Although #TheStew wasn’t the first, nor will it be the last example of ethnic erasure in cuisine, it was astonishingly ignorant on the part of Alison Roman, bi-weekly columnist for NYT, and previously a senior food editor at Bon Apetit. Her recipes are perfect for millenials: easy to make, perfect for dinner, and full of yummy flavors.
Now to #TheStew. AKA Spiced Chickpea Stew With Coconut and Turmeric. Food blogs and home cooks alike were going crazy for this dish. Take a closer look at the recipe title. Chickpeas. Coconut. Turmeric. It’s not a stew, it’s a curry. So why not call it that?
What I find particularly and intensely irritating is that in her interview with The Kitchn, the following statement was her reply when asked her food inspirations of the moment:
“I think that people starting to acknowledge that there’s a lack of diversity of voices is really great. I think everybody’s trying at least a little bit to be more inclusive of people of color and different genders and sexualities and backgrounds and ethnicities and socioeconomic class, and that’s so important because for so long it was basically dominated by rich white men.”
And when she’s called out on her error:
“I’m like y’all, this is not a curry…I’ve never made a curry, I don’t come from a culture that knows about curry…I come from no culture. I have no culture. I’m like, vaguely European.”
Her recipe was eventually edited to include a description of its’ ethnic origins, yet the fact remains: too often, ingredients and recipes from peoples of color are whitewashed without a second thought. Whether or not it is to make it more palatable or relatable isn’t the point. If anything, that should never be a consideration – use an ingredient because you want to authentically experience a cuisine different from your typical. Emphasis on authentic. Be prepared to educate yourself about what you are eating, and what it means to the culture or people it originates from. It’s not trendy or hip to buy za’atar for your chicken or olive oil, nor are you radical for making your own kimchi if you have no idea where it came from or what it is traditionally used for.
Too often, Caucasian chefs and cooks will study a particular type of cuisine, and after a while consider themselves an authority or expert on cooking from that part of the world. Gordon Ramsay is a perfect example of this. In 2018, he starred in a six-episode series for National Geographic called Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted. Each episode had Ramsay in a different location, ‘bravely adventuring’ to get an ingredient, then challenging himself to a cook-off with a local chef. He jumps from helicopters, lassos shrubs off a cliff side, gets lost in the Medina of Fes, and white water kayaks – then makes it all look as if it were a dangerous but exciting dream vacation for the adventurist foodie.
Paula Deen is another example. For years she was the authority (and darling) of Southern cooking. She had her critics – for using too much butter, salt and pepper, and being a so-called convenience cook. Her fried chicken recipe only called for salt, pepper and garlic powder as seasoning. Hamburgers, in her world, used doughnuts for buns. Her food didn’t hail from any one area in the South, but was generic and warm with that ‘Southern Hospitality’ nostalgia that appealed to those unfamiliar with the South and its’ cuisine.
In the end, she was disgraced – not just for her catering to her brother’s fantasy idea of a Old South wedding in 2007 complete with tap dancers of color, not just for the alleged racial and sexual abuse suffered by the employees of Uncle Bubba’s Oyster and Seafood House (owned by Deen and her brother), or for the fact that she was extremely comfortable and hearing and using the ‘n-slur’. It goes a lot deeper, to Dora Charles.
Dora opened ‘The Lady and Sons’ with Deen and her two sons. However, she was not made a co-owner, nor did she share in the wealth that soon followed. Even after being promised by Deen that “if I get rich, you’ll get rich”, Dora developed recipes and trained chefs for the restaurant for less than $10 an hour, and it wasn’t until 2015 that she stepped out of Deen’s shadow and published her own book.
In today’s world, multi-cultural dining is practically a given. Even the Top Ramen that is hailed as the food of starving artists and college students is from a different culture (it’s Japanese). Whether it’s the moka pot used for coffee in the morning (Italy by way of Yemen), the spring rolls that are popular for lunch (China), or the tikka masala in the Instapot for dinner (India) today people are eating more globally than ever.
It has been said that hunger is the best sauce for food – I disagree. Try knowing and appreciating from where your food originates, the culture that it came from, and every bite will be especially delicious.
