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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?
Published in General
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Not actually. The dining hall manager consulted several of his black employees for suggestions. They suggested chicken and waffles. Doubtful they were suggesting any disrespect for the day.
Most people in the Los Angeles area are familiar with Roscoes Chicken and Waffles. They are also likely familiar with the fact that this particular combination of food tends, in LA, to be consumed by a particular population. It’s clear that the food choice was intentional.
What I personally find amusing is how in the West and the North East “Soul Food” is associated with a particular population at all. My father is from Alabama. I ate tons of Chicken n’ Waffles as a kid and every New Year we eat Collard Greens, Black Eyed Peas, and Ham Hocks. I grew up thinking those were just good ol’ Southern cookin’.
When I walk into a soul food restaurant in LA — though not at a Roscoe’s — people often look at me as if I am in the wrong restaurant, but when I walked into a soul food place in Selma no one blinked.
By the way, there was another MLK controversy in Orange County that week.
A surf shop in Laguna Beach displayed a likeness of MLK dressed in a wetsuit and offered 20% off all black products for the day.
Apparently, the numerous black members of the surfing community were not amused.
Anybody here remember the TV show Hill Street Blues? One of the best moments in the series was the luncheon honoring Lt. Castillo as Hispanic Officer of the Year. The menu was huevos rancheros and margaritas, and one of his coworkers introduced him as a credit to the Puerto Rican race. Then Castillo got up and asked, “why do you assume all Hispanic people eat Mexican food? I’m from Colombia – I don’t like Mexican food. And here I am, in a room full of white officers, getting an award for a job I had to sue the Department to get. I don’t accept your award!” The notion that these politically correct dolts had their orgy of self-congratulation punctured by the quaint minority fellow they were so eager to honor made for great TV.
Diane Ellis, Ed.
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.
I spent a college term studying in Russia, and living with a Russian family. I discovered that Russians think Americans eat ketchup with everything, and my homestay mother bought ketchup especially for me so that I could eat it on everything. I guess I could’ve found this stereotype of Americans offensive, but I didn’t. It actually seemed thoughtful.
What makes something offensive is malicious intent, but intent isn’t always an easy thing to measure.
Black culture grew out of Southern culture, I believe. There’s a lot of crossover. It’s especially apparent whenever I visit my relatives in the Alabama and Georgia.
Amen to that. It wasn’t until I took humanities/multicultural classes in college that I learned my white family had been serving “black food” at every family picnic. We didn’t know we were being insensitive; we thought everybody in the South ate that way because the Northerners never had any good recipes to mail us.
Chicken & waffles is fantastic, by the way. The point is to get just enough syrup on the chicken to accentuate the taste, with the waffles providing a bit of crunch.
Now ya’ll crazy Californians go away and leave our food alone. You don’t get to kick up a ruckus until you manage to make a decent glass of sweet ice tea.
Thanks for linking to the post — as I added in the update, this 2005 item from conservative satirist Scott Ott — “ACLU: Effort to Marginalize Indians Succeeding” — does a nice job of illustrating the double-blind trap that typically occurs when political correctness collides (as it must) with multiculturalism.
Oddly enough, that the end result is actually less authentic multiculturalism, as Mark Steyn has written, but more offended people doesn’t seem to bother the PC crowd very much.
I spent a college term studying in Russia, and living with a Russian family. I discovered that Russians think Americans eat ketchup with everything, and my homestay mother bought ketchup especially for me so that I could eat it on everything. I guess I could’ve found this stereotype of Americans offensive, but I didn’t. It actually seemed thoughtful.
What makes something offensive is malicious intent, but intent isn’t always an easy thing to measure.
There is a difference in the two cases. In one case, you have people in a foreign country that legitimately thought that Americans actually eat ketchup with everything. There are lots of cultural barriers between America and Russia, so that makes the mistake a lot more forgivable. But in the case we’re discussing, our fellow Americans are being stereotyped by their fellow Americans. And it’s happening along racial lines. And it’s not some innocent mistake either, because I’m pretty sure that everybody in this country knows that black people don’t only eat chicken and waffles, whereas it sounds like the Russians in your example did think that Americans eat ketchup with everything.
One of the funniest moments in film is in My Cousin Vinny, when the Bronx newbie lawyer uses his one piece of knowledge about Southern cooking – the time it takes to make a proper batch of grits – to refute a witness’s timeline of events.
The solution here is obvious: do away with Martin Luther King Day.
As Comrade Stalin once said, “No man, no problem”.
No MLK Day, no offense.
Stone, do you spend a lot of time and effort trying to steer Black people away from ordering anything in restaurants that might reinforce stereotypes? Does it sadden you when the Food Network shows footage of famous soul food restaurants in places like Harlem and Atlanta and New Orleans – and there are Black people eating in them?
