You Are What You Eat
I try to be courteous and sensitive to the people around me, and I take no pleasure in causing anyone offense. But this item posted by our friend Ed Driscoll, has got me a bit perplexed.
This was posted yesterday at the Daily Caller:
A California university says it was bad taste to serve chicken and waffles on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Officials at the University of California, Irvine, say the menu of stereotypical black food was served on Jan. 17 — the first day of the school’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. symposium.
The dining hall advertised the meal as an “MLK Holiday Special.”
The co-chairman of the school’s Black Student Union and another student lodged formal complaints.
University spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon tells the Los Angeles Times that the cafeteria staff made a last-minute decision about the menu. She says the intention was to offer holiday comfort food. The company that runs the cafeteria says it will conduct cultural sensitivity training for its chefs and managers.
What I don't understand: Is this a fake controversy, perpetuated by those who seem to delight in taking offense in anything and everything? Or is this truly a glaring incident of cultural insensitivity? Next question: Would it be culturally insensitive of me to serve burritos at a dinner party in honor of Cesar Chavez day?
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Jul '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Watermelon was out of season.
Jul '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Ricochet required me to take sensitivity training.
Now, I know to say, "With all due respect..." before I refer to another member as a cretinous donkey.
Aug '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
I like chicken. I like waffles. I've never had them served together, however.
Jun '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
I remember reading that Joe Lewis (I believe) would never eat watermelon in public because he would be derided for eating "black" food. Now we have people clamboring to get into all variety of ethnic restaurants.
I'm with you, Diane. I didn't get what the offense could possibly be. But I bake Irish soda bread on St. Pat's day & serve corned beef & cabbage, so I've always thought ethnic foods were part of any celebration. All those "international understanding" days at my kids' schools used food as a big part of the festivities, as well. We must be missing something.
Re: You Are What You Eat
Misthiocracy: I like chicken. I like waffles. I've never had them served together, however. · Jan 31 at 12:18pm
I have. In the historic Fillmore Jazz District down the street from me, there's an establishment called Gussie's Chicken and Waffles. It is a popular brunch destination for the parishoners of a predominantly black Pentecostal church in the neighborhood.
The only thing that I found offensive about the experience was the clump of hair in my fried chicken.
Dec '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
You are what you eat.
Nonsense.
[Comment redacted by editor]
Edited on Jan 31, 2011 at 12:31pmOct '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Yet another example of "keep them off balance" by whining. You can't win for losing. same-ol' same-ol'. The usual stuff. PC monotony. Welcome to the University of California. Whatever...
Jul '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Chicken and Waffles is the Original Soul Food.
The Blues and Jazz performers would finish a late gig and wanted something to tide over the difference between dinner and breakfast.
Therfore it is a "Black" dish I'm guessing.
The problem is that you can put something on the menu to "Honor" those pioneers of an art form which originated in the United States and the unpredictable Indignancy Industry will suddenly let you know once again that Offense Is In The Eye Of The Beholder!
May '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Waffles? How did waffles become associated with black stereotypical foods?
"Cultural sensitivity training for its chefs and managers." What ridiculous people we have become.
May '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Come on. I'm the first guy to call bullcrap when someone is falsely accused of racism or if somebody is playing the race card, but in this case it is obvious that somebody at the school was being racially biased against black students.
I love chicken. I love waffles. But does anybody really think that the cafeteria just happened to be serving chicken and waffles as the "MLK Holiday Special" without any idea of what they were doing? Come on.
Oct '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Phoenix has a place called Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles. If anyone has made a stink about racial sterotypes it probably went unnoticed among the sound of a full restaurant. While I've never witnessed, first-hand, the demographic make up of the clientele, is it racist to point out that the owner is not some white guy?
Stories like this make me think that some people just look for things to bother themselves over.
Re: You Are What You Eat
Stone Douglas: ...in this case it is obvious that somebody at the school was being racially biased against black students.
I love chicken. I love waffles. But does anybody really think that the cafeteria just happened to be serving chicken and waffles as the "MLK Holiday Special" without any idea of what they were doing? Come on. · Jan 31 at 12:39pm
I believe it was intentional (despite the manager's explanation of just wanting to serve generic comfort food). But granting that it was intentional, I don't quite see how it's offensive. As StickerShock said, Americans are known to incorporate culturally specific food into their holiday celebrations. And this not to be offensive, but rather to be festive.
Dec '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles is famous in L.A -- five locations, including Long Beach and Pasadena, with the first location having opened in 1975. (Here in Oakland we have the knock-off Home of Chicken and Waffles.)
I am not sure chicken and waffles per se reflects what Dr. King might have dined on in the 1950s and 1960s. But this isn't the first time a cafeteria has gotten in trouble for trying to honor Black history with a soul food holiday menu. Remember the ruckus at NBC's headquarters in New York?
Edited on Jan 31, 2011 at 12:48pmSep '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
There is a restaurant in Harlem that includes this on the menu (Chicken and Waffles). It is nicknamed "The Al Sharpton".
Re: You Are What You Eat
I'm as baffled by the waffles as anyone. Waffles are Wasp food.
Jul '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
I'm not sure when the tradition started in my family, but a favorite Sunday noon dinner after church - if there was leftover roasted chicken - was chicken and gravy over homemade waffles. Very, very tasty. So I'm not certain it's solely a Black dish. Or, maybe we were just practicing multiculturalism and diversity back in the '50s...
Dec '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
The Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles commercial parody from the movie Tapeheads.
Sep '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
No kidding. The only thing I can think of is possibly the Aunt Jemima connection but that's quite a stretch.
Dec '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Say what?
Waffle restaurants have been a Southern staple ever since the 1950s:
The original Waffle House opened on Labor Day 1955 on East College Avenue in Decatur, Georgia. In 2008, the 13-stool diner that launched more than 1,500 Waffle Houses reopened as a Waffle House museum, with vintage equipment and memorabilia displays of old uniforms and place settings. “That was the year McDonald’s and all the hamburger chains started doing takeout,” Waffle House co-founder Joe Rogers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2008 of his idea to open a restaurant with his neighbor, Tom Forkner. “We wanted to do sit-down, and we knew you couldn’t take out a waffle or it’d become flimsy.”
Oct '10
Re: You Are What You Eat
Is there any food that can be served on MLK day that wouldn't be insensitive one way or the other? Either it's a stereotype, or you're just ignoring the fact that it's MLK day.