speaker 2:

And they want to make sure, like in the US, they want to make sure you're not staying there forever.

Speaker 1:

Right, so that's why that came up. But you and my daughter sit and practiced for an hour about every perceivable question that could come up, what they would be asking you, and here's your response, so that you don't get asked more and you're not going to have an issue. And what did they ask her? Nothing, nothing. They were like hello, blonde girl with American money, welcome to our country.

Speaker 2:

I know they saw her passport and I was like, okay, welcome.

Speaker 1:

That was it. Didn't ask her one single thing.

Speaker 2:

That is true, but that also, like, gives you some kind of entitlement. Like I think we're talking another episode about that Like when we go places and they don't have the English menu, right, like you get upset. And I know you get upset because like how dare they not cater to you, mr White, american boy? Like they don't have to cater to you, like they don't have to, and you do get upset about that.

Speaker 1:

I don't get upset as much as again. I said this before. I think that it's a missed opportunity for them and now I've been in Spain for six years, I can read Spanish menus, it's not a problem. Now there'll be some things like, okay, what the heck is this? And then you've even looked at it and go. I don't even know what that is. But I have no problem with that and I don't expect it anymore.

Speaker 1:

It's nice if they do and I think if they're missing a business opportunity if they don't, because not just Americans, but also UK, uk visitors that spend a lot of money as tourists in that country. So I do see that. But here and I did notice that when because we've been traveling the whole time we've been married for 10 years, been together for 12. And I did notice that as, like every time we're going through and we both have, because we travel so much, we both have the global entry. So we have the fast pass, everything, global entry, everything. And even with all that, she would always get flagged to get searched. Every single time they would flag her, check her for explosives, something would go on, what explosives would I have?

Speaker 1:

I mean, they always check her for stuff.

Speaker 2:

They were yeah, that is true. Before I got my American passport, I was always flagged for random searches. I don't understand why.

Speaker 1:

And you asked me. You said well, hasn't that happened to you? I said, well, yes, once. I think in the UK that's been it. Oh yeah. Well, the UK is A lot of suspicious things there and a lot of different people from around the world coming in from countries that are not necessarily always the most friendliest countries to the rest of the Western world, traveling through that airport, so they have to be very diligent in what they're doing.

Speaker 1:

I understand it, I get it, but again, maybe that's my white privilege of like OK, I understand, you just went through this whole thing with this Iranian guy or this guy from Pakistan or whatever you're going through with you know, here I am blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy. Why are you asking me all the same questions? Because it doesn't really matter, right?

Speaker 2:

and you get mad. You get mad because they're questioning you. You're mad because they're making you count your liquids. You're mad because they but and again, again. I don't blame you. You grew up in a different time, Right, you grew up. Your school was not very diverse. Right, you grew up and diversity was of the topic. Like what? But even in restaurants, like when we go there and they don't treat you well, like how, like you, I can tell you're mad about it. Like like when, when they're I don't know. I don't know how to explain it, but you feel like because it's you, you, you deserve to be treated better than the rest.

Speaker 1:

I don't want to be treated better than the rest. I don't want to be treated better than the rest, I just want to be treated nice and I mean, I think that's a natural thing. I'm going to frequent restaurants that treat me nice. I like. It's no secret we don't. We live a pretty uh, more up upper scale lifestyle. You know we, we're international business owners, we have places in international cities. We've lived in la and new york, and you know we, we're international business owners, we have places in international cities. We've lived in la and new york, and you know, and we travel around the world. We travel at a different level as a lot of people. So I'm used to that. So I don't. You know we don't like it's not, it's not conceivable to us that we're going to have. Like it's not, we don't go to olive garden eat italian food that's not our kind of restaurant, even when we're in Europe.

Speaker 2:

like when we're in Europe, you're like you order a piece of meat. This is not US prime.

Speaker 1:

No, it's awful.

Speaker 2:

But see, you have a problem and you want your American style.

Speaker 1:

I want my American prime steak if I'm paying money for it. Yes, If they don't have ketchup.

Speaker 2:

that's sacrilege if they don't have ketchup Now don't put those in the same sentence. There's not a chance in hell.

