Jamie Oliver's 'jerk rice'

[PPPMA]

Jamie Oliver has been accused of cultural appropriation for calling a new product "punchy jerk rice".
The decision to label the microwavable rice "jerk" has been criticised, because the product doesn't contain many of the ingredients traditionally used in a Jamaican jerk marinade.

What we think of this?! As someone of Caribbean descent, who loves jerk, and raised an eyebrow when I looked at the ingredients, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow... not offended, just baffled!

AIBU to think that if you create something new, you call it something new...?

@AsAProfessionalFekko I have no doubt about it!

I think we need a new term... cultural stupidity? Unawareness? Insensitivity?

I personally think 'twat' suffices

For the record, again, I never claimed cultural appropriation.

See, the minute I see the phrase "Cultural Appropriation" I immediately file it with the sightings of Bigfoot & Nessie.

On one hand we're all meant to be inclusive and integrating - on the other, the minute old whitey does anything they've nicked it from the poor, oppressed ^^....

I'm surprised he's promoting a microwave meal Because he's a bloody hypocrite who is greedy/desperate for money

@SlartiAardvark I've avoided any sort of conflict on this thread but this:

On one hand we're all meant to be inclusive and integrating - on the other, the minute old whitey does anything they've nicked it from the poor, oppressed ....

is a shitty comment.

'poor, oppressed ....' - not good. Many races have been oppressed and are still being in many ways. That's not what this thread is about but you could have put your point across without minimising the struggles that some races still experience in a very real way. Oppression is still a real experience for many people. It may not be in the form of genocide or normalised slavery, but it's still a thing. Your comment is extremely blasé considering what you referred to!

Anyway, back to the punchy jerk rice...

No such thing as jerk rice

Not about ingredients he made up something that doesnt exist in Caribbean

CA does exist, and to doubt it just because you don't like to think your culture profits from it is a very defensive and normal reaction.

Using the word Jerk to sell products is not CA. Again, if he had made his version of Jerk Chicken there would be no story here. But, imo, this is insensitive CA.

Recently there was controversy over Shea Moisture hair products (a favourite of mine). Created and developed by, and for, black people, it made a good profit so people got interested. The black owners sold it to a company lead by white women. Now, nobody really took issue at this stage, since hardly anybody knew or cared. The first advertisement that came out was a joke. The models included one pale biracial lady with curls most black girls dreamed of, and the rest were white models. The company said it was trying to promote an inclusive brand, but failed to feature one black woman in an advert marketing products developed for black hair. I wonder how many of you would still defend the actions of that company, because many a white woman did and still would. People say Feminism is for whites only, and I tend to agree when things like this occur.

@JayDot500 side tracking a little but as a mixed race woman with Afro hair (big, big hair that is what you'd describe as your stereotypical Afro!) it saddens me that I've never once seen an advert on television with a woman with my hair type on it. It's unbelievable actually. Like we don't buy/need hair products... I can't think of one ad!

Correction, they didn't sell it, they involved a new marketing team or something. The people responsible and apologising were white women anyway.

I bet if someone like naydia hessian come out with "traditional English toad in the hole" and it was made with halal sausage and a nan bread English people would be like wtf
This is the same thing

Jerk rice doesnt exist but someone who isnt Caribbean has decided to make up something which doesnt exist and make out it is something from the Caribbean that's the issue

I'm actually going to buy the rice though I'm interested to know what it taste like

@Belina src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/03vnQ6GIaD8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen> go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=<iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/03vnQ6GIaD" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen>8 don't do it

I don't think halal sausage would be an issue... it's still a sausage, just halal. Would be pretty shitty to deny a person of toad in the home simply because the meat they used was halal (though unlikely to be pork, given). Even the naan bread. It's still bread. It's still essentially a bread with sausage... see what I mean? It's... different! But not the same.

I agree though, just not with the example you used

Hole

PPPMA didn't you used to flinch when the white girls who had beautiful curls had a poo face with the voiceover 'unruly, messy, ridiculous hair' and such. I don't even think it was just black women who were annoyed there

I'm black but my Jamaican is actually mixed with Chinese. I have very 'wavy' hair, not curly. I would say that I totally get where you're coming from because my hair seems to be the beauty people see before me. My light skin (you'd think she was middle Eastern not black) Jamaican aunty still calls tightly coiled hair N-word hair. Whenever I heard that, I wished I had Afro hair

I think James Cleverly's rebuttal:

mobile.twitter.com/JamesCleverly/status/1031631200417398791

I wouldn't be surprised if Cultural Appropriation started out on 4chan
"hey guys, culture and race mixing is actually racist and you need to stop doing it!"

It fits the M.O. perfectly

@JayDot500 the frizz ease one makes me laugh too. 'Are you tired of frizzy hair?

All hair is gorgeous though. Don't be made to feel bad because you have looser curls! I have green eyes, I've been made to feel bad about it my whole life. It's funny isn't it, the way you are praised for your blackness amongst many black people but made to feel bad for your more Caucasian features... complex!

@JayDot500 that was me and an epic name change fail below

Try having frizzy red hair and very pale skin.

I don't see many Indian people screaming about cultural appropriation when faced with supermarket shelves filled with curry sauce jars.

Italians aren't too distressed about jars of italian cooking sauces.

Mexicans aren't up in arms about Old El Paso.

Why is this such a special case?

@WhatsInAnotherNameChange 🤦🏽‍♀️

Yes and Caribbean's aren't up in arms about that disgusting jerk paste you can buy in Tesco.

This is entirely different but I really can't be bothered to explain it again...

Why is this such a special case?

Its been explained many many times what the actual issue is. Try rtft to find out.

Clue: it's not that Jamie Oliver is making Caribbean food.

You should see how the Japanese culturally appropriate Western food. Hamburgers ... without a bun in sight. Sliced white bread that tastes really, really sweet. Curry stuffed into white bread rolls.

Ramen is originally Chinese (and thus, should be problematic due to their colonialist/war crime history against them) but bears little resemblance to Chinese versions. Not to mention they’ve a whole industry of instant “ramen” that isn’t even theirs to tinker with, according to this whole CA thing. But it doesn’t apply to Japanese, even though they have had an evil empire of their own!

They do curry brillliantly though, top marks for that! Nothing like the Indian version though

The whole thing is just ridiculous

It just seems an odd thing to call it — no jerk anywhere!

On a tangent (but I think it's interesting and sort of fits with the thread), the 'curries' that are casserole with curry powder in were the British Navy trying to combat beriberi —curry powder has vitamin B1 in it. That type of naval curry was so popular in Japan where the sailors introduced it that it's now pretty much a national dish.

Cultural appropriation is literally the same thing as integration, it is a positive aspect of multiculturalism and the alternative to ghettoisation and division.

Nobody worth listening to gives a shit about this, and people who do are in favour of cultural segregation which is a BAD THING, and should give their respective heads the appropriate amount of wobble.