You Are What Your Lunch Order is Called

I hate that the awesome salad at Cosi is called “Shanghai chicken salad.” What would my lunch companions think if they heard me ordering Shanghai chicken salad? Of course they’ll think that I’m a FOB (fresh off the boat); a young Chinese immigrant who eats nothing but the familiar food she grew up with, even at Cosi. True, I was drawn to Shanghai chicken salad for the same reason I am drawn to rice, hot food and umami taste. Because I’m a FOB! But do I need to make the people standing next to me aware of the fact? And make them give me that condescending look that implies “there's a Chinese takeout across the street, FYI, if you miss your mom's cooking"?

Dear Cosi, would you do me a favor and take the stigma out of ordering that goddamn salad? Maybe by calling it with a name that is more geographically-neutral? Like name it after the ingredients? Soy ginger salad is actually not a bad name. And in fact, I think it invokes a Zen, peaceful, mind-body-and-soul kind of feeling, something that I don't mind to be associated with.

What’s wrong with Shanghai chicken salad is that it is obvious that you name it after a place in China, a country that in an average American’s mind bears no image of sophistication, trendiness, or other images that New Yorkers strive to exude (think counterfeits, child labors, rude ladies and greasy wok). For a Chinese descendant like me, ordering a salad named after my grandparents’ not-so-glorious origin at a Midtown Cosi adds a FOB factor to the whole controversy that results in an even more severe and complex damage to my image.

Here is a tip for you and other restauranteurs out there: Give a quixotic name to foods that potentially make the eaters look less-than-ultra-classy. Examples from other restaurants:

- Beef/red meat -> steak

- White bread -> French bread, Italian (or some other romantic European country) bread

- Pork burrito -> carnitas burrito

Sure 75% of the population knows that carnitas is some kind of pork, but at least carnitas sounds cute. Plus, less critical dining mates may not make the connection right away. By obscuring the essence of these foods with misleadingly positive names, you are allowing your customers to get away with ordering their favorite comfort (yet unhip) food in a social setting, without being judged right off the bat.