Washington Post food critic says labeling food ‘exotic’ is xenophobic, reinforces racism

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One food critic wants people to stop using the word exotic to describe food because it reinforces xenophobia and racism.

In a perspective article published Wednesday, Washington Post food critic G. Daniela Galarza argued that the word connotes non-European origins and diminishes other cultures.

The first problem with the word is that, probably over the past two decades, it has lost its essential meaning, she wrote. “The second, more crucial problem is that its use, especially applied to food, indirectly lengthens the metaphysical distance between one group of humans and another, and in so doing, reinforces xenophobia and racism.”

The English language should adapt more quickly to ostracize words, such as exotic, ethnic and foreign, in order to create a more inclusive society, she argued.

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The problem is, it’s a definition that changes depending on the perspective of users, Galarza said.

The article quoted Chandra DL Waring, professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who also argued that the word exotic is often used by whites and simply meant non-white.

I’ve never heard the word exotic used in reference to something white, Waring said, according to the article. You know exotic means different or different from a dominant white point of view because no one ever says I’m going on an exotic vacation. I’m going to Lowell, Mass. No one ever says let’s go to this exotic new restaurant. Let’s go to McDonalds.

Serena J. Rivera, assistant professor of Portuguese and Spanish at the University of Pittsburgh, agreed, saying the word was completely tied to the history of colonialism and slavery.

If you are exotic, if you are automatically another, you are not one of us. But for someone to pass such judgment, they would have to be in a position of power, Rivera continued.

The story continues

Galarza argued that the use of the word generally means non-European, conjures up images of explorers or hunters, and places the “burden” on non-white countries to defend their kitchens.

It has been a long time since European explorers traveled the world in search of wealth, spices, coffee, tea, chocolate and places they would colonize or people they would enslave in short, things they would call exotic but this story is inextricable from the word, she added.

Many on social media disagreed with the take and claimed exotic doesn’t mean alien, which Galarza admitted is an archaic definition of the word.

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Tags: Food, Washington Post, Racism

Original author: Lawrence Richard

Place of Origin: Washington Post food critic says labeling food “exotic” is xenophobic and reinforces racism

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