He has sent a message through Reichl suggesting that his old friend come to America. All because his friend entrusted the crucial message to someone who apparently thinks the important question is whether Americans are ready for his crustaceans. What a story.
Somebody option it quick.
Glenn Close, of course, as the demented American foodie. But that's not how our reviewer sees it. Actually, it's hard to imagine a more spectacular example of no sensitivity at all to food's social context than the notion that someone should prefer life in China over America on the basis of how we peel shrimp. This couldn't be right, I thought. The philosophy professor must be misrepresenting the episode for his own mysterious purposes, possibly involving a gang war among different philosophies of shrimp peeling.