Is The Food Network’s Kwanzaa Fried Chicken Recipe Racist?
The Food Network put out its annual Kwanzaa recipe section this week, and it’s making more than a few people uncomfortable.
1. Yesterday’s Food Network recipe of the day, filed under its “Kwanzaa Recipe Section”:
2. Its Kwanzaa recipe section also includes typical Southern dishes like Hoppin’ John, cornbread, and collard greens.
9. Better Homes and Gardens gives a good summary of what a typical Kwanzaa dinner would include:
For your Kwanzaa meal, try African creole, Cajun catfish, jerk chicken, or Groundnut stew, a tasty dish from West Africa. For your side we’ve got many traditional Kwanzaa recipes, including Jollof rice, collard greens, Kwanzaa slaw, grits, beans and rice, and okra. End your Kwanzaa dinner with a traditional Kwanzaa dessert. Ambrosia, coconut cake, sweet potato bars, and mango pound cake all offer sweet finishes to your holiday evening.
(h/t Joe Mande)
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- newschick555 thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Fail
- Neptune's Rings thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
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polkashow 4 months agoFried chicken is soul food and was introduced by African Americans. That doesn’t mean ALL African Americans eat fried chicken, but it is culturally appropriate for Kwanzaa, which is not an AFRICAN holiday, but a contemporary holiday started in the U.S. Perhaps we could ALL get over ourselves a little.
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- soxi thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Fail
- alexanderq thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Fail
- patticake1601 Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri...
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ashleyannw 4 months agoWho cares? Kwanza is a made up holiday, founded in racism to begin with. The man who started “celebrating” Kwanza did so because a) he hated Christians and b) felt that Christmas was a “white holiday”. The whole thing is absurd.
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- Kierstin Pry thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
- xsmall thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is WTF & Fail
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- ObsessivePopCultureDisorder thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Fail
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- calli441 thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is OMG
- jessicascoobys thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Trashy, WTF & Fail
- taymen thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
- Abbzey thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is OMG
- catoyal thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Fail
- manic thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
- Oscar T. thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
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Fervel Lankman 4 months ago
Jesus, people… These are all traditional Southern foods. Stop being so reactionary and actually give things some thought.
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- atomic105 thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Ew & Trashy
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Daniel23 4 months ago
What I find strange is the belief by the media (and the sheep who believe all they see on tv) that ALL blacks celebrate Kwanzaa or how it is somehow their Christmas. They simply celebrate Christmas just like everyone else. In my experience it is very rare to find anyone who actually celebrates Kwanzaa as it is usually looked upon as a fad of the 60s black power movement.
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- TiffanyCioffi thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is Win
- kellym36 Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri...
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thekingsQueen 4 months ago
im not gonna get mad cause people say tamales are mexican …or kosher is jewish. you cant say its racist when its the truth.
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- veronical2 Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... and thinks it’s Fail
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MisterBongo 4 months agoThis is no more “racist” than posting something that a disproportionate number of white people or Asian people love to eat. PC is over, folks.
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- lauraarayata thinks Is The Food Network's Kwanzaa Fri... is LOL
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anarchovelo 4 months ago
I’m guessing this article is more about the twitter responses than actually calling the food network racist, hence the title formed as a question. I find it hilarious though that the related links has an article titled “Kwanzaa Food Porn” and the first picture is fried chicken.
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feistychick 4 months agoYup. Just another example of white people* who don’t care enough about black people to do their research on cultural traditions. All they had to do was Google “traditional Kwanzaa food” and they would have saved themselves the criticism. *I didn’t say all so don’t accuse me of being racist towards white people.
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Krissy Diggs 4 months agoI’m black and I have no real idea of why this is offensive. O_o It just looks kind of shitty.
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boweryboy 4 months agoUmmm…I don’t really see what’s so racist about fried chicken. I’m black, and I’ve never got - and still don’t get - the association of fried chicken with black people. Sure, it’s a very Southern dish and there’s a large population of blacks in the South. Yet I don’t think I know a single person - black, white, yellow, whatever - who doesn’t love fried chicken. Go into any fried chicken joint in the South and you’ll see just as many whites as blacks. There’s a KFC in my neighborhood that’s largely patronized by Asians. Fried chicken is a universal dish served in many countries and enjoyed by many nationalities. Or maybe I don’t try to find racism in everything.
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Krissy Diggs 4 months ago
I agree. People MAKE friend chicken into some kind of racist thing when in reality everyone likes fried chicken. I don’t think the black population alone could sustain the fried chicken industry. Yeesh. In Japan it is practically tradition to eat KFC on Christmas now or days. You’ll see people lined up waiting for hours just to get some.
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Daniel23 4 months ago
The link between blacks and fried chicken in the US varies by region. In the South frying food was preferred by all groups since the heat made using ovens almost unbearable prior to air conditioning. So you are correct that the legacy and love of fried food runs deep in the region. However, over time chicken became associated with the poor/working poor classes. The upper/middle classes ate the more expensive red meat. As this country always associates anything “poor” only with blacks it was linked with them in the South, similar to how only blacks are associated with government benefits despite a higher usage by whites. In the rest of the country, the link is due to a combo of the poverty link and the migration of blacks from the South to different parts of the country. Upon arriving they brought their love of delicious fried chicken to areas where it was not common. So outside the South it is viewed solely as a black thing. At least that is what I learned in class and since I am addicted to fried chicken this lecture has always stuck with me
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FlickMontana 4 months ago
But chicken is now the preferred meat of everyone. Not only is it healthier, it’s f*cking awesome.
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veronical2 4 months agoCute. Kwanzaa’s about unity and peace so I find this article more offensive. :P btw collard greens & sweet potatoes ARE traditional Kwanzaa food. The fried chicken aspect ties in torwards comfort food
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Krissy Diggs 4 months ago
Ummm but I actually think that’s the kind of food your supposed to eat on Kwanzaa… I could be wrong. But I think that stuff is typical.
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