A vegan animal rights activist has provoked outrage on social media after mocking a traditional Chinese dish for containing meat.
Jona Weinhofen posted a picture of Chinese hotpot on Twitter and compared it to dirty water.
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"Meat eaters be like 'vegan food looks and tastes gross' and then eat something that looks like leftover dishwater," he said.
Replies to the tweet weren't impressed, with many pointing out the dish Mr Weinhofen chose to make fun of is hotpot, which can easily be made vegan and look exactly the same.
On top of this, the dish is Chinese and Mr Weinhofen is not, leading to accusations of racism.
"White vegan trying to be woke and disrespecting a cultural dish in the process (and the gag is there are vegetarian versions of the dish)", one person responded.
"I couldn't invent a hipster caricature this funny,"
"This is a Chinese hotpot, you engorged penis," wrote user Jeff Yang.
"It could be made with nothing but vegan ingredients and it would still be delicious and you'd still be a xenophobic tool."
Mr Yang later went on to discuss the history of hotpot and common vegan ingredients like tofu, which began as a traditional Asian ingredient but found popularity with vegetarian consumers.
"When @jonaweinhofen mocks traditional Chinese fare to condescendingly push borrowed beliefs, he should know that he's part of a vast exploitative program designed to repackage nonwhite staple fare and commercialize it for white bellies, crushing native cultures as it goes.
"Also the delicious huoguo @jonaweinhofen mocks as 'dishwater' began as a cold-weather mainstay of poor Chinese seeking to stretch scarce meat into a hot meal made mostly of plant products."
Mr Weinhofen has defended his stance, saying tradition is not an excuse for the continued consumption of animal products, which he refers to as genocide.
But commenters aren't happy with that response.
"Veganism is not an excuse for racism," one user said.
"Veganism is not an excuse for disrespecting other cultures."
Newshub.
