Bullies Weaponizing "Ethnic" Cuisine
People need to realize how obscene it is that chefs are accused of cultural crime for cooking dish not from their exact culture and not bowing and scraping properly to the culture it comes from.
At Eater Chicago, Ashok Selvam writes:
A fellow Chicago chef is once again accusing Top Chef alum Stephanie Izard (Girl & the Goat, Duck Duck Goat, Cabra) of irresponsible cultural appropriation after she posted a recipe for bibimbap earlier this week on Instagram. A photo posted Thursday using Izard's social media handle showed a bowl with beef and topped with cilantro and mint. The post -- which has since been edited -- was sponsored content created for New Zealand Beef & Lamb. Izard issued an apology Friday morning.The dish, full of green herbs, looked more like a Thai or Vietnamese dish; at best, it's Pan Asian, Korean-American chef Won Kim (Kimski) tells Eater Chicago. But it was not originally described as fusion -- the post only called it "bibimbap" without any cultural context or sign of the dish's hallmarks like crispy, charred rice from a stone pot.
In response to Izard's post, Kim posted an essay on Facebook Friday morning sharing his experiences as an immigrant growing up poor in a small apartment in West Rogers Park. He wrote that he encountered racism, enduring taunts for bringing Korean food to school and while grilling food during picnics in the park. Food gave Kim a sense of pride that he couldn't celebrate publicly until the white mainstream accepted Koreans, he explained.
"The embarrassment, frustration, shame I felt for something I grew up eating almost every day up to this point was something I felt shame for," Kim wrote. "I would struggle with this for a long time."
Bite my alabaster Ashkenazi Jew ass.
Regarding childhood prejudice, I went through a lot of anti-Semitism as a kid and a teen, but that doesn't mean I get to own latkes!
Sadly -- and I understand completely -- Izard's team sent a statement from the chef:
This was a misstep on my part that spun out of control and I am sorry. When I was originally brainstorming recipe ideas for this project, I thought of Bibimbap as an inspiration and jotted the recipe idea down as that - from there the recipe went through many variations and channels and ended up very far from traditional [Bibimbap]. I should have made sure the name was changed before it went out to the public and I apologize that it wasn't. It has since been changed to "Strip Steak Rice Bowl." I am not a traditional chef and nearly all of my dishes are inspired by flavors from around the world that I love - this experience has helped me realize that I need to be very careful and thoughtful about how I refer to dishes and I will make sure to do so in the future.
The end of the Eater post:
Izard's camp also asked for Kim's contact information, stating that they wanted to connect with the chef for a conversation. Kim says Izard knows how to to find him, but he's not interested in pandering."I have nothing to say to her," Kim says. "She realizes her mistake. That's all I ever wanted."
She realizes there are bullies out there like you, with enough people willing to be the rats in their Pied Piper bullying scheme, that she had to knuckle under.
I wish I had a time machine, so I could go back and suggest she do that and also tell her that I would muster the forces to come to her defense and ask the forces to muster their forces!
By the way...
A chef once told me pretty much every kitchen of every kind of restaurant in NYC was staffed by Latinos. Lamb Korma by José!
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) December 20, 2020
I grew up vegetarian so I was treated to questions about why I didn't care about the poor carrots (always carrots... omnis don't worry about other plants for some reason), or what I'd do if stranded on a desert island, or having people wave hamburgers in my face asking me if it didn't look delicious and come one, have a bite.
For all people complain about annoying vegans, I assure you, omnis are just as evangelical.
Anyhow. If any of you decide to make a vegetarian dish one night, I'm not going to sue you. How absurd.
NicoleK at December 19, 2020 11:48 PM
https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/10/how-toxic-leftism-killed-the-vibrant-bon-appetit-youtube-channel/
This seems to be on point.
Isab at December 20, 2020 6:51 AM
NikoleK, I find that my vegetarian friends engage in a daily struggle to get enough nutrients without getting too many carbs and calories.
Most of them seem to be losing that battle.
It can be done, but you’ve got to devote a significant amount of attention to it.
Isab at December 20, 2020 7:01 AM
Pretty much all restaurants, everywhere. Hispanics have mad cooking skills, and good work ethic. Good thing they're outbreeding other demographics.
I gave birth to 4, myself.
The left sure is a miserable lot. Can we just rename progressives "karen" to reflect their core values accurately?
Momof4 at December 20, 2020 7:06 AM
"Cultural appropriation" should not even be a thing. But like the rest of "woke" idiocy, it will continue until people start throwing it in the face of the complainers and dismissing them as snowflakes. And people with public relations jobs can only do that once their bosses make clear they will stand behind them when they do that.
jdgalt at December 20, 2020 7:38 AM
...and Isab demonstrates.
NicoleK at December 20, 2020 7:56 AM
...and Isab demonstrates.
NicoleK at December 20, 2020 7:56 AM
Yea, that’s the thing about libs. Any teasing or even scientifically backed comment about their *diet religion * is a micro aggression.
Isab at December 20, 2020 8:17 AM
Hey chef Stephanie, I'll cook, serve, and eat what ever tastes good to me. If that offends you and the rest of the you whiney ass babies seeking attention it just makes it taste better.
