There has been a social media outrage against Amazon.com’s Whole Foods Market after the retailer decided to enter into a partnership with an Asian restaurant that has the racially charged name of Yellow Fever in the newest store of the retailer.
There has been controversy because the name yellow fever is a slang that is used to express the sexual attraction of a white man towards Asian women and the name has been intentionally chosen by the independently owned and operated eatery. The store has opened in the 365 store which was recently opened by Whole Foods in Long Beach, California, on Wednesday.
Columbia University professor and author Marie Myung-Ok Lee, wrote on Twitter: "An Asian 'bowl' resto called YELLOW FEVER in the middle of whitest Whole Foods — is this taking back of a racist image or colonized mind?"
There were no comments from Whole Foods. The company has eight stores in its 365 chain. this chain was launched along with a no-frills concept to attract millennials/.
"Yellow Fever celebrates all things Asian: the food, the culture and the people and our menu reflects that featuring cuisine from Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Hawaii," said Kelly Kim, executive chef and co-founder of Yellow Fever, which also operates two Los Angeles-area restaurants.
"We have been a proud Asian, female-owned business since our founding over four and a half years ago in Torrance, California."
She had known that there would be controversy when she selected the name but it will also attract attention, Kim, who is Korean-American, had said on earlier interviews.
"One night, we just said 'Yellow Fever!' and it worked. It's tongue-in-cheek, kind of shocking, and it's not exclusive — you can fit all Asian cultures under one roof with a name like this. We just decided to go for it," Kim told Asian American news site NextShark six months ago.
Yellow Fever means "love of all things Asian", she had said to the Argonaut, a local Los Angeles news outlet, about a year ago and had added that the reaction of the public demanding a roll back of the name was not as bad and massive as she had expected.
However, there were also some on the social media who sought to defend the news of the partnership between the a\eatery and Whole Foods and believed it was a part of a cultural trend that is developing.
"This is no more offensive than @abc naming an Asian sitcom Fresh of the Boat or FOB- which is considered racists [sic]," wrote Lorin Hart, who uses the Twitter handle @CubeProMH.
(Source:www.cnbc.com)
There has been controversy because the name yellow fever is a slang that is used to express the sexual attraction of a white man towards Asian women and the name has been intentionally chosen by the independently owned and operated eatery. The store has opened in the 365 store which was recently opened by Whole Foods in Long Beach, California, on Wednesday.
Columbia University professor and author Marie Myung-Ok Lee, wrote on Twitter: "An Asian 'bowl' resto called YELLOW FEVER in the middle of whitest Whole Foods — is this taking back of a racist image or colonized mind?"
There were no comments from Whole Foods. The company has eight stores in its 365 chain. this chain was launched along with a no-frills concept to attract millennials/.
"Yellow Fever celebrates all things Asian: the food, the culture and the people and our menu reflects that featuring cuisine from Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Hawaii," said Kelly Kim, executive chef and co-founder of Yellow Fever, which also operates two Los Angeles-area restaurants.
"We have been a proud Asian, female-owned business since our founding over four and a half years ago in Torrance, California."
She had known that there would be controversy when she selected the name but it will also attract attention, Kim, who is Korean-American, had said on earlier interviews.
"One night, we just said 'Yellow Fever!' and it worked. It's tongue-in-cheek, kind of shocking, and it's not exclusive — you can fit all Asian cultures under one roof with a name like this. We just decided to go for it," Kim told Asian American news site NextShark six months ago.
Yellow Fever means "love of all things Asian", she had said to the Argonaut, a local Los Angeles news outlet, about a year ago and had added that the reaction of the public demanding a roll back of the name was not as bad and massive as she had expected.
However, there were also some on the social media who sought to defend the news of the partnership between the a\eatery and Whole Foods and believed it was a part of a cultural trend that is developing.
"This is no more offensive than @abc naming an Asian sitcom Fresh of the Boat or FOB- which is considered racists [sic]," wrote Lorin Hart, who uses the Twitter handle @CubeProMH.
(Source:www.cnbc.com)
