restaurants

"Someone should not be able to walk into a restaurant and order a plate of an endangered species"

"The way people treat restaurant staff is, I think, a kind of poker tell, revealing a person's character."

"During the years I spent conducting solo protests at Dam Square in Amsterdam, tourists from all over the world would ask me, “Is there a Uyghur restaurant in the Netherlands?” I would enthusiastically recommend the Uyghur restaurants in different cities, naming them one by one. I would encourage people by saying, “Support the Uyghurs, go to Uyghur restaurants, eat Uyghur food, and try to understand us through our culture.” Many tourists visited Uyghur restaurants because of these conversations. After enjoying the food, they would tell the owners, “A Uyghur man with a Central Asian skullcap protesting at Dam Square sent us here; your food is truly delicious.” The restaurant owners, grateful for this, would call me and say, “You are the best promoter of Uyghur restaurants; whenever you come, we will host you as our guest and won’t take money from you.” As a political activist opposing the Chinese [Communist Party] government, I have supported restaurants that introduce our culture through real, practical actions."

"Often on the highway, weary and wary, we spurn the unknown and cheerfully drive on for the promise of a Howard Johnson's and its familiar déjà vu."

"You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter."