The poet’s author, Calvin Trillin. Photo: Desiree Navarro/Getty Images

Esteemed food writer and humorist Calvin Trillin is getting grilled for a poem in this week’s New Yorker that tackles the issue of … Chinese food, or, more specifically, how complicated it’s become for serious food lovers to keep track of all the different types of Chinese food that are available. Called “Have They Run Out of Provinces Yet?” — maybe not the best title — it begins:

Have they run out of provinces yet?

If they haven’t, we’ve reason to fret.

Long ago, there was just Cantonese.

(Long ago, we were easy to please.)

But then food from Szechuan came our way,

Making Cantonese strictly passé.

Szechuanese was the song that we sung,

Though the ma po could burn through your tongue.

Then when Shanghainese got in the loop

We slurped dumplings whose insides were soup.

Then Hunan, the birth province of Mao,

Came along with its own style of chow.

So we thought we were finished, and then

A new province arrived: Fukien.

.@NewYorker the answer is YES soon the world is going to run out of provinces for basic whites to gaze on and consume and toss to the side — Eddie Huang (@MrEddieHuang) April 6, 2016

I wrote this in 45 minutes cause that's all Calvin Trillin gets "Have They Run Out of Pumpkin Spice Yet?" @NewYorker pic.twitter.com/rFNnMreCIN — Eddie Huang (@MrEddieHuang) April 6, 2016

Has Calvin Trillin written a poem utilizing the syllable "Cruz" yet? Request here. — Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) April 6, 2016

Asian-Americans are understandably tired of being the punchline of every food joke, but Times restaurant critic Pete Wells and others say Trillin should get the benefit of the doubt here:

Before we beat Trillin to a pulp let's remember there are professional food writers who think "Asian food" is a meaningful phrase. — Pete Wells (@pete_wells) April 6, 2016

Also this would be a good moment to go read Trillin's back catalog including his coverage of the civil rights movement. — Pete Wells (@pete_wells) April 6, 2016

:whispers: Calvin Trillin may have miscalibrated his tone but I'm pretty sure he's making fun of white people — David A. Graham (@GrahamDavidA) April 6, 2016

That Trillin poem is mostly about FOMO and stress about keeping up. His chow mein nostalgia is silly; he prob thought it was self-effacing. — John Birdsall (@John_Birdsall) April 6, 2016

And yet other critics understand that this is a self-aware parody, but they take issue with the technical aspects of the poem itself. Three Asian-American writers have submitted their own “rhyming poem” about Chinese food:

[The NYer, Guardian]