Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fried Chicken Recipe Racist?
The Food Network put out its annual Kwanzaa recipe section this week, and it's making more than a few people uncomfortable. posted
1. Yesterday's Food Network recipe of the day, filed under its "Kwanzaa Recipe Section":
2. Its Kwanzaa recipe section also includes typical Southern dishes like Hoppin' John, cornbread, and collard greens.
9. Better Homes and Gardens gives a good summary of what a typical Kwanzaa dinner would include:
For your Kwanzaa meal, try African creole, Cajun catfish, jerk chicken, or Groundnut stew, a tasty dish from West Africa. For your side we've got many traditional Kwanzaa recipes, including Jollof rice, collard greens, Kwanzaa slaw, grits, beans and rice, and okra. End your Kwanzaa dinner with a traditional Kwanzaa dessert. Ambrosia, coconut cake, sweet potato bars, and mango pound cake all offer sweet finishes to your holiday evening.
(h/t Joe Mande)
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18 Responses So Far
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What I find strange is the belief by the media (and the sheep who believe all they see on tv) that ALL blacks celebrate Kwanzaa or how it is somehow their Christmas. They simply celebrate Christmas just like everyone else. In my experience it is very rare to find anyone who actually celebrates Kwanzaa as it is usually looked upon as a fad of the 60s black power movement.
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- taymen thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
- Abbzey thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is OMG
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im not gonna get mad cause people say tamales are mexican …or kosher is jewish. you cant say its racist when its the truth.
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This is no more “racist” than posting something that a disproportionate number of white people or Asian people love to eat. PC is over, folks.
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- catoyal thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Fail
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- manic thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
- Oscar T. thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
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When the entire point of the (fake) holiday of Kwanzaa is just “we're black”, what the fuck are you complaining about? It's a bullshit holiday invented in the 60s…Festivus is just as real
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Festivus was a real holiday for one of the writers. Festivus as told on Seinfeld had a few added quirks than what he celebrated with his father
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- atomic105 thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Ew & Trashy
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Yup. Just another example of white people* who don't care enough about black people to do their research on cultural traditions. All they had to do was Google “traditional Kwanzaa food” and they would have saved themselves the criticism. *I didn't say all so don't accuse me of being racist towards white people.
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Who cares? It's food - when did food become racist? Black people eat comfort foods, it's a known fact. Just like us Italians have the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve..
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- TiffanyCioffi thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Win
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I'm sorry. Why are we even giving the idea credence? This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen.
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Ryan, do everyone a favor and research what Kwanzaa is for a microsecond before posting. For a holiday invented in the 60s that celebrates African American culture, there really isn't anything racist about highlighting foods associated with African American heritage. Believe it or not, collard greens and cornbread are part of the prescribed menu every bit as much as roast beef and green bean casserole are part of the average Christmas in white America.
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If you think their inclusion of fried chicken in a Kwanzaa menu is offensive, you should see Sandra Lee's Kwanzaa cake from several years back.
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I'm black and I have no real idea of why this is offensive. O_o It just looks kind of shitty.
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- kellym36 Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri...
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Ummm…I don't really see what's so racist about fried chicken. I'm black, and I've never got - and still don't get - the association of fried chicken with black people. Sure, it's a very Southern dish and there's a large population of blacks in the South. Yet I don't think I know a single person - black, white, yellow, whatever - who doesn't love fried chicken. Go into any fried chicken joint in the South and you'll see just as many whites as blacks. There's a KFC in my neighborhood that's largely patronized by Asians. Fried chicken is a universal dish served in many countries and enjoyed by many nationalities. Or maybe I don't try to find racism in everything.
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I agree. People MAKE friend chicken into some kind of racist thing when in reality everyone likes fried chicken. I don't think the black population alone could sustain the fried chicken industry. Yeesh. In Japan it is practically tradition to eat KFC on Christmas now or days. You'll see people lined up waiting for hours just to get some.
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The link between blacks and fried chicken in the US varies by region. In the South frying food was preferred by all groups since the heat made using ovens almost unbearable prior to air conditioning. So you are correct that the legacy and love of fried food runs deep in the region. However, over time chicken became associated with the poor/working poor classes. The upper/middle classes ate the more expensive red meat. As this country always associates anything “poor” only with blacks it was linked with them in the South, similar to how only blacks are associated with government benefits despite a higher usage by whites. In the rest of the country, the link is due to a combo of the poverty link and the migration of blacks from the South to different parts of the country. Upon arriving they brought their love of delicious fried chicken to areas where it was not common. So outside the South it is viewed solely as a black thing. At least that is what I learned in class and since I am addicted to fried chicken this lecture has always stuck with me
- veronical2 Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... and thinks it’s Fail
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Cute. Kwanzaa's about unity and peace so I find this article more offensive. :P btw collard greens & sweet potatoes ARE traditional Kwanzaa food. The fried chicken aspect ties in torwards comfort food
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- lauraarayata thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
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Ummm but I actually think that's the kind of food your supposed to eat on Kwanzaa… I could be wrong. But I think that stuff is typical.
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