Posted on 04/11/2016 11:15:10 AM PDT by TigerClaws
Recently, we started a conversation about food and race. Specifically, we wondered out loud, who gets to cook — and become the face of — a culture's cuisine?
Our question was prompted by a recent Sporkful interview with Rick Bayless, who has faced criticism over his long career. Although he is an Oklahoman with no Mexican ancestry, he has become one of the most prominent ambassadors for Mexican cuisine in America. Rick Bayless is a master of Mexican cuisine. He's also a white guy from Oklahoma. Over the years, that has made him the target of criticism. Who gets to be the ambassador of a cuisine? The Salt When Chefs Become Famous Cooking Other Cultures' Food
To be clear, this isn't about Bayless. (Though the acclaimed chef did hop into the comments section to weigh in.) The question of who gets credit for a cuisine — and how they are compensated and feted — is one that comes up again and again in the food world. We asked readers to weigh in with their feelings about this squishy topic.
As with many things involving race and class in America, there are no easy answers — and we're not expecting to find any clear-cut ones. We're more interested in starting a conversation.
Here's some of what we heard from you.
On one hand, many of you pointed out that cooking the cuisine of other cultures is a tangible way to connect. That's part of what makes America a literal as well as figurative melting pot.
Chinese restaurants that are owned by Chinese pay very poorly, and if they cannot find enough family to work they hire Mexicans.
I’ll just call it financially cautious on their part. (My wife is Chinese...)
If Bayless can’t cook Mexican, Tiger Woods can’t play golf. . . What kind of pea-brains are these folks????
Actually I think what they are saying is they can’t stop you from cooking French food if your not French, but it’s not acceptable for you to profit from it. Crazy!
One of my specialties is brats and Italian sausage grilled then served in pita bread with kraut and assorted peppers and onions seared in a wok with Dutch mustard. Figure out the ethnicity of that.
Rick Bayless’ parents had a well-known BBQ restaurant in Oklahoma City until the early 80s and it was very popular in its day. So, I guess the cultural purists would insist that Rick could have only continued what his folks had been doing rather than branching out on his own to discover his culinary interests. I enjoy his show and have cooked a few of his dishes to a satisfactory conclusion and gustatory enjoyment.
I’ve attended a cooking school in Santa Fe, New Mexico in order to expand my knowledge of that specialized branch of Southwestern cooking. My efforts are usually well-received by family and friends. Nobody has insisted I produce any documentation of a cultural connection beyond my appreciation for those flavors.
When you cook it as well as they do.
I know a white guy who cooks a mean pho.
His wife is from Vietnam
<><><><><
I make my own as well. I’m a European mutt. My wife is a European purebred.
“What about nonwhites using electricity, airplanes, computers, etc. I want to know, is it OK??!!”
You left out the biggies ....
Footballs, basketballs and baseballs.
it gets back to the basic idea that these people want to tell everyone else what to think and how to think when, in effect, they themselves can’t think at all. The melding of ideas, speech, culture, etc is what America is. The new left want to balkanize us, the people, and play one group off against the other. I, for one, will continue cooking and eating foods my way without any regard to ethnic or cultural sensitivities.
I’m caucasian too. I had pho last night, cooked by my Vietnamese wife. I don’t have a clue how to cook my own.
<><><><><
I’ve made it a few times, only the last time was the broth actually somewhat tasty. But not right yet, and I’ve yet to learn how to make a small batch for testing purposes.
If your wife wants to freepmail me her recipe for the broth, this male caucasian would be ecstatic.
When you can do it for a profit.
I feel microaggressed by this article and NPR.;-)
Imagine the outrage if you told a black person he should not cook Italian food.
But would ou eat pasta in an Italian restaurant if there were a bunch of Swedes in the kitchen
<><><><
I’m a bad person.
I only care when I’m eating Asian food.
What what? So I cook quite a bit for the Quinn family with a wok, as Thai and other SE Asian food is very tasty and very healthy. Have been doing so for years.
According to the NPR folk, am I a racist?
Is there a missing SARC tag somewhere on this?
Everything is about race to the left, and this is another way for them to troll, that’s all - so much for multiculturalism, garbage idea from the depths of Hell.
“Profit from cooking other cultures’ food”
By what right, by what authority, by what degradation of brain cells, by what flight of insanity do you ask that question?
The person who asked that question has descended into irreversible mental debility.
So then Jacques Pepin doesn’t have the right to cook spaghetti? or is that all right because spaghetti is ITALIAN and Italians are oppressors (White, Christian)?
Insanity. Mental malfunction. Crazy in the head. Wacko.
I have been to over 20 mexican states in every corner of the country. Believe me, there is no Mexican food in America that remotely resembles anything anybody actually eats in Mexico, so there is no apropriation, and it is a stupid concept anyway. Besides, isn’t “diversity” supposed to encourage sharing of cultures?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.