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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be confused and think this was rude..

50 replies

MummySunshine · 09/06/2012 00:07

Quite trivial I guess but hey it's friday night.

Took DS to Sainsburys today which is right by a sewage factory or whatever they're called. Either way it always smells a bit like poo down there (just what you want when buying food)

Got out my car, put DS in the trolley and the smell hit me so I pulled a face. Caught eye contact with a woman who laughed and said 'ooh it must be a jerk chicken shop I can smell'. I was confused and stared at her blankly and walked away..then thought wait was that a weird attempt at being racist, or is this woman just crazy..or does she just have an irrational hatrid for jerk chicken that I was meant to know about?! We live in a very multi cultural area, but there's not even a carribbean food shop anywhere near that sainsburys. And my DS is very obviously mixed race.

Wtf?!

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 09/06/2012 00:11

Oh bless you! Grin

I have no idea what the answer is but as far as over thinking goes with absolutely no way of finding a real answer....this thread is the best!

Seriously, you needed to ask her what she meant cos I really don't think anyone here will have a scooby.

We can all guess/discuss/agree/disagree until the cows come home though....

TheDreadedFoosa · 09/06/2012 00:11

Its such an odd thing to say that i dont think you can really say whether its rude, racist or otherwise.

Maybe it was, who knows? But maybe it was one of those things that made perfect sense to her at the time and shes been cringing all day realising it makes no sense outside of her own head.

ZhenThereWereTwo · 09/06/2012 00:12

It was a racist comment :(

Original poster
MummySunshine · 09/06/2012 00:12

Oh I wish I had made her clarify! It will probably always bug me now. I just cannot think of a reasonable explanation of why she said it!!

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WorraLiberty · 09/06/2012 00:13

Was it Zhen? Confused

WorraLiberty · 09/06/2012 00:14

Maybe she thinks jerk chicken smells like shit?

I think boiled cabbage smells like shit (because it actually does)

ZhenThereWereTwo · 09/06/2012 00:16

Thinly veiled but yes, since when does jerk chicken smell like sewage? Confused

Original poster
MummySunshine · 09/06/2012 00:17

I think it's universally acknowledged that cabbage smells like farts. But jerk chicken?! Huh?!

If it was intended to be racist, I always find it baffling when people throw a bit of racism into casual conversation as if they have no idea it's unacceptable.

OP posts:
ProcrastinateWildly · 09/06/2012 00:20

Isn't chicken also known to smell a bit farty? I've heard people say that before.

ProcrastinateWildly · 09/06/2012 00:21

It does seem odd to specify the recipe of chicken though

ZhenThereWereTwo · 09/06/2012 00:24

They do it because they are racist and it is acceptable to them according to their beliefs.

Original poster
MummySunshine · 09/06/2012 00:26

But surely even a racist must realise that everyone else doesn't find their views acceptable?! Especially in an extremely diverse area like mine in London?!

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Goolash · 09/06/2012 00:29

I have no idea, it was a random comment, she could have meant anything. A whiff of something that reminds her of a spice in jerk chicken??

My Mum can't stand the smell of cumin, she eats food with it in but goes a bit wierd if she has to use it, or it's to prominent in the dish. My husband thinks I'm nuts because, to me, the aftertaste of lamb is the same as the initial hit of goats cheese. He keeps telling me lamb smells and tastes sweet, I smell and taste shit and hormones.

DailyMailSpy · 09/06/2012 00:30

What is jerk chicken?

Goolash · 09/06/2012 00:31

Badly behaved.

Goolash · 09/06/2012 00:36

This
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_jerk_spice
BBQ meat with a Jamaican rub, nothing unusual in it.

ZhenThereWereTwo · 09/06/2012 00:38

Grin @ Goolash

Marinated chicken Caribbean style, it is yummy.

They do MummySunshine, they just don't care :(

Maryz · 09/06/2012 00:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DailyMailSpy · 09/06/2012 00:45

Thanks :)

It was probably just innocent, like she thought she could faintly smell jerk chicken.

I wouldn't get too worked up about it, you may never see her again to find out so it's better just thinking it's innocent and she was trying to make a bad joke rather than it being more sinister.

Original poster
MummySunshine · 09/06/2012 00:46

You may hate the smell, but it doesn't smell like sewage does it?

And would you have remarked to a stranger when there was a sewage smell in the air that it must be a curry house you can smell?

I don't even know what the intent was behind it, I'm genuinely baffled! It's not a racist comment, but seems possible there could have been that intent there.

In all possibilities I can think of its still a weird thing to say.

OP posts:
ZhenThereWereTwo · 09/06/2012 00:50

No, to hate the smell doesn't make you racist, but to make a comment equating the smell of sewage with that of jerk chicken to someone who has a mixed race child, that you don't even know is.

You might say something smells like poo as an expression, but I doubt you would actually think it did smell of sewage, the smell of rotting human faeces is quite distinctive.

I hated most smells when pregnant, so clearly I should have got membership to BNP by that thinking.

lalaland3008 · 09/06/2012 00:52

I think it's a bit too bizarre and random to be racist. I mean it's not as though only black people eat jerk chicken is it?

Actually the cooked chickens in the supermarket (although plain) do smell a bit like farts to me. I think it's more likely that the woman was a bit potty and probably doesn't even know what jerk chicken is.

QuintessentialShadows · 09/06/2012 00:52

Do you really have to be racist to think that chicken stink!

I cant stand the smell of chicken, it is on par with lamb, I cant stand the smell of lamb, or goats meat to be honest. I can just about bear fish and beef...

But chicken? When it has gone past it sell by date, it smells like eggy farts....

MaisyMooCow · 09/06/2012 00:56

My forrin neighbour makes one particular dish that stinks worse than shit. I can't begin to describe what it is because I've never smelt anything like it in my life. It's repulsive. Maybe it's jerk chicken Grin

Original poster
MummySunshine · 09/06/2012 00:59

I guess the connection is if she could smell jerk chicken it would be coming for a jerk chicken shop, which would obviously be run by carribbean(sp? Always get it wrong) people.

It seems like a weird way to be racist though?! What a bizarre woman. Although as mentioned further up, maybe it made sense in her head and she's spent the rest of the evening (as have I) wondering why the hell she said it. Like the time I asked for 'mushy peas if you please' in the chip shop cries with shame

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