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Elawin

Elawin

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There is an interesting article on BBC Trending asking if food bloggers are fuelling racist stereotypes (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-39142260).

I can quite understand why chopsticks sticking upright into rice or noodles can be deemed offensive in some countries, but are we really bothered if someone mixes meat and fruit in a Jamaican stew? To my mind it is no different to having pineapple on your pizza; some people do and some people won't. Or is this just PC gone mad?
 
Personal opinion: if you don't like the way I cook, feel free to eat elsewhere. (And don't let the door hit you where your manners are on the way out. )
 
I'm inclined to agree that food blogging (or perhaps its more instagram?) is rather racist. But I need more time to think about why... and if I'm guilty.
 
I've noticed that one site I visit regularly for inspiration uses phrases like "Italian-style", "Jamaican-style" etc. I can live with that. It's when sites say "Italian" or "Jamaican" to describe a dish which obviously isn't that I jump up and down.

I was once given a lecture about "authentic" pizza recipes on another foodie site when I said what I had had on a pizza I'd just cooked for my dinner. The lecture was that pizzas came from Naples and that the only proper pizza was a margherita; this particular person was fed up with foreign chefs jumping on the pizza bandwagon. I didn't see any point in telling her that the recipe came from a Neapolitan chef; it would have fallen on deaf ears. The silliest thing about the whole "argument" was that the person who made the fuss about what I did or didn't have on my pizza wasn't even Italian. She probably eats pizza with a knife and fork. I'd hate to think what she'd say if she knew that I also had a recipe for a fruit pizza...:laugh:

And how many people have ordered an Indian meal, not knowing that the dish is not actually Indian. A lot of popular Indian restaurants and takeaways in the UK are actually Bengali, and a lot of dishes are Bengali, or Persian, or "born in the UK to suit our palette".
 
The Romans had pizza's.

From memory, the Margherita was named after a local nobel woman for whom it was created. Certainly not the first pizza.

There's also the fact curries may well have been taken to India and beyond, from Europe. Not the other way round as is often believed.
 
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There is a very interesting entry in the Oxford English Dictionary concerning the origin of the word "pizza" (http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/144843?redirectedFrom=pizza&), but the actual dish has been around far longer than that. Most civilisations in the ancient world had their own versions of flat bread with toppings, from the Neolithic age onwards, according to some sources.

As for curries, look no further than here http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/46118?rskey=F4A1ud&result=2#eid

Whilst "to curry" meant amongst other things "to stew", the spices for what we now know as a curry were not universally available in western Europe until the mid-17th century, thanks to the Portuguese, and even then they were expensive. Just to confuse everything even more, certain spices were available in Greece and Italy, and some were also available in Scandinavia, having been brought back by the Vikings via Russia from Constantinople. The 14th century mediaeval English cookery book "The Forme of Cury" does refer to spices, but which ones I do not know as, although I have a copy of this book, I have not read it yet.
 
Absolute utter and total tosh. What does it matter where a dish comes from who cooks it or what they do with it ? Far too many people really do need to get out more get a life and stop looking for something to be offended about. Food is not related to race anyway [note the word used is "racist" ] simply an area or region. If the esteemed writer of the article wants to have a moan why not about the fact that black pudding is "traditionally" eaten by those in the north of England wearing flat caps or jellied eels are only eaten by Cockneys or does that not matter because the people concerned are not "ethnic" enough ? Such pathetic drivel should be consigned to the place where it belongs - the bin and the rest of use can get on enjoying our food from wherever it comes while the "offended" writer can go out and find themselves a real job.
 
classic33 said:
The Romans had pizza's.

From memory, the Margherita was named after a local nobel woman for whom it was created. Certainly not the first pizza.

There's also the fact curries may well have been taken to India and beyond, from Europe. Not the other way round as is often believed.
Click to expand...

Margherita was an Italian Queen and Pizza Margherita was created for her. However it's true that Pizza Margherita isn't the first pizza..Pizza was created in Napoli but the very first pizza was sweet, not salted...
 
It's micro-aggression.
You know, where your existence offends someone who wishes you didn't. Their life sucks because of you. It's all your fault.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
 
buckytom said:
It's micro-aggression.
You know, where your existence offends someone who wishes you didn't. Their life sucks because of you. It's all your fault.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry I didn't mean to ruin your Christmas because you called and woke me up at 6AM & I wasn't real friendly when you tried to tell me how I need to celebrate Christmas.
(Actually happened)
 
Ya caint please all of the people all of the time - WHATEVER you say someone can be offended if they want it bad enough - instructions to those offended [about everything] = get up - remove ENORMOUS chip from shoulder and get a life
 
I wonder though - I often publish recipes which are essentially my own 'fusion' creations and I use ethnic language to describe them. Here is a case in point:
Recipe Purple Aloo Gobi with Tamarind and Dates
Now, this is a recipe which is based on Indian recipes for Aloo Gobi - but I've added tamarind and dates and I'm using psychedelic purple potatoes. I can see that this could be upsetting to an Indian person with traditional ideas about Aloo Gobi. Should I rename the dish perhaps and refer to the roots in my preface instead? It could be argued that I'm simply putting the words 'Aloo Gobi' in the title to attract attention and gain a few internet 'hits'. And that could be true....
 
morning glory said:
I wonder though - I often publish recipes which are essentially my own 'fusion' creations and I use ethnic language to describe them. Here is a case in point:
Recipe Purple Aloo Gobi with Tamarind and Dates
Now, this is a recipe which is based on Indian recipes for Aloo Gobi - but I've added tamarind and dates and I'm using psychedelic purple potatoes. I can see that this could be upsetting to an Indian person with traditional ideas about Aloo Gobi. Should I rename the dish perhaps and refer to the roots in my preface instead? It could be argued that I'm simply putting the words 'Aloo Gobi' in the title to attract attention and gain a few internet 'hits'. And that could be true....
Click to expand...
I would say no because it is based on Aloo Gobi. Don't worry about offending random people because I guarantee if it isn't you, they would be offended at something else because it makes them feel superior.

I like this site because it is real people, not the internet snobs which haunt most cooking sites from their work computers and believe spending outrageous sums is the only way to be anyone.
If someone gets their poor little butt hurt over an adaptation then it is on them to get un butt hurt.

True story: I offended an aunt 26 years ago over a choice I made, well actually I think the first time was 30 years ago, I didn't know it. Wasn't too worried about it either and yes I would make that same choice again because I was looking out for someone else's best interest. It was in my power to make sure the kids never went hungry. (Aunt had problems with me giving them up.) (And no she would not have helped me in any way if I had kept them.)
I was so glad when years later she finally told me how she felt. Her being offended only hurt her not me.
So quit thinking about it.

If you are so worried about offending some random person, then delete every recipe I have posted here because my cornbread recipe did offend someone on another site because it wasn't her grandmother's recipe.
No, on second thought if you want to make sure that we never offend anyone, there is only one way to do that. Take down this site and never ever ever post online again. Oh and never speak again. Don't say it, don't write it because there is always someone that will get offended over stuff not even said.
@morning glory
 
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