Woody Allen has the scene in Annie Hall where he imagines he hears “no, did you” as “no, Jew.”. But he also has the scene where he rolls his eyes as Annie orders pastrami on white with mayo. Food isn’t always an insulting stereotype – and when it is, it can cut both ways.
But in the case we’re discussing, our fellow Americans are being stereotyped by their fellow Americans. And it’s happening along racial lines. And it’s not some innocent mistake either, because I’m pretty sure that everybody in this country knows that black people don’t only eat chicken and waffles, whereas it sounds like the Russians in your example did think that Americans eat ketchup with everything.
Your argument is just silly. Everyone knows that people of Irish descent eat more than just corned beef and cabbage, but that’s what we serve on St. Patrick’s Day. If you google “Columbus Day food,” you’ll find Italian recipes. This is what we do in this country: we make and eat various kinds of food to honor people’s ethnic origins. In this case, it was African-American food workers who proposed the specific foods. I suspect that most of us whites wouldn’t have known that chicken and waffles even was an ethnic menu, without the suggestions from members of that community.
Your argument is just silly. Everyone knows that people of Irish descent eat more than just corned beef and cabbage, but that’s what we serve on St. Patrick’s Day. If you google “Columbus Day food,” you’ll find Italian recipes. This is what we do in this country: we make and eat various kinds of food to honor people’s ethnic origins. In this case, it was African-American food workers who proposed the specific foods. I suspect that most of us whites wouldn’t have known that chicken and waffles even was an ethnic menu, without the suggestions from members of that community.
·Jan 31 at 2:23pm
The irony of corned beef and cabbage is that corned beef is something the Irish learned to eat in the tenements of New York from the Central and Eastern Europeans with whom they lived cheek-by-jowl. We might all have been happier if the Irish bars reached further back and served mutton stew and colcannon on St. Pat’s.
What? I really don’t understand your point. For one thing, I don’t spend any amount of time at all telling people what they can/can’t eat. For another, I resent the implication that I’m some politically correct tofu-eater just because, in this one case, I do think that somebody was being racist towards black people. I agree that most of the time, when people go around calling each other “racists,” that it is a big nothingburger cooked up by somebody that is desperate to be offended and call other people “racists.” But sometimes, you have to call a spade a spade.
MLK Day does not exist for the sole enjoyment of African Americans. It’s supposed to be a day that all Americans, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity, can celebrate because we all should support the message that King tried to convey–a message that was apparently lost on whoever decided to serve chicken and waffles on MLK Day. ·Jan 31 at 1:28pm
Fair enough, although his message was clearly focused on the civil rights of African Americans, so it doesn’t seem crazy to associate MLK Day with African Americana. I’m sure schools all over the country are teaching MLK Day lessons along those lines.
To jhimmi’s point, what foods would you select to honor African Americans?
Your argument is just silly. Everyone knows that people of Irish descent eat more than just corned beef and cabbage, but that’s what we serve on St. Patrick’s Day. If you google “Columbus Day food,” you’ll find Italian recipes. This is what we do in this country: we make and eat various kinds of food to honor people’s ethnic origins.
So, you really think that chicken and waffles are some kind of “traditional black people food” along the lines of corned beef and cabbage? Are you joking? I mean, while corned beef and cabbage isn’t a traditional Irish meal, it’s a pretty big part of St. Patrick’s Day (as well as Irish-American culture) going back a hundred years or so, and it’s actually comparatively similar to some Irish dishes. Chicken and waffles is a dish that came from specialty restaurants in the U.S, and I’m pretty sure that no black family waits all year to sit around the table and enjoy a nice big chicken and waffle dinner.
Stone Douglas
MLK Day does not exist for the sole enjoyment of African Americans. It’s supposed to be a day that all Americans, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity, can celebrate because we all should support the message that King tried to convey–a message that was apparently lost on whoever decided to serve chicken and waffles on MLK Day. ·Jan 31 at 1:28pm
To jhimmi’s point, what foods would you select to honor African Americans? ·Jan 31 at 2:41pm
I have no idea what food I’d select. I’m not an expert on African American cuisine or anything. But if I was in charge at the school, I’d probably question the need for race-based lunches in general. I don’t think that schools are a place to honor any specific race, creed, religion, gender, sexual preference, or whatever.
“MLK Day does not exist for the sole enjoyment of African Americans.”
But it’s celebrating a black man who was a courageous civil rights activist who brought attention to the plight of black Americans. So while we all can be happy about the advancement of civil rights, it’s not a stretch to consider it a black holiday.
When my son’s jazz program has celebrations and fund raisers, the food served is b-b-q and “soul food” because we tip our hat to the black culture from which jazz grew. It’s a festive atmosphere, so we celebrate appropriately. Do I assume all the black musicians and students eat soul food every day? Geez……….that would be tough on their arteries.
Stuart — You’re not going to the right Irish pubs if you can’t find lamb stew, turnips, parsnips, or colcannon on St. Pat’s day.
