As a wannabe chef, I might have thought about making a submission to the Carnival of the Recipes #3, a showcase for recipes from all around the blogosphere, but got pretty miffed when I saw the introduction at the top of the page:
This week, we have a lot of great recipes to choose from. I am adding a rule, though – The Carnival of the Recipes will not link to any recipes involving household pets or horses, I don?t care if you live in France or Korea!
I really do not want to offend the author of the page or start any shit, but I’m sorry – that’s sounds racist as hell.
I can understand people being uncomfortable with what is eaten in other countries. Perhaps your tastes different from, say, the Marmot’s. But to specifically name countries (okay, specifically Korea – I don’t give a fuck what anyone says about France anymore and yes that’s my own prejudice speaking) kinda puts people off I think – well, then again the author says she “doesn’t care” so maybe I’m raising this issue for naught… I guess I care. It sounds too much like a dismissal of foreign food and culture. That’s kind of ironic since the author claims that she loves that they “are getting recipes from people all over the world.” So we can pretty much define “their” worldview as excluding cultures that eat horses or animals that Americans consider “pets” (a challenge in itself – I’ve had friends back in the states with pet cows, chickens, fish, sheep, and pigs, among other “acceptable edibles”). I find this a shame, because I really would have liked to share a recipe in the Carnival forum.
Note: If the author ever reads this post (and why should she; I’m a proud fucking nobody!), please do not construe this as a personal attack. I think I know what you were saying; it wasn’t a big “fuck you” to the rest of the world but rather a statement of what you are comfortable with, and I can accept that. I just needed to point out that it sounded kind of harsh from my current station overseas.
UPDATE: Check the comments. I feel really bad about writing this post now, but it would be wrong to take it down. I thought about this for a while, then I replied to Beth and John by e-mail and apologized. My recipe is for humble pie, but I’ll be damned if I can make it the same way twice… The only constant is swallowing your pride first.
Well, if that don’t beat all. Now, I’m a rascist.
#1 – I read any trackbacks to my blog. There is no such thing as a “fucking nobody”, so expect to get some traffic from my blog.
I expect that people would be sensitive to *my* sensibilities on my blog. How dare you call me rascist. If I was putting together a bunch of vegetarian recipes, I would add all other animals to the list of unacceptable recipes.
It is my idea, and I make the rules.
The thought of eating dog meat and horse meat turns my stomach.
Someone sent me a recipe that did turn my stomach.
One food source does not make or break a culture. I’m not a rube. I’ve been overseas.
I have had a lot of Korean dishes, but I don’t choose to encourage people to eat dogs.
I see corporations coming to the US to farm and ranch auctions and buying horses cheap and sending them to packing plants in Canada where they are cut up for food production and sent to France.
I think it is disgusting.
And I think you are jumping to crazy conclusions calling my remarks rascist.
That said, you are more than welcome to submit a recipe as long as it does not involve cats, dogs and horses.
Justin- your ‘selective pc-ness nerve’ is a little twitchy.
It’s a household pet thing. If that’s racist, bring me up on charges, too, dude.
Being anti-certain-elements-of-a-given-culture isn’t racist. Euro’s get to mock us about Big Mac’s, Hindus can tut-tut over our taste for beef, that’s cultural, not racist.
The fact that Beth named a country pretty well known for a taste for dog isn’t racist. As others pointed out elsewhere, the Swedes have a recipe for dog, too. And there are people who seemed to think it important to post that.
Cool.
We don’t do household pets around here, and Korea does.
You may have been too pure to submit a recipe, but you weren’t too pure to link, and score some traffic as a result, were ya.
John, the other racist pig at Castle Argghhh!
Sure– it’s her blog, she makes the rules, but it’s well within other people’s rights, on their own blogs, to point out that her rules sound pretty rube-ish. I say that as someone who’s lived– not merely traveled– in both France and Korea. Dog and horse are yummy comme tout.
Rhetorical parity, this is. On our own blogses, we says what we wants, Preciousss.
BTW, is a rascist some sort fascist? Is a fascist related to fascicles? Are fascicles anything like testicles? Are testicles allowed as recipe submissions?
Kevin
PS: I noted that her rules don’t disclude humans. I think I’ll submit my favorite baby thigh recipe.
Didn’t want to call anybody racist; it was a compromise. LOL Kev you are such an insctigator.
If you haven’t already, check these books out:
Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe
Curiosities of Food: Or the Dainties and Delicacies of Different Nations Obtained from the Animal Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds
Both of these publications do a good job of what you all seem to be discussing, albeit in a less lively fashion.
“… The Carnival of the Recipes will not link to any recipes involving household pets or horses, I don?t care if you live in France or Korea!”
This struck me as racist on its face. Seemed to say, “Koreans and French don’t understand the value of animals we keep as pets, and we want none of that shit on OUR recipe list because we’re right and they’re wrong.
I would’ve reached the same conclusion as Justin on reading what they wrote.
And in response, John of Argggh! said, “We don’t do household pets around here, and Korea does.” This statement is loaded with a sense of cultural superiority. In some places chickens are household pets. See their recipe on “Mexican Chicken Chowder.”
Beth wrote, “And I think you are jumping to crazy conclusions calling my remarks rascist.”
>> Then she should articulate her meaning more carefully and clearly! Not like a rube.
Beth also wrote, “It is my idea, and I make the rules.”
Well, her idea and rules have been placed in a public fora. So the “fuck you, I can do what I want without your scorn” defense is about as convincing as Michael Jackson’s “I didn’t molest those children” defense.
No, He is right – that statement was pretty inflamatory. Why not just write “I dont want any recipies including cats, dogs and horses”? There was absolutely no need to write about Korea or France.
Imagine it was about makeup and the author wrote “I only want makeup hints and tips for pale skin” and then follwed it up with “so no submissions from anyone from Africa please.”
You have to be careful what you write these days.
mmmmm Sea Buiscuit Burgers
mmmmm Sea Buiscuit Burgers