Speaker 1:

I'm putting ketchup on steak. She said that back to back like I'm a lunatic.

Speaker 2:

He's a lunatic, but not for that.

Speaker 1:

But no, I do like ketchup. How many times on the flights do I steal the ketchup packets from the lounge to put them in my pocket, because they don't have ketchup on?

Speaker 2:

the airline flights You're stealing now.

Speaker 1:

Well, I take them from the lounge. I'm not stealing, I take them from the lounge, that's not stealing. No, they're there to take. Whether I eat them there or on a plane, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to have ketchup on my eggs on a plane which they don't have on the airlines Salt and pepper, oh my gosh. Sometimes you ask, hey, do you have salt and pepper? And they don't. And then you're like, because that's an American thing.

Speaker 1:

It's not an American thing, it's a Western culture thing. They also have that in the UK, they have it in Germany, they have it in France.

Speaker 2:

Not in every table.

Speaker 1:

Not as much in the Latin countries do. They have it Not in every table. Well, they have to cater to you like the way you. It's not fresh if it doesn't have all the crap on it. And in America we like to eat clean food. Like I don't like somebody stick me a plate of shrimp down. I want my shrimp pretty and clean. I don't mind paying more for it, but make it pretty. I want the lobster tail pretty broiled with some nice butter on the side, like they do at every high-end steakhouse. I don't want to—here's the thing Tear it all apart with your hands.

Speaker 2:

I'm not eating like that countries.

Speaker 1:

That's a form of showing you that the food is fresh if I'm paying that much money for the food, I'm assuming it's fresh.

Speaker 2:

That's why I'm eating at that restaurant yeah, but you don't know that, like maybe here in the us they just put it clean and pretty because it was not generally not, or they don't have the prime titles.

Speaker 1:

That's the difference, again, of eating at a mid-level american chain restaurant or a high-end american restaurant.

Speaker 2:

That's hypocrisy, and you're on your end.

Speaker 2:

Well, not your end american scent, because I mean, I'm an american too, but I grew up like welcome to some freedom I, I, I grew up in different I mean in a different environment where to me, like I mean I grew up in a different environment, where to me, I grew up in Mexico City and to me the freshness comes from that, like the fish. They'll show you the head, or you see the chicken and it's hanging. I mean not with feathers or anything, but they're like this is the fresh.

Speaker 1:

Here's a dead chicken. Come on in and enjoy some food. Where do you?

Speaker 2:

think it comes from.

Speaker 1:

Feel free to set up your lawn chair so you can eat.

Speaker 2:

No, but when you go to the chicken place to buy your chicken breast to cook to the chickenery, let's say to the polleria, the chickens are hanging dead, unfeathered. Of course, but it just when I took your daughter there down there and she saw that she almost passed out.

Speaker 1:

Well, it's the same thing that they do over there, where they give me the fish with the whole head. Now, I don't want to see the fish, I want to see the head and I want my stuff already clean, filleted, looking pretty. I don't want to see it. I don't want to look at a fish in the eye when I'm eating it you guys just love everything so pretty and clean and and everything's ready and yes, and I don't think that's why privilege.

Speaker 1:

I just think that's it's a cultural thing that we like stuff that's already pretty clean. We don't mind paying a little more for it. But we want clean, pretty, aesthet, aesthetically nice food. That doesn't mean I also don't like eating street tacos. I'll eat that all day long. We're going out of Mexico, I'll get street tacos. I'm one of the few widows that can actually eat that street tacos and not even get sick, and you know that. So it's like I can eat that food too. But when I go to a nice restaurant I want my food to be clean.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but you like it's not only about the cleanness, it's and again, like I think it's your American showing when we go other countries in the world where, like I don't know, maybe a host or a hostess when we come to the place they just don't really like, like here in America, you know, like they're like oh, hello this, and like they kind of vow to you. And when we're over there you're just like they don't treat you the same and you're like I don't like it. Or or when we go places like when we were in Tokyo and day one you said I don't want any more Japanese food, I want something more American, more international. I'm like we are in Japan. This is not Japanese food, it's just food and it happens to us everywhere we go, because you guys like your variety of.

