Cultural appropriation in the food scene
Thoughtful CultMTL piece considers what is and what is not cultural appropriation in the local restaurant scene.
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Kate
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david200 01:02 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
I think this is one of those things where you have a bunch of cretins (many who moved here from Canada and thus highly saturated with American media, but not all) howling about how if you’re French-Canadian, you have to stay in your lane. And on the other side, you’ve got a guy who should have said ignored this in that classic “fuck you, don’t eat here then” way that people should meet this sort of goof mob – but who is just as obsessively online, so engaged in a way that made this a story.
The idea that anyone can’t cook anything they want is stone cold anti-Montreal, full stop. This American moment is probably going to die down once trump is gone, but we should still recognize just how hysterical it is.
qatzelok 01:07 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
” In what circumstance, if any, are white chefs allowed to cook racialized food?”
Can I cook Cajun if I’m Acadian? Am I allowed to use napkins even if I’m not WASP?
Douglas 01:27 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
I remember writing stuff like this in those social ethics classes so I can score a high grade.
walkerp 08:41 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
That is a good piece on a tricky issue.
It ignores the bigger problem which is that until quite recently, other than some decent Vietnamese noodles, Asian food sucked in Montreal. Just a travesty. And the negative spiral effect was that mediocre places had elevated reputations, which then allows these cultural appropriators to come on the scene and people think their food is actually good.
Now with the whatever wave of new Chinese immigrants and a ton of Korean restaurants, things have improved significantly. Why bother with the fakers?
Mr.Chinaski 10:29 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
So if somebody has the luck (or the opposite) of being born in a geopolitical region that was created as a shape from centuries of people who used a set of rules (owning land) as a boundary , he would be unable to use ingredients that humanity elsewhere has created throughout civilisation?
If so, then there is cultural appropriation of rice, flour, sugar and bread too.
DeWolf 10:43 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
I think some people in these comments didn’t actually bother to read the piece. “There’s nothing implicitly wrong with white chefs cooking racialized food. (…) The problem is that the work is hard and white chefs rarely take the time to do it.”
The article points to Jesse Massumi as an example of a white chef who has put in the legwork to make sure his Thai restaurant is not cultural appropriation. He has connections in and support from the Thai community, his has spent time in Thailand, and the result is that Pumpui’s food is really great, and the use of seasonal Quebec ingredients give it relevance that a “fusion” mishmash could never achieve. He’s even going to open a second restaurant, this time with Thai partners, which tells you just how much he was able to establish his bona fides.
The problem is when white chefs come in and start cooking food from a cuisine they have no real knowledge of, or background in, and create very subpar food that they then sell for hugely inflated prices. I’ve had a lot of Asian food made by white people (not just here but all over North America) that is just really not great, and yet it somehow always costs twice as much as the equivalent dishes from actual Asian places.
Discussions about cultural appropriation are often framed in a kind of individualized way. “How dare you tell me what to cook?” “What, because I’m white I can only make toast with beans?” But we’re talking about an industry here, not home cooking, and the issue is professional chefs who make a making a living from their food. It’s not about you. It’s about the industry.
Kate 10:43 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
I don’t think some of you have read the piece. Bottom line, a big deal white chef can take elements of an “exotic” cuisine and resell it at a high price pretending that it’s really some crazy creative fusion of Korean food and soul food and make it $75 a plate. The white chef gives the food prestige. Society prizes what these “creative” white chefs are doing in a way that we don’t prize the more affordable food being turned out by innumerable chefs doing “ethnic” food affordably all over town, but those white chefs are simply taking bits and pieces of the “ethnic” food, messing them around and talking them up.
Talking about appropriation of basic ingredients like rice, flour, sugar and bread is to be disingenuous. Nobody thinks that Italians using tomatoes or Indians using hot peppers is “appropriating” New World cuisine. An ingredient is not a cuisine.
walkerp, I think you may not have noticed that there has been some good Cantonese food in town all along. I’m lucky enough to have eaten with people from Hong Kong at various times and have had some great nosh.
Meezly 11:31 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
That was a nicely written piece. People should actually read it before they comment.
Wilton Guererro 12:34 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
David’s back! Ready to misinterpret and insult any marginalized or progressive group with the audacity to advocate for themselves in a way he does not find perfect (re: easily ignored).
JohnS 15:21 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
Did anyone in this thread actually eat the food in question at this limited time event? Is it possible the food prepared was excellent and worth the price charged? If it was, would that change anything about how its perceived? Does the fact that this was a limited time event, designed for the chef to have “fun” by breaking away from his usual fare, and not a permanent menu make a difference? (FWIW – I have not eaten at the restaurant in question either during the Korean event or at any other time)
Douglas 17:37 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
The article can be summed up by: much ado about nothing.
If the food isn’t good, people won’t pay 75$ a meal for it.
If the food is good, hats off to the chef.
MarcG 17:55 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
It could also be summed up as: You don’t get to decide how other people think and feel.
thomas 18:25 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
One thing about the Korean pop-up at Mousso. This was a special event that was a collaboration between Mousso staff and a chef friend who is of Korean background. Also, it wasn’t $75 a plate, rather for 5 courses.
Kate 20:14 on 2020-11-03 Permalink
Douglas, are you a white man? Then you can blow this off as “much ado about nothing” as you do. It’s not trivial to many people, but if you’re a white man you never have to take their concerns into account. That’s the unearned benefit you’ve got.
Alex 09:58 on 2020-11-04 Permalink
Hey, I undertstand the issue very well. White people can cook other people food, but to do it, you have to learn about the food
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ied7EVlADgA
like Gordon Ramsey learning how to cook Redang.
Honestly the problem is not about your not allowed, the problem is if you do it you better be well equipped to be sensitive to others in representing a culture that is not yours.