to be confused and think this was rude..

[MummySunshine]

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?!

I think she'd eaten jerk chicken and it was making her fart. (To her, the fart would have smelled distinctly of jerk chicken!) She saw your face and was embarrassed, not twigging that you assumed the smell was from the sewage works. The remark popped out unintentionally, and she's been cringing ever since!

People always say odd comments to me that they find humorous but I don't have a clue what they're on about. Either I'm just thick or on a different wavelength to everyone else. I just smile, agree, do a fake laugh and go on my merry way. People are weird.

Lol at mushy peas if you please! :-D

lol at all the wannabe offendees some people really do go out of the way to be annoyed and offended

Why does it have to be 'racist'? Why not just an opinion? Jeeeeeeeez!!!

It was NOT racist - baffling but not racist.

There's enough true racism out there without going digging for it.

She thinks chicken smells - that's it.

I guess that if you are looking for offensive / racist comments then you may something that could be one. I wouldn't think anything about this comment other than someone making idle chit chat.

I dont think she was racist. To be blatantly honest, there is enough problems on this planet if you should not go looking for racism in any chance interaction and make a mountain out of a molehill. I honestly dont think your, or your childs skin colour has any bearing on what food she finds smelly.

Personally, I dont even know what jerk chicken is. I know chicken smells, and I cant stand it. She possibly just commented on something she does not like the smell of, and I bet she did not for one moment connect the smell of smelly food with anybodys ethnic origin. Dont be daft.

I have lost count of all the times I hear people throw the racism card for any idiotic reason, which leaves most people baffled, with this look on their face:

Am the only one who thinks she was making a sarcastic joke ?

I changed many nappies or cleaned up stinky vomit and joked about it smelling of roses or how I now fancy a curry...

The only possible thing I can see to over analyse is the choice of food which seems the perfect example of over analysing.

Really? Really ?

Some people would find an argument in an empty room.

people saying this is racisrmt - youve really had to dig to find the racist element in this havent you? the woman probably lurks all day in sainos car park waiting for black and mixed race people to come along so she can pounce on them and spout her foul racist diatribe at them. get real! just an innocent comment from a chance encounter, really doesnt require this much thought!

Maybe she meant the cooked chicken in store?

I think she just hates the smell of jerk chicken and possibly forgot that not everybody else does too?
Was it LH sainburys?
Lots of odd things happen to me there.

...and why the hell is a supermarket next to a sewage plant? !

My husband thinks curry spices smell like shit and says so. The rest of us adore spicy stuff. He isn't being racist. He is being foodist! He does all the cooking and makes the best currys ever, relying on our feedback to adjust flavours. He also hates vinegar...

it wouldn't have crossed my mind that this was racist
I think it's a very big stretch to suggest that it is

Meh, I think she was being racist.
Even though I seem to be in the minority.

I hate the smell, sight and taste of pork. Doesn't make me a Muslim.

Plenty of Jamaican cafes round here.

Is there a veggie alternative? It looks lush

YABU, FWIW I also think 'shit farms' smell like chicken, especially the cooked JERK CHICKEN PIECES that my local Tesco sells every now and then, I can verify that they do indeed smell of shit until they cool down.

She might just think jerk chicken smells like shit.

You know as in when people say "urgh that tastes like shit" when it doesn't taste of actual shit.

It might be a joke she and her partner have because neither of them like the smell of a certain food and she just forgot she was engaging with a stranger who wouldn't 'get it'.

Get over it.