00:03
on the Food Network show carnival eats
00:06
the poutine man makes butter chicken
00:09
poutine in a crock-pot and calls it a
00:13
crowd-pleaser his top seller at the
00:15
county fair the TV host calls it a
00:18
collage of flavors I call it a cut and
00:22
paste recipe a Frankenstein of culture
00:25
for profit and so a chef is not required
00:28
to reference their sources I wonder how
00:30
many of our grandmother’s could have
00:32
taken the day off if the poutine man had
00:35
to pay royalties the TV host asks how
00:38
long he’s been making butter chicken
00:39
poutine I’ve always been in the French
00:42
fry business he says it’s in my roots
00:45
his flesh is mashed potato mine is the
00:48
peeled skin in the