Over the past few years, we have witnessed the blatant act of “culture co-opting”(with nary a credit) in every aspect of popular culture from music to fashion to hair and today’s topic: food.
In 2015, The New York Times exclaimed, via Twitter no less, “The next culinary movement in New York may just be from the Caribbean,” which sent the entire West Indies, Africa and Black American populations into a collective cultural seizure.
Yet the Old Gray Lady is far from the only offender. The backbone of American cuisine is wrapped up in fatback, pig feet, neckbones and potato salad. It’s just that now, it’s being hailed as haute cuisine. Nowadays you cannot enter a gourmet grocer, like Whole Foods or Ralph’s, without seeing an overpriced and tasteless version of “ethnic foods” whether peanut-infused greens, fried chicken or sweet potato pies.
The list goes on, but in honor of Black History Month JET has made it our business to carefully examine the five most culturally appropriated foods since Columbus discovered America.
