She Cooked Chinese-Mexican Fusion for Fun, but Her Roommate’s Jealous Reaction Changed the Mood
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If you come from a small town or village, it’s possible that you’ll have spent your entire upbringing surrounded by people who look like you, sound like you, went to the same school as you, and have exactly the same culture and celebrate all the same holidays as you. That’s a normal way of being in some homogenous communities – and that’s not wrong at all, it’s just the way it is.
However, if you’ve grown up in a city, you’ll know just how weird that sounds. Because all around the world, cities can be hubs of diversity, places where tens of different nationalities can live on one street, where various religious holidays are celebrated, and community means sharing stories and meals and traditions from different cultures all around the world, and showing each of them the same respect.
So when the first folk move to cities for college or work, the beautiful diversity can be a big awakening, something that opens their eyes and broadens their horizons in the most fascinating way – as the roommate in this story found out recently, when she brought home a friend who showed a lot of interest in her roommate’s mixed hrtitage. However, not everyone was so pleased about his interest in the woman’s culture.
Read on to find out what happened here.
AITA for telling my roommate’s friend about my heritage?
I (21, female) am half Mexican and half Chinese. My parents came to the US before I was born, but thought it was very important for me to learn their native languages and participate in both of their cultures.
Because of this, I can speak Spanish and Mandarin. Both of my parents also loved cooking, so growing up we ate a lot of traditional Mexican and Chinese dishes as well as some blended fusion meals as well.
A few nights ago, I was cooking dinner at my apartment. I was making one of those fusion dishes, but I got stuck on a particular step, so I called my mom to ask for help and we talked in Spanish.
I was on the phone when my roommate Ann (23, female), came home with her friends, who I was not told were coming over.
Let’s see what happened next.
Later, one of the guys from the group came into the kitchen and asked what I was making because it smelled good. I explained the dish was created by my parents to blend Mexican and Chinese cuisine.
He then asked why I was speaking on the phone in Spanish earlier, so I told him that I’m half Mexican and half Chinese, and that I grew up speaking both Spanish and Mandarin with my parents.
He seemed genuinely interested and asked me more about the languages and the cooking, so we ended up talking for a while about my background and how food and language are such a big part of my life.
But this didn’t go down well with Ann.
The next day, I found out through my other roommate that Ann had told her I was showing off and flirting with her friend. This ****** me off because I wasn’t trying to flirt with him and he was the one who started the conversation with me.
I tried to talk to Ann about this, but she just seemed annoyed and told me that it was obvious how it looked and I should be more mindful when she has her friends over.
I told her that I can’t be “mindful” if she doesn’t even warn me about having company over. She said that she doesn’t have to get my permission to invite people to the apartment. I was getting irritated by this point so I let the conversation die down after this.
It’s been so awkward ever since this happened and every time I see her she’s short with me and barely acknowledges me. I’m starting to wonder if I behaved out of line.
AITA?
There is literally not one thing that this young woman did wrong here.
She was asked about her cooking and her culture, so she spoke about it with someone who was genuinely interested.
It seems like Ann is a little jealous here, and is letting that get the better of her.
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Let’s see what folks on Reddit said about this.
This person agreed that Ann was jealous.
While others thought that the woman had done nothing wrong.
Meanwhile, this Redditor agreed that the woman’s heritage was very interesting.
One thing that Ann needs to realise right away is that she cannot control everyone the way she wants. She clearly has a crush on this guy, her ‘friend’, and she brought him back to her place, where her roommates also are. Of course, her roommates might talk to him. And if he is interested in one of her roommates and asks her questions, of course she’s going to answer. But that doesn’t automatically mean that they are flirting – he might just be genuinely interested on a human level, in a way that has no romantic connotations whatsoever.
But even if they were flirting, there are no rules against that. After all, he’s been introduced as a friend, and clearly considers himself to be just that. And rather than joining in the conversation and actually showing any interest herself, Ann has just gone and talked about her roommate behind her back, spreading false rumours and making it quite clear how jealous – and, indeed, how possessive – she is.
Not every conversation is flirting, Ann.
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