MasterChef Star Addresses Coronavirus And Chinese Restaurant Panic: 'Viruses Are Not Discriminatory To A Race'
MasterChef Australia star Diana Chan has urged people to support local Chinese restaurants following racism and xenophobia towards Asian-Australian communities in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The 2017 winner of the cooking reality show said many Australians have refrained from dining at Chinese eateries because they are “afraid” of catching the disease, however she argued that they shouldn’t be so fearful because “viruses are not discriminatory to a race”.
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“If you were going to catch it, you could catch it anywhere,” Chan told HuffPost Australia. “It’s not necessarily in a Chinese restaurant and confined spaces. It can happen anywhere. It shouldn’t stop you going about your daily lives.”
The celebrity chef said people should seek comfort in outlets having the “duty of care as well to look after the patrons and make sure that they handle food with top hygiene”.
MasterChef Australia’s new judge Melissa Leong agreed. In an article she penned for SBS, the Singaporean Australian said: “As media campaigns and hashtags jump on the bandwagon to rescue this part of the industry, it’s even more impetus to visit your favourite Chinese restaurant, if ever there was one”.
Both Chan and Leong’s comment come after the #IWillEatWithYou social media campaign recently gained momentum.
Community action organisation GetUp! introduced the hashtag last week,...