Speaker 1:

We like different kinds of food and I think when I said I wanted, I think we were talking about the breakfast buffet. I wouldn't use Americans again. We have foods that we consider to be breakfast foods and it's pretty much a general staple of you know eggs, bacon, ham, whatever oatmeal, cereals, breakfast-type foods.

Speaker 2:

Oh, or if the bacon is not American way, the American bacon.

Speaker 1:

Well, no, that wasn't. I'm not talking about the bait, you're talking about germany my god, it was raw.

Speaker 1:

There's a difference between like okay, I like it crispy or something, but raw it was raw, it was just their bacon. I'm not gonna eat raw bacon. That's just that's raw. So it's like I do like crispy but when it comes to that, but I think that I like other people's foods and tokyo, that was the best steak I've ever had in my life. That wagyu steak I had was the best steak I ever had in my life there was absolutely one day two.

Speaker 2:

You said I don't want any more japanese food no, I don't mind.

Speaker 1:

I didn't want to just eat every single meal of japanese food. I wanted to try some different things there, you know yes, but you're there.

Speaker 2:

You cannot try other things, it's tokyo.

Speaker 1:

It's the biggest city in the world.

Speaker 2:

Yes, but 38 billion people eating in an italian restaurant in tokyo.

Speaker 1:

That was a bad move. That was awful. Yeah, that was the equivalent of you know? Oh, I don't even know what, but it was awful it was like saying oh, I don't know like know.

Speaker 2:

Like spaghetti with ketchup. That was horrible. It was awful.

Speaker 1:

That was a bad mistake.

Speaker 2:

That's it. That's when your American shows that you guys are not. But it was fun in Tokyo, you guys don't bend to accommodate yourselves, to discover other cultures.

Speaker 1:

I discovered a lot of culture there in Tokyo when we got really drunk in the afternoon and sang karaoke in the karaoke in the private room karaoke bar, drinking gin and tonics. That was hilarious. We actually went there, you remember, we. We said, oh, we'll be here for an hour, let's just we'll take a room. And then we started drinking gin and tonics and just kind of nibbling on little whatever they brought us and I was rapping, and you were rapping, eminem, and I'm like calling and playing making videos, because nobody would have believed that, and so yeah, which, by the way, I can't sing.

Speaker 2:

You will pay me not to sing. That's me.

Speaker 1:

So it was. That was funny, but it was one of the most fun times I've had in Tokyo.

Speaker 2:

It was absolutely amazing. Yeah, but only because alcohol was involved in the process. Other than that, like you and I know, a lot of your friends are like that and I don't know if it's a generational thing. It might be that you guys are very set on your ways. Like you guys, you have a lot of friends that when they travel they don't. I'd rather go to a subway other than try.

Speaker 1:

Yeah now that's not me.

Speaker 2:

No, I know that's not you, but like you guys don't really like. When we were in Korea, we went to the market in Korea and you starved yourself that day because you'd rather not eat any food in Korea, because nothing looked good and everything was fishy and the fish was fresh out of the little I don't know buckets or whatever they had.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that didn't look good to me at all.

Speaker 2:

And you literally starved yourself that day because you said I'm not eating.

Speaker 1:

I don't even remember that, you don't remember that no I don't remember that I just think about.

Speaker 1:

But Bangkok was good. You know the markets there were good. Singapore was amazing. I didn't eat a scorpion like you did in Bangkok, but I did try a lot of different foods. I thought it was fantastic and I tried that. I'm not that ugly American tourist that goes to places. I can never fathom that to me, that people would get on a plane, fly from America and fly, spend 15, 18 hours of traveling to go eat at McDonald's or eat at Subway. And I've had friends, literally, that are in Rome and I mean you're in one of the best cities in the world for food and you're eating at Subway.

Speaker 2:

Because I am. I can't even fathom that that's the American entitlement. It's not.

