Food appropriation stops where respect begins
Chefs are allowed to cook whatever they want to, but what about giving credit to its origin and investing in that community?
Cultural appropriation of food is often due to chefs claiming recipes as their own, or making changes to the original recipe as a form of creativity. While some people might say that food cannot be appropriated, and it is a way of sharing and enjoying other people’s culture, I believe that chefs should partner with someone from that culture, and invest in their community.
Chefs should partner with someone from the particular culture they want to represent for more insight to the culture, and avoid misconception. Often times chefs cook food without enough research, and creates backlash from people in that culture.
A recent incident from Jamie Oliver in U.K created a line of rice, claiming it is “Jerk rice” had a lot of people debate about it. One of the debate was Levi Roots, whose a Caribbean chef, saying Oliver’s “Jerk rice” had no Jerk or Caribbean flavour at all in the rice. Effectively, Oliver’s line of rice included Jalapeño, chilli, and garlic, whereas Jerk is a Caribbean flavour, and was not added into his rice. Levi Roots’ stand on this situation, is that Jamie Oliver did not do his research properly, and immediately claim it to be a Caribbean dish. I personally think that it was unecessary for Jamie Oliver to claim it as Jerk rice, because he did not use the Jerk flavour. It this situation, it was safe for Jamie Oliver to partner with a Jamacain chef to not do this mistake.
Cultural appreciation should go along with investing in the community
Food appropriation can be avoided by investing in that community’s culture, because it shows respect, and support. The often reason we get from white chefs cooking food from a minority group is that they appreciate the culture, food, and would like to share their passion, as well as incorporating their own ideas. However, they don’t realize that food plays a big part in a culture, and is connected to a history of colonization. Adding to that, chefs should give credit to the culture they are representing by simply sharing pictures, or videos of the community.
I recently read an article called “ The feminist guide to being a Foodie”, and it talks about how America has incorporated middle Eastern food such as Hummus, and Falafel in their food carts, but still don’t address the ongoing Islamophobia issue happening. Minorities group in the U.S faces discrimination, and racism, and still have to deal with people taking elements from their culture without getting credit. Appreciation of food should come with respect, and in many cases chefs have taken advange of cultures.
Here are some of the ways ms. Dakota suggested in order to avoid food appropriation:
- Deeply explore the culture, and food overtime ;
- Profit-share or pay recipes;
- Set up foundation or scholarship for street food vendors and their children;
In conclusion, food appropriation does exist when the culture in particular is not getting credit from chefs that open restaurants, and claim it on their name. In order to avoid food appropriation is to partner with another chef from that culture, and invest in their community as a way of showing appreciation rather than taking and not give back.
