Out of one's depth: 03 (Malaysian Chinese person at a Japanese shabu shabu meal)

This story was related to me by a then-professor (now emeritus professor) of UCL (University College of London).

    He'd gone out with a group of people for a Japanese shabu shabu meal.  One of them was his computer programmer on his medical physics projects.

    Since the programmer was the only Oriental (from Malaysia) amongst them, the group decided to let him guide them for the meal.  

    I am personally of the opinion that it doesn't necessarily follow that a Chinese person (Malaysian or not) would automatically know anything/much about Japanese food, just because they're both Asian.  Same logic for not expecting a French person to know what Finnish or Norwegian dining entails just because they're all European.  

    Under the circumstances at this meal, however, with all the diners (except the programmer) being British (and maybe even all white), a Chinese person would, therefore, be more likely to know about Japanese food, I guess.

    Shabu shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ) is Japanese hot pot.

    For those who might not know what a hot pot meal entails: 

(AI says)

Quote

A traditional hot pot meal is a highly interactive, communal dining experience that centers around a simmering pot of broth kept boiling at the center of the table.  Rather than being served a pre-cooked dish, diners cook raw ingredients themselves, piece by piece, right in the pot.

What sets shabu-shabu apart from other Asian or regional hot pots (like Chinese hot pot) is its cooking method: instead of putting all the food in the pot to simmer for a while, you submerge a single piece of paper-thin meat into the boiling broth and gently swish it back and forth for just a few seconds to cook it instantly.

Unquote

    The first thing brought up to the table was the broth (for cooking the raw ingredients).  The Malaysian programmer dished out bowlfuls of the broth to the diners to drink.

    By the time the waiter arrived with the raw ingredients, there was no broth left in the pot in the middle of the table...  Oops.

(London, late 1980s)