Jay at December 20, 2020 8:49 AM
How come every time I get news about Korean-Americans more often than not is them screeching like Social Justice Warriors?
I do get some of that behavior, myself being the child of immigrants, but you're not going to see me going after someone for making a meal not to my liking.
Sixclaws at December 20, 2020 8:55 AM
I seem to recall a story out of Oberlin College regarding the on campus dining facility having the nerve to serve bánh mì without it being authentic, and thus being a cultural appropriation.
This is not a new *cough* beef. Appropriating baguettes is not a big deal, tho.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh_m%C3%AC
It's Oberlin, so "let them eat bread".
I R A Darth Aggie at December 20, 2020 12:39 PM
How come every time I get news about Korean-Americans more often than not is them screeching like Social Justice Warriors?
Because they're not Roof Koreans and haven't had to directly respond to bigots who wanted to loot, then burn their businesses, and thus run them out of the 'hood?
I R A Darth Aggie at December 20, 2020 12:43 PM
"bibimbap"...aren’t the Koreans appropriating Netanyahu’s nickname?
JD at December 20, 2020 12:56 PM
Not a microagression, just annoying. Unsolicited diet advice is rarely appreciated by anyone.
NicoleK at December 20, 2020 1:28 PM
“Bite my alabaster Ashkenazi Jew ass.”
Haha...one of my favorite lines of the year. What it lacked in puns it made up for with alliteration.
Other potential sayings:
• Bite my robust Reform rump.
• Bite my sassy Sephardic seat.
• Bite my hairy Hasidic hindquarters.
JD at December 20, 2020 1:43 PM
Since my English ancestors didn't cook anything edible, and my Scottish ancestors likewise (haggis doesn't count), if I didn't eat someone else's ethnic food I would starve (for flavor anyway).
The Woke want to identify everyone by their race and ethnicity but in America that is absurd. Children of immigrants almost immediately want pizza and coke, have a favorite football team, and wear sports jerseys. They often are incapable of cooking their supposed ethnic food as they grow up and may even refuse to learn how. And what of people with parents of two ethnicities? Do they make curry pizza or what? What is allowed?
If you really want Korean food made authentically by Koreans you need to go to Korea (south korea preferably). You cannot have a multi-ethnic society with strict tribal boundaries. It simply will not work. Just to take food as an example, american pizza is not Italian pizza. American chinese food is not very chinese (unless you are the only white person in the restaurant, then maybe). And we like it that way so go stuff it. If you think someone's Korean food is not authentic enough for you I have a hint: don't eat it. hahaha. Yes, amazingly simple, eh?
cc at December 20, 2020 3:51 PM
"Since my English ancestors didn't cook anything edible, and my Scottish ancestors likewise "
You're talking about cultures that embraced Calvinism, though. If all your works are as but filthy rags before the Lord, you probably don't deserve much beyond three beans on toast.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 20, 2020 4:16 PM
These people that do "controversial things" that "come under fire" from some aggrieved group or other only have to take one action - sit on their hands and do/say nothing. That's it. That's all it takes. Nothing bad will happen, nobody cares for more than 5 seconds and the social media swirl will move on. This goes for everyone and and every corporation getting some shallow criticism. Just ignore. No need to react.
Hamsta at December 20, 2020 4:50 PM
Interesting comment from elsewhere:
"If the bogus "chefs" could make ethnic food as good as the ethnic immigrants, and sell it at a competitive price, more power to them, but their overpriced creative imitations seldom come even close. Yesterday, I got a couple tostadas from a Mexican store on the East Side, Fairmont City, IL, a suburb of EAST ST. LOUIS, Yeah, East St. Louis. None of these *chefs* are selling spectacular steak tostadas, and their frufru fusion crap is inferior and pricier.
"I try to come close to duplicating some ethnic dishes at home, but they're never the real thing. I love the melting pot of immigrants bringing their foods to the USA, but it takes generations for ethnic foods to become mainstreamed, and often that means dumbed down to American tastes. The whole "chef" thing has run amok in the USA."
--Bryan
Lenona at December 20, 2020 5:20 PM
I made a Mexican lasagna last night. I don't care whose cuisine I appropriated, it was delicious.
Conan the Grammaran at December 21, 2020 6:36 AM
gog: that is one of the funniest things I've read all week.
Hamsta is right: just ignore twitter. Who cares? Or do what the CEO of Goya foods did: name AOC employee of the year because her boycott backfired and sales went up. We need more of that.
The only reason there is ethnic food at all is that people for thousands of years were limited by what foods grew nearby. Only have chickpeas? Make chickpea cookies!! Only corn? Tostadas! Lots and lots of rice? Stuff to put on rice. Sheep intestines? well, gotta draw the line somewhere.
cc at December 21, 2020 3:41 PM
Where I grew up, a little Podunk in eastern Kentucky, there was no ethnic cuisine 60 years ago. Now, however, there are numerous Chinese, Mexican, and Italian places to eat and with few exceptions they're all owned and operated by a small group of 3, maybe 4, Mexican families.
HL King at December 21, 2020 6:39 PM
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