Speaker 1:

No, it's not. That's some Americans Again, I know. I agree with you that there are. It is a white privilege, it is an entitlement thing, but it's not all. You generalize a lot. It's not even close to all.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people there are a lot of you get mad because Popeyes in Spain doesn't have the same menu as in here.

Speaker 1:

I get mad. Yeah, well, there's a reason it's not just Popeye's, but that is a thing that if we don't eat a lot of American fast food in Europe, in Spain, and every now and then we're like, oh God, I really want to, I have a craving for this, because if we're there for more than two months I want a craving for something. But, for example, mcdonald's in Spain, they only have two things that taste like McDonald's and that's the cheeseburgers and, I think, the hamburgers. Everything else tastes completely different, completely. Now their fries are much better. They actually have amazing French fries so they put like real cheese sauce and real bacon on. Put that at a McDonald's in America that would sell out like crazy. That's amazing. But again, not a bunch of chemicals in there, it's real stuff. That's good.

Speaker 1:

Kfc that doesn't taste nothing like that. Popeye's tastes nothing like Popeye's. They don't have red beans and rice. They don't have the biscuits. Biscuits aren't a thing in Spain, so they don't have those. So half the thing is on the menu out there. Taco Bell. Tacos are the only thing that tastes like Taco Bell. Everything else is completely different. They're the only thing that tastes like Taco Bell. Everything else is completely different. Sadly, because most everything we put in our food here in America is banned in Europe, so they can't have a lot of those products in there.

Speaker 1:

So they're taking good care of you, and then you still get mad because you get-. The only thing that they have that actually tastes like American version is Five Guys, because Five Guys makes them have the American version, because Five Guys is clean, cleaner.

Speaker 2:

It's more like from scratch.

Speaker 1:

Everything has to be done exactly like Five Guys does in America, including down to the air conditioning.

Speaker 2:

That's another thing. Air conditioning If we're walking into a place that just doesn't have the AC on, you just get mad In the middle of summer. Yes, Well, no, of course in the middle of summer. But it could be like September and you're like people don't turn their AC anymore, or some places don't even have AC, and then you're like you just want your American AC. That's just a deal breaker for you. We can be walking into a restaurant and if the AC is not on, we leave.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's true, I'll give you that. I like, again, comfort. I like, and again, I think it's comforting. You walk into a place that's nice and cool. It's more relaxing than walking in If it's cold inside. I'm not like, oh, it's cold, I'm not going to. I don't care about having air addition when it's cold. But you're talking about like, just because it's the month, it could be hot.

Speaker 2:

You know, but the whole world has different cultures and I mean, thank god you're living over there. You have been a little bit like towards the way you used to be, where, like sometimes, you can have dinner at 8 pm. Yeah, Rarely, Rarely but then you, because maybe we're taking a siesta from 5 to 7.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, when we live in Europe, our basic lifestyle is we get up in the morning, we can sleep until about 8.30, and then we go work out and we do all this stuff and then we're still seven hours ahead of the US. So we eat lunch around with her mom, we have a big lunch or we go out or something. We usually eat a big lunch with wine and everything around 2 to 3. And then we take a nap. Every day over there we take a nap, usually 5 to 7-ish or whatever, and then we get up and we go to the bars and the bars all have food. With every round of drinks and stuff you get free tapas, so you don't have to have another big meal because you get free things to eat, whether it's shrimp or cheese or paella or something.

Speaker 2:

That's another thing. I mean not you because you don't get mad because you don't eat a lot of food, but a lot of Americans get mad because of the food portions.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, much smaller, one-third.

Speaker 2:

Everything is so, and I personally get mad here because the food portions are so big and everything goes to waste.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the food portion sizes in restaurants in the EU are one third of what you see in the restaurants here. But there's also a correlation the people are one third of the size of the people that are here. One-third of the size of the people that are here. There's a reason why when you look at sizes on clothes, it'll say US size extra large or UK size extra large or EU size extra large, because America the people are. There are so many morbidly obese people in America, Morbidly obese because they eat big giant plates of food three times a day.

Speaker 2:

Way too much food and you have a lot of like good desserts at the store like very readily easily and processed food that they eat and processed food and way too much fast food and things like that.

