I’ve been thinking about this post, I love to cook. I think I’m fairly decent at it. I hope that in the future some posts will be some recipe posts or perhaps some blow by blow of recipe attempts.
I was really pulled into the whole Chrissy Teigen / Alison Roman drama. First of all, I don’t really want to equate them by acting like they’re equals. To me, Chrissy Teigan > Alison Roman. I like Chrissy Teigan, yes, I know she has some mean girl issues with her past posts. I’m pretty sure we’re all guilty of something offside on the internet. Where’s the line that we’re willing to forgive and still like vs. cancel? No idea. I still like Chrissy and her spicy miso pasta is FUCKING DELICIOUS and annoyingly easy to make.
Anyway, that was a bit of a catalyst to work through some of my feelings around food and food influencers. This became especially true with all the things going on at Bon Appetit. Here’s some pre-reading for those of you who may not know the story. The food world has issues. The BA debacle is race based, but there are also major misogyny issues in the food world. I know that directly from my years as a waitress/bartender but also just look at the numbers – women are underrepresented. This post is about food appropriation. I can’t tackle it all at once.
Food is complicated for me. As mentioned, I love to cook. It’s also directly linked to my 6 year old self’s dawning realization that I didn’t belong. The child of immigrants coming from a different culture, I thought we ate ‘weird’ food when I was a kid. I didn’t get KD (I asked my mum for it once: she went and bought a box, took one look at the package of orange powder and made me rice and beans instead); we didn’t have turkey dinner on holidays; my house / clothing would often smell like curry or pelau (which involves smoking brown sugar). My mum would make homemade burgers when I asked for McDonalds. It was the first moment of understanding that I was different and I hated it, I hid it, I was ashamed of it.
Now, of course, I feel very differently. I cook the things I rejected, I love those things, the smells make my mouth water and my heart swell. I love my mum for instilling in me the importance of cooking from scratch. I also make KD way more than an adult with no kids should, and I love making turkey dinner on holidays for my extended family.
So, things are probably different for kids today. Being a foodie is a thing. But let’s debate things like this. Who gets to speak ‘for’ food? Why are we watching white people gain fame and wealth from food that comes from minority cultures? Shouldn’t that minority culture reap the modern benefits?
My conundrum is this: food tends to be better when it’s fused. We need to draw inspiration from each other, it makes our food better! In Trinidad, for example, the food is legendary. It’s a mashup of some predominant cultures – chinese, african and indian. It’s evolved into it’s own cuisine. Where would we be if we were forced to have hard lines between these cultures. Would I have my pelau? chicken stew?? callaloo??? buljol???? What about dalpuri or paratha? heaven forbid, doubles? I’m AGHAST at the thought.
BUT. How do I feel about someone not of my culture introducing my food to the world in a way that makes it trendy, gaining them fame? Then, to see those same (white) people who I was hiding my lunch from posting pics of their creations as though they’re their own? How do I feel when I see the inauthentic recipe they followed adding curry powder directly to a dish without frying/toasting it? WHAT. THE. FUCK. are you doing?
But I also think about it from the flip side – some (but absolutely not all) of the best chefs are french trained. Applying that classic french technique to their own food has caused evolution. Is that a bad thing?
Here’s where I think I land – I like to experiment, I like to try new things, I will not stop trying and learning. I’m happy to incorporate those new techniques or flavours into my everyday in any way that works for me. I think, though, making something at home, for me or my family, is different. If I were to introduce a cuisine to the public, by way of a blog, or a TV show, or a video, it’s incumbent upon me to learn it’s history – heaven forbid even have someone from that culture contribute and give context to the food they’re making and it’s origins. So I guess I do have a beef with the food influencers and their appropriation but not as much with the people who make the recipes. Though, in an ideal world you would do some research on the people you’re getting your recipes from and choose better. Just in general how about we follow more racialized influencers? They have a harder time gaining legitimacy on social network platforms than white influencers do because, racism.
Ultimately though, if this helps kids these days be proud of their weird smelling clothes and lunches instead of that stomach churning shame, I can’t hate on it too much. Thoughts?