Berlin. There is little that makes the Internet so buzzing as alleged “woke madness”, which hits beloved food. “Woke” refers to people who claim to have an “awakened” awareness of justice, climate protection, discriminatory language or racism.
This once again showed the excitement around a future vegetarian restaurant at VW in Wolfsburg. In the course of the so-called Currywurst Gate, in which Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder also interfered when he protested against vegetarian food for “workers” (#RettetDieCurrywurst), fundamental criticism of the term “curry” also appeared. Is the commonly used word a shortening of Asian cuisine? Is the term racist?
As you know, when it comes to nutrition, the fun stops for a long time. A rift has long been running through society, which often causes heated debates about food. It is then about climate protection and meat consumption or racist chocolate labels.
Recently, a small curry debate spilled over to Germany with a delay. In summary: The Californian food blogger Chaheti Bansal is criticized because she had already discussed months ago that in the West everything is called “curry”, although in India, for example, the regional specialties changed every 100 kilometers and the name curry probably goes back to colonial convenience.
The debate has been going on for some time
In debates of this kind, the assertion that activists wanted to ban everything and that the accusation of racism was handled too lightly is quickly also in the room.
Racism in connection with food has so far been known in Germany primarily from the well-known chocolate kisses and their formerly common name as well as from a schnitzel type and sauces of the same name.
We remember: in 2020, brands such as Knorr, Homann and Bautz’ner announced that they would rename their so-called Z-sauces, for example, to “Hungarian-style paprika sauce”.
The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma welcomed this step. The term “gypsy” is an old collective term for ethnic groups, “a foreign term of the majority society superimposed by stereotypes, which is rejected by most members of the minority as discriminatory”. He was always negatively occupied and associated with exclusion. With benevolence, one could attach the admiring hit “Gypsy Boy” from 1967, but many also see it as romanticization and kitsching from above.
While the Wiener Schnitzel actually comes from Vienna and Peking ducks have a real Chinese origin story, questioning other dishes and their names is primarily about the aspect that they are unreflected foreign names.
Focus on “Pizza Hawaii”
More and more dishes and products seem to be coming into focus and are being problematized. And many people then feel threatened or even deprived of their youthful memories.
For example, the name “Pizza Hawaii” for a baked pastry with boiled ham and pineapple is also doubted. The name is associated with a “history of colonialism and appropriation,” according to the group PoC/Migrantifa. The name should give an exotic touch, but has nothing to do with Hawaiian cuisine or culture. The islands of Hawai’i had been warily annexed by the United States. The population had been exploited by white settlers with the cultivation of pineapples. “Pizza Hawaii” is not explicitly racist, but shows “many colonial stereotypes”. So maybe it’s better to say “pizza with pineapple”.
Speaking of pizza: the classic pizza with tomato, mozzarella and basil is named after the former Italian Queen Margarethe. She lived from 1851 to 1926 and was anti-parliamentary. She was considered a supporter of the future dictator Benito Mussolini. So is “Pizza Margherita” a fascist dish?
To many, such debates seem absurd and know-it-all. The health and nutritional psychology Cristoph Klotter told the “world”: “Unfortunately, sometimes there is a tendency that socially better-off people literally rise above other people.“
The new awareness also affects some brand names: Pepsico put an end to its brand “Aunt Jemima” (Aunt Jemima) last year. For decades, the logo of a plump black woman with a headscarf was used to advertise breakfast pancakes and syrup.
Also “Uncle Ben’s Rice” will soon become “Ben’s Original”. The image of the black “uncle” who advertised the rice should disappear. Like “Aunt Jemima”, “Uncle Ben” is considered a degrading slave stereotype. “We understood the injustices associated with the name and face of the brand and decided to change this, ” says a spokeswoman for Mars Food in Germany. After the decision to renew the global brand, they wanted to make sure that they were doing everything right. There are therefore different schedules in the countries. In Germany, however, the time will soon come.