Speaker 1:

You know so you have a lot of more obese people here in America than you do in Europe, and so the sizes are, you know, different and it's fresh and you're eating clean and you know it's fine. But you don't have to have big, giant meals at night. You can if you want.

Speaker 2:

Another one, oh my God, another one. We're in Bologna, italy, right, and you were mad because you could not find what you thought in your mind was Bolognese spaghetti.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Bolognese sauce? No, but it was like they had bolognese, something else. But you want spaghetti like the actual spaghetti shape. They didn't have that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, because I didn't realize that bolognese spaghetti isn't spaghetti. First of all, for Americans, for all the Americans, watching spaghetti and meatballs is not a thing. It's actually an American dish that was made.

Speaker 1:

American Italians started making that in the restaurants. Spaghetti and meatballs is not a thing. It's not available. A lot of places don't even have meatballs in the Italian restaurants Now they're called polpettes or, in Spain, albándigas, but different flavors, but polpette. You can get that as an appetizer and you can get spaghetti dishes, but they don't make spaghetti and meatballs. It's not a thing there. So spaghetti bolognese is another creation of mine. That will do it, restaurants will do for me, but in bologna it's actually bologna.

Speaker 1:

They made it with a really thick noodle because it holds the meat sauce better, and it's the way it's traditionally made. So, yes, that was my fault, because I like my spaghetti pasta.

Speaker 2:

So we were walking from restaurant to restaurant to restaurant to restaurant. Yes, figuring out if somebody had spaghetti that could make bolognese Like I'm, like starving at this point. Yes, I gave up in life.

Speaker 1:

Right, I'll give you that one, that's for sure. Oh, that one only. Like I'm Right, I'll give you that one, that's for sure. Oh, that one only. There's probably many, but that one for sure I will give.

Speaker 2:

you See, but that's your entitlement that you think that you, the Italy, the place where the pasta is born, where they have the original plates, the original dishes, they have to be what American-Italian dishes are.

Speaker 1:

Right, right. And we did have our Italian friend, if you remember, because we were there for Thanksgiving one year. We didn't get to come back to America for Thanksgiving and he knew it was my American Thanksgiving. So he came out and he says and he's our friend that owns the restaurant and we were there three or four days a week hanging out with him. And he came and said look, I know you can't be home for your American Thanksgiving, but I made you something that will hopefully take the place of making you feel a little better. He goes I made you spaghetti and meatballs.

Speaker 2:

Which you didn't like yeah which weren't very good and you had to eat them. I got to give you that.

Speaker 1:

I ate them. But the yeah, I like. I do like my spaghetti and meatballs. That American Italian thing is an amazing thing. I do like my spaghetti and meatballs that American-Italian thing is an amazing thing. I do like that. But I'll give it to you there.

Speaker 2:

That is exactly what it is, but you want that when we go into Europe to eat Italian food, you want American-Italian food and you get so mad because it's not American-Italian food.

Speaker 1:

I do like New York-Italian, new York-American-Italian food over regular Italian food or real Italian food. I know that hurts, that hurts, but I like my New York red sauce Italian places. I do like that, you know, with the big chicken, parmesan and the meatballs and all this stuff. It's like I love that. It's one of my favorite things ever Exactly. Well, there's so many things. I guess I'll try to do better to recognize what's going on and be more cognizant of my white privilege that I'm pulling ahead of you.

Speaker 2:

You can't even Like, you can't even be cognizant. It just happens. It's in your blood, it's in your DNA, it's like you were born and raised to be that and it's okay. It's just when I punch you in the face for that. Don't ask why, I'll just be like it's your whiteness showing.

Speaker 1:

Well, tell us what you think about food in general or any comments you have about the privilege. Do we get treated better? Are we more entitled? And I'd really like to know in comments if you eat Italian food, do you like the American Italian food?

Speaker 2:

If you're not white like him. Have you ever been asked to show your bag at a grocery store?

Speaker 1:

I mean, god knows, maybe so we like the comments, we like the interaction, we like the questions. We'll answer those. Please like and subscribe. Follow the channel and also other social media apps as we continue to build.

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