My family and I went to San Francisco for a Scholarship Brunch I was invited too. After I needed to hit up Chinatown so that I could get more contacts. I forgot that it was the same day as the Chinese New Year street fair (which is 2 weeks late).
These used to be fun, but I noticed this year that it was less about the local stalls and more for big business. McDonald's had a stall where you could take a picture with a creepy looking Ronald McDonald. Uhh no thanks. Then Walmart had a mini house set up in the street trying to sell their wares. It was bad man. Hell, even the Census had a huge truck next to the Verizon booth. Really now? Plus, I kind of hate crowds so I knew I wanted to spend as little time in Chinatown as possible.
One thing I also dislike is that these kind of festivals are great for the local businesses, like the restaurants and the kitschy little Chinatown souvenir stores but the bring out the touristy Americans. The ones that still think that people don't speak English in Chinatown and that are still confused about what to eat, even though every restaurant has giant pictures and English all over it.
In fact, my family and I were stopped by this Caucasian (I later learned Jewish) family looking for a place to eat. He literally stopped us and said, "Me tourista. You help?" I was about to blow up on this fool. Luckily he saved his own ass by saying he was joking. I still was not impressed but I obliged and helped him find a place to eat.
But still, I do not like going to Chinatown when these festivals are going down because they are not what they used to be. It's a double edged sword. Sure, it's preserving our "culture" yet, it's perpetuating this Oriental stereotype.
Umm giant jin deui, you stole my heart. These are sesame balls filled with red bean paste. I love them and they are greasy as hell but so worth it.
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