An American man has sparked a massive debate by trashing Indian food on social media. X user Hunter Ash minced no words in his recent takedown. Besides painting the various regional cuisines of India under the same brush of “Indian food,” he also denounced it as “subcontinental pound-of-spice slop” – words that prompted accusations of racism.

In his X post, Ash said that loving Indian food is a sign of “PMC striverism,” mocking the aspirational behaviour of the Professional-Managerial Class. He added that Indian food fell short when compared to other countries like Korea and Japan.

The controversial take

“Loving Indian food is the best indicator of PMC striverism. Really? You tried Korean barbecue and sushi and French-prepared bone marrow and decided subcontinental pound-of-spice slop was amazing?” the X user asked.

His post received 1.6 million views on the microblogging platform. Many people disagreed with his take, while others agreed with parts of it. Thousands of viewers also rose up in defense of Indian food.

The reactions

“I like Indian food and I don’t think I need to negatively polarise myself against it just because mass Indian migration is harmful,” a user wrote, referring to recent rise in anti-immigration sentiments.

“Tbh, the Indian food in the US is bottom tier compared to Japanese and Korean. If you’re in London, you might have a better shot,” another opined. “This must be posted from America because it’s comically inaccurate in Britain,” a user named Mary agreed.

“I wouldn’t put it in my top 5 national/regional cuisines, but they might have the best vegetarian spread in the game,” wrote one X user, which Hunter Ash conceded as a “fair” opinion.

“This take is garbage and you’re uncultured,” one person said in the comments section.

(Also read: Australian woman trashes Indian food for using ‘dirt spices,’ gets a lesson in colonial history)