Cultural Appropriation. Ravioli. Deep fried.

Variable 3 or less, becoming northeast 4 or 5 later.

Smooth or slight, occasionally moderate.

Fog patches for a time.

Moderate becoming good, occasionally very poor.

 

 

 

This is a post I want to write but am not sure if I should publish it.

First of all this blog should be about cooking, devoid of politics.  A light hearted blog. And I am doing alright. In the world of food blogging my stats are peanuts. On the other hand it makes me very proud that my blog is accessed about 3000 times per month. Yes, there are food blogs with hundreds of thousand hits per day. But I feel I am doing something right. I am not just a lonely voice but there are people out there who are interested. But the subject is about cooking.

The second issue I might offend people. I don’t like this. It is not my aim to make you feel bad. I will be horrified if you feel bad. On the other hand I have enough for feeling bad to have to shut my mouth because you might be offended.

The third issue is that people will put me into a corner I don’t belong to.

And the last issue: I might have to face the wrath of my Italian friends and readers who think I overstepped the line and how dare I do use an Italian dish, bastardize it and call myself a gourmet.

Let me explain: I am the first in line to defend you if someone mocks or belittles your culture or believes. If you want to have a cross around your neck, wear a headscarf, feel happy if you express yourself by wearing a druid robe.. relax. I wont give you grief. If someone gives you grief about it, call me and I sort them out.

But I expect the same in reverse. You have to accept that I wear mini skirts and might buy the next minute a long skirt from a different culture. For me freedom of expression means that I can wear and eat what I want. And just because I wear it, it does not mean I mock it. My culture gives me the freedom to chose to wear what I think reflects my mood today. To adapt, to cherish cultural differences, to incorporate them into my life. If I wear a Red Indian Headdress at a festival, it is an insult to me to accuse me that I mock your culture because you think it is inappropriate that I should wear something which belongs to you. Just because you think I should not demean it by wearing it just for fun.

If you go to Austria and buy a Loden coat, it is not “Cultural Appropriation” if in the end your dog sleeps on it. If you go to South America and buy a traditional skirt, it is not “Cultural Appropriation” if you wear it at uni with Japanese flip flops and a see-through blouse. And it is not “Cultural Appropriation” if I wear a Scottish kilt over my fundraising Rabbit costume. You might feel miffed, especially if it has the patterns and colours of your clan, but all I am doing is resisting the strict rules of clan/race/religious/nationality thinking. It is your right to believe in the (borderline racist) notion that because I am not one of yours, I am not allowed to take anything from your culture. But it is also my right to not believe in the concept of clan/race/religious/nationality. So..what brought that little rant on? A small article. Of course it was not only a small article, it was a string of small articles which found their last drop in this one. 

If you now roll your eyes and think: “And what has that to do with food, gimme the recipe”, I am sorry to say that the idea of “Cultural Appropriation” has already found its way into the food world. Just google Cultural Appropriation and Food for more.

If you look at your chicken and think : “I fancy it sweet and sour” and you open a tin of pineapple and throw the sad looking red pepper in, you commit “Cultural Appropriation”. You “insult” the great tradition of Chinese cooking. A “Chicken Tikka Masala” is “Cultural Appropriation”. Every time you make an originally non Vegetarian dish Vegetarian, you commit “Cultural Appropriation”.

But you know what, cultural “purity” is fascist thinking. Culture benefits from sharing and adopting and using what makes sense and discarding what is hogwash. And this is especially true for food.

Yes, I am full of admiration for people who dedicate their life to make the perfect ramen. A true authentic ramen. We live in a society where we have too many “Jack of all trades, master of none”. I would source you out, eat there and pay you accordingly. But the world is so big and colourful that there is also space for a ramen burger. For Chicken Tikka Massala. A pizza topped with a curry. A Vegetarian shepherds pie. A so called Swiss Muesli which has nothing to do with a proper Birchermuesli. I like both. And I am not offended that you call the first one “Swiss”.

Deep fried Ravioli

The other day I was in an Italian Deli. It was not perfect; I missed the wonderful smell of a good Mortadella. Must be decades since I had a good Mortadella, I mean a really good one. Not some mediocre affair. I blame the Italian supermarkets for “Cultural Appropriation”. But it had wonderful homemade Tortellini and Ravioli, so I purchased 5 of these little glorious cushions and was thinking what kind of sauce to make with it. Unexpectedly I was called out for work, and the next day too, so they sat in my fridge. Three days later they were still there, shouting at me: “You know, hand-made fresh pasta doesn’t improve with age”. There was only one problem: I did not want ravioli. It was cold and miserable outside, I was overtired and all I wanted was something deep fried. In front of the TV. So I looked at them and thought:” You are nothing else but little parcels of cheese and vegetables in dough, dough can be deep fried”.

And so I did. Deep fried them in olive oil and served them with a dip made out of pesto mixed with a small amount of mayonnaise. I sprinkled, while they were still hot, some parmesan over them.

And they were wonderful. Good fresh pasta can be deep fried and if you have a good filling, this shines through.

And if some Japanese restaurants can serve a wasabi mayonnaise or put avocado in their sushi and call it “California Roll”, I can create a pesto mayonnaise.

Don’t divide..integrate.

Keep cooking and borrow from any culture you like.

To hell with “Cultural Appropriation”

The picture is from Wikipedia, called “toasted ravioli”. Not quite what I ate and how I made them, but near enough. And you know what; it is apparently a speciality of St. Louis, USA. Created by Italians.