Only on Ricochet could you see a heated argument regarding chicken and waffles versus corn beef and cabbage.
Is not. Is so. Is not. Is so.
When my son’s jazz program has celebrations and fund raisers, the food served is b-b-q and “soul food” because we tip our hat to the black culture from which jazz grew. It’s a festive atmosphere, so we celebrate appropriately. Do I assume all the black musicians and students eat soul food every day? Geez……….that would be tough on their arteries.
At least “soul food” is traditional African American cuisine and not some stereotypical thing that people just assume black people eat.
What? I really don’t understand your point. For one thing, I don’t spend any amount of time at all telling people what they can/can’t eat. For another, I resent the implication that I’m some politically correct tofu-eater just because, in this one case, I do think that somebody was being racist towards black people. I agree that most of the time, when people go around calling each other “racists,” that it is a big nothingburger cooked up by somebody that is desperate to be offended and call other people “racists.” But sometimes, you have to call a spade a spade. ·Jan 31 at 2:41pm
“Wednesday night, a UC Irvine representative said: ‘The chef’s goal was to do something nice for the students and he did ask for input from several African American student employees in the dining hall. It misfired.'”
Who was the racist, Stone? The cafeteria chef whose stated intention was to honor the holiday, or the Black student employees who advised the chef about possible menu items?
The Black student employees are self-hating and want to perpetuate harmful stereotypes, is that it?
When my son’s jazz program has celebrations and fund raisers, the food served is b-b-q and “soul food” because we tip our hat to the black culture from which jazz grew. It’s a festive atmosphere, so we celebrate appropriately. Do I assume all the black musicians and students eat soul food every day? Geez……….that would be tough on their arteries.
At least “soul food” is traditional African American cuisine and not some stereotypical thing that people just assume black people eat.
This whole debate can be summed up by asking: Whatever happened to the principle of noblesse oblige.
True enough. Even the new one in Berkeley, Beckett’s, has corned beef and cabbage in the “traditional Irish pub” section of its menu. Stereotypes die hard.
“Wednesday night, a UC Irvine representative said: ‘The chef’s goal was to do something nice for the students and he did ask for input from several African American student employees in the dining hall. It misfired.'”
Who was the racist, Stone? The cafeteria chef whose stated intention was to honor the holiday, or the Black student employees who advised the chef about possible menu items?
I’m not calling anybody a racist, because that would just be self-defeating and inane. But I think it was certainly in bad taste, no matter who suggested it be done. However, I would point out that in the quote, “‘The chef’s goal was to do something nice for the students and he did ask for input from several African American student employees in the dining hall,” that it doesn’t actually say that any African American student employees actually said that chicken and waffles should actually be served, it merely says that the Chef asked for input from them. Now, maybe the student employees did suggest that, but it was still in bad taste.
StickerShock: .
When my son’s jazz program has celebrations and fund raisers, the food served is b-b-q and “soul food” because we tip our hat to the black culture from which jazz grew. It’s a festive atmosphere, so we celebrate appropriately. Do I assume all the black musicians and students eat soul food every day? Geez……….that would be tough on their arteries.
Just to reiterate, this poor chef is being railroaded. He asked two or three of his black employees what might be a suitable menu for the day, and they suggested chicken and waffles.
His only sin was being insufficiently cognizant of the fact that some people are looking to take some offense at something all of the time.
Let’s hope he has the good sense not to offer up Fruit Loops on gay pride day.
I’m not calling anybody a racist, because that would just be self-defeating and inane. But I think it was certainly in bad taste, no matter who suggested it be done. However, I would point out that in the quote, “‘The chef’s goal was to do something nice for the students and he did ask for input from several African American student employees in the dining hall,” that it doesn’t actually say that any African American student employees actually said that chicken and waffles should actually be served, it merely says that the Chef asked for input from them. Now, maybe the student employees did suggest that, but it was still in bad taste. ·Jan 31 at 3:10pm
You said (#45 above), “in this one case, I do think that somebody was being racist towards black people.” Whom did you mean? And do you draw a distinction between saying someone “is being racist” and saying that person “is racist”?
I’m just glad that Juneteenth falls after the end of the school year.
Just to reiterate, this poor chef is being railroaded. He asked two or three of his black employees what might be a suitable menu for the day, and they suggested chicken and waffles.
His only sin was being insufficiently cognizant of the fact that some people are looking to take some offense at something all of the time.
Let’s hope he has the good sense not to offer up Fruit Loops on gay pride day. ·Jan 31 at 3:11pm
Again, I think it’s stupid that they needed to find “black food” to serve on the day to begin with. Schools are not places where racial divisions should be emphasized. That said, it’s still in bad taste to serve chicken and waffles on MLK Day, and that’s primarily because of two reasons: 1)There’s nothing to suggest that MLK ever ate a meal of chicken and waffles, and 2)It’s NOT A TRADITIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN DISH!!!!!!