Cultural diversity in the workplace matters, and not just for the well-being of employees. Research shows that workplaces that foster racial and ethnic diversity outperform their peers by 36%. Food is an integral part of cultural identity, and respect for different cuisines among coworkers is crucial.
Yet this woman thought it was okay to insult her colleague's Thai dishes. After dealing with her microaggressions for months, the coworker decided to bring something more bland to work. Surprisingly, that backfired too, as the woman found something wrong with that, too.
Every culture has a rich and distinct cuisine that deserves appreciation and respect
Image credits: Marion Botella / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
But this woman chose to insult her colleague's Thai food with epithets like "pungent" and "intense"
Image credits: Polina Zimmerman / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Pixabay / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: CherryChanelle69
For many immigrants, food is a part of their identity, and demeaning comments about their dishes can be hurtful
It seems that if there's one thing for certain, it's that some people will most likely always find ways to be racist. If not by being blatantly disrespectful in the workplace, then with microaggressions like commenting on cultural foods.
According to a 2023 study, 66% of employees from marginalized racial and ethnic groups in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States say they have experienced racism at work.
Words like "pungent," "weird," and questions like "Did you grow up eating bugs?" can be pretty culturally insensitive. Food can be very closely linked to a person's cultural identity, especially for immigrants.
As sociologist and professor of food studies at New York University, Krishnendu Ray told the BBC, second and third-generation immigrants, in a way, lose a part of their own culture. "Their attire is western, their language is western, and food is almost the last of the cultural domain that they retain a vivid memory of," he explained.
That's why demeaning comments about their cultural foods sting so much. Creators of the Alberta-based anti-racism initiative Stop Race-Based Hate also claim that insulting comments about ethnic foods are generally a form of racism.
"When someone makes offensive comments around a type of food, they are sharing an unconscious belief that certain foods are inferior because of the ethnicity of the people who make and consume that food," they write. "This statement insinuates that someone's cultural or ethnic background makes their cuisine unappetizing or inferior."
We should stop looking at food through a Western-centric "white culture" lens
Image credits: Oleg Ivanov / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
People have different tastes and different perceptions of smell. There's nothing wrong with not liking spicy food or omitting an herb or spice you don't like from a recipe. But more often than not, the standard for what is "normal," tasty, or healthy comes from white culture.
As Maya Feller, MS, RD, CDN, a registered dietician nutritionist writes, Western societies need to "decolonize their plates." She describes how the classical healthy meal in the West is a protein, a vegetable, and a carbohydrate in one meal. When, in fact, in many cultures around the world, eating patterns are entirely different.
"Breakfast may be a savory meal or salted fish in Trinidad, Tobago, or Jamaica. Lunch may be a delicious starch-based meal as commonly seen in Ghana or Nabemono or a hot pot meal eaten in a communal setting in Japan," Feller points out.
Therefore, just because something is "ethnic" doesn't mean it isn't healthy or out of the norm. In fact, the term "ethnic food" itself can have pretty racist connotations. We seldom use the term to refer to Italian, French, or German cuisine, yet we have no problem saying "ethnic food" when referring to Mexican, Indian, Chinese, or Ethiopian cuisine.
This positions Western "white culture" foods as the blueprint, and everything else is "ethnic food" that often gets demonized or exoticized. Oregon-based holistic nutritionist and health coach Robin Hauer, too, invites us to think about how we think and talk about food from other cultures.
"We need to break away from the idea that white cultures are the base standard in America and in the media. We need to be more thoughtful about how we speak, how we perceive, and how we approach food from different cultures. Question everything, especially yourself."
People in the comments called out "Kate" for her racist microaggressions: "Were you being passive-aggressive? Yes. Was it justified? Lol, yes"
