That makes sense. It can be a touchy topic for some people though so I’m usually too nervous to bring it up, even though you’re right it can be a pretty good icebreaker.

Like I’m socially awkward but I can talk about food somewhat comfortably, so if I know someone’s cultural heritage I can ask them about certain dishes or relate my experience with those dishes. But if all I know is that they’re East Asian, I can only guess whether they’re Chinese or Japanese or Taiwanese or Vietnamese or Korean based on how they look, but that’s not always accurate and is dangerously close to stereotyping.

I can go off their name if it’s a traditional one, but if they have a western name then that’s not much of a context clue. So that makes it a lot harder to connect about food, and then I’m left scraping my braincells for something to say that won’t sound weird, and after a few seconds’ hesitation with my eyes rolling up into my head people tend to get weirded out anyway and walk away…