First chocolate kisses and paprika sauce, then the popular Hawaii pizza and now curry: more and more names of dishes and foods are being questioned. Hardly anything outrages so many. Why is this so? A search for clues
Few things set the internet ablaze like the alleged "woke madness" that hits familiar dishes. Woke" is the name given to people who claim an "awakened" awareness of justice, climate protection, discriminatory language or even racism.
This was demonstrated once again by the uproar over a future vegetarian restaurant at VW in Wolfsburg. In the course of the so-called Currywurst-Gate, in which former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder also got involved when he protested against vegetarian food for "workers" (#RettetDieCurrywurst), fundamental criticism of the term "curry" also emerged. Is the much-used word a contraction of Asian cuisine? Is the term even racist?
As we all know, the fun has long stopped when it comes to food. A rift has been running through society for a long time, which often leads to heated debates about food. It's about climate protection and meat consumption, for example, or racist chocolate labels.
The name curry as a "colonial master's convenience"?
Most recently, a small curry debate spilled over into Germany after a delay. To sum up: The Californian food blogger Chaheti Bansal is being criticised because she had already made it a topic of discussion months ago that all kinds of things are called "curry" in the West, although in India, for example, the regional specialities change every 100 kilometres and the name curry probably goes back to the colonial masters' convenience.
Debates of this kind quickly lead to claims that activists want to ban everything and that the accusation of racism is being treated too lightly.
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In Germany, racism in connection with food has so far been known primarily from the well-known chocolate kisses and their formerly common name, as well as from a type of schnitzel and sauces with the same name.
We remember: In 2020, brands such as Knorr, Homann and Bautz'ner announced that they would rename their so-called Z sauces, for example "Paprikasauce Ungarische Art".
The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma welcomed this step. The term "Gypsy" is an old collective term for ethnic groups, "a foreign term of the majority society overlaid with clichés, which is rejected as discriminatory by most members of the minority". It has always had negative connotations and been associated with exclusion. With goodwill, the admiring hit song "Gypsy Boy" from 1967 could be brought up, but many also see it as romanticisation and kitsching from above.
Many food names are first and foremost unreflective foreign names
While Wiener Schnitzel actually originated in Vienna and Peking duck has a genuine Chinese origin story, the questioning of other dishes and their names is primarily about the aspect that they are unreflective foreign names.
More and more dishes and products seem to come into focus and are problematised. And many people then feel threatened or even robbed of their memories of their youth.
For example, the name "Pizza Hawaii" for a baked dough patty with cooked ham and pineapple is also doubted. The name is linked to a "history of colonialism and appropriation", said the group PoC/Migrantifa. The name was supposed to give an exotic touch, but had nothing to do with Hawaiian cuisine or culture.
The islands of Hawai'i were annexed by the USA during the war. The population was exploited by white settlers who cultivated pineapples. "Pizza Hawaii" is not explicitly racist, but shows "many colonial stereotypes". So it might be better to say "pizza with pineapple".
Speaking of pizza: the classic pizza with tomato, mozzarella and basil is named after the former Italian queen Margarethe. She lived from 1851 to 1926 and was anti-parliamentary. She was considered a supporter of the later dictator Benito Mussolini. So is "Pizza Margherita" a fascist dish?
New awareness also affects some brand names
To many, such debates seem absurd and know-it-all. Health and nutrition psychologist Cristoph Klotter told Die Welt: "Unfortunately, there is sometimes a tendency for the socially better off to really elevate themselves above other people".
The new awareness is also hitting some brand names: Pepsico ended its "Aunt Jemima" brand last year. For decades, the logo of a round black woman with a headscarf was used to advertise breakfast pancakes and syrup.
Uncle Ben's rice" will soon become "Ben's Original". The image of the black "uncle" who promoted the rice is to disappear. Like "Aunt Jemima", "Uncle Ben" is seen as a disparaging slave stereotype. "We understood the injustices that were associated with the name and face of the brand and decided to change this," says a spokeswoman for Mars Food in Germany. After the decision to renew the global brand, she says, they wanted to make sure they did everything right. That is why there are different timetables in the different countries. In Germany, however, the time will come soon.