You said that dressing up Kazakhs like Mongol warriors was “akin to dressing up a black man as a spear-chucking cannibal” but that’s not quite true: the Mongols invaded the area in the 13rd century AD and, according to Wikipedia, it wasn’t until the 15th century that “a distinct Kazakh identity began to emerge among the Turkic tribes, a process which was consolidated by the mid-16th century with the appearance of a distinctive Kazakh language, culture, and economy” so it seems that Kazakhs have a dual Turkic / Mongol heritage. Perhaps they just wanted to display both. Similarly, both The Amazing Race Asia and The Amazing Race (proper) have shown “Maori warriors” dressed in traditional costumes and, seeing as how The Amazing Race Asia did it first (so I’ve been told) and that was locally produced, it’s hard to cry racism when Americans then go ahead and do the exact same thing.

Martin

I can’t comment on the food they ate other than to say that what you describe would not be suitable for the race–it has to be a task where the speed is under the control of the racers, a fancy banquet would be unsuitable. Did they perhaps choose a secondary dish for this reason?

Having people race around the world only dressing and behaving in ways that would be typical of the often Westernized cities, or at least modernized, cities of the world would be like watching paint dry. The Amazing Race goes for what is culturally distinct about a country, even though that might represent something that is dying out as common practice. It’s not really a good way to view foreign countries, really, because the “race” aspect of it makes it anything but a documentary on foreign places. They just don’t have the time to go in depth.

But racist–please.

More often than not the people looking ridiculous are the American contestants, not the locals. The editing of the show is actually pretty merciless toward contestants who really are ethnocentric and ignorant of the world, let alone racist.

Fior the record, I’m a person who travels abroad with my wife, and my wife and I do respect foreign cultures; we almost always get the same in return. I see no disrespect here. I just see somewhat who was expecting a lot of in-depth coverage of a country he is very familiar with from a reality TV show. Not gonna happen.

But if the Amazing Race is not your cup of tea, that’s fine. The racism charge crosses a line, setting yourself up as the good guy and others who disagrees as the bad ones.

I think I just need to accept that, to me, the premise of the series is inherently flawed. Others watch it and enjoy it, but I don’t need to.