Recently, Reason magazine reported the creation of a Google Docs spreadsheet titled “(Alternatives To) White-Owned Appropriative Restaurants in Portland” that listed around 60 restaurants in the area of Portland, Oregon. The list consisted of restaurants owned by “white” people that served an ethnic cuisine. It also included alternative restaurants owned by People of Color (POC) that served ethnic food. Interestingly, the alternative POC owners did not necessarily serve the food associated with their respective ethnicity, they just had to be other than “white.”
This restaurant angle is one aspect of the greater “Cultural Appropriation” concept perpetuated by the Left. The authors appear to be leftists since they repeatedly identify “institutional racism and capitalism” as the source of all inequities. If that does not convince you, see what they say about Israel. The authors identify themselves only as, “Several Portland-based people of color …”
If this notion comes to Tucson via Portland, it could damage our cultural crown jewel — our culinary scene. Our restaurants are the hub of a wheel with spokes that extend to local farms, local ranches, farmer’s markets, and farm-to-table distribution — all of which are supported by organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH and publications like “Edible Baja Arizona.” Our food brings Tucsonans of every stripe together. The most fundamental bonding among human beings is the sharing of food.
Our success in this arena has not gone unnoticed. Recently, Tucson was named a UNESCO “World City of Gastronomy,” the first such city in the United States.
The Portland List people say in their document that they are all for sharing food, but not when it comes to restaurants, which are businesses, which are dominated by “white” people who steal from POC, etc. Well, when it comes “cultural appropriation,” everyone is guilty. Any anthropologist will tell you that there is no such thing as a pure culture. Whenever one group interacts with another, ideas and products are exchanged and incorporated into the other respective culture. This exchange is a result of products being voluntarily bought and sold for mutual benefit. These acts of people helping each other, by the way, is called capitalism.
We all like the spicy hot cuisine of Thailand, but those hot peppers are native to the Americas, not Asia. The Thai people traded for them and liked them and incorporated them into the Thai cuisine. Pre-Columbian Indio cuisine did not include wheat, beef, chicken or dairy products, but it did an excellent job of incorporating them after they arrived!
Tucson has a number of culinary artists we can call our own. Janos Wilder of Downtown Kitchen and Cocktails and Doug Levy of Feast come to mind. They use talent and knowledge gained from their years of study and work to combine foods from all over the world into new creative dishes. Janos incorporates cholla buds and tepary beans — both native to the Tucson area — into his creations. Doug uses herbs and vegetables grown in his own garden. If someone determines that these are “white” guys, should they hang their heads in shame?
Alas, it is undeniably true that Tucson shares similar politics with Portland. That is why we are vulnerable. However, the mayor and council can get out in front of this. They should be proactive rather than reactive and inoculate our city against this sort of threat to our liberty, creativity, and way of life. Let’s call on mayor and council to declare Tucson a “Caring and Sharing City of Food” which would send a message to those who would attempt to Balkanize us — namely that Tucson rejects this race-based tribalism!
Our diversity is not our strength, our unity is our strength. Our shared diversity inspires our curiosity, creativity and joy.
