Cancel culture has everyone walking on egg shells from celebrities, peers in the workplace, and now chefs. The fear of being offensive has intensified so much so that celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has hired cultural appropriation specialists to advise on his cookbooks.
You may be asking what is a cultural appropriation specialist? You aren’t the only one.
Cultural appropriation is defined as an inappropriate adoption of a minority cultures traditions, ideas, practices (food) by another group that has been historically dominant. An example of cultural appropriation would be a white person dressing us as a Native American for Halloween.
Oliver says he’s hired specialists in the field to review all recipes going into his cookbooks to avoid controversy. Oliver spoke with the Sunday Times Culture magazine about his reasoning.
“Your immediate reaction is to be defensive and say, ‘For the love of God, really?’ And then you go, ‘Well, we don’t want to offend anyone.”
Additionally a spokesperson for Oliver told CNN that “food is all about sharing inspiration from around the world, and we’re proud to work with some incredible experts to continue to learn about different cuisines and to help us deliver content that is culturally sensitive and inclusive.”
Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay was heavily criticized in 2019 for opening an authentic Asian restaurant with no Asian chefs.
Tony Katz discusses the embarrassment of trying to please cancel culture, how people just need to live, and what he’d name his own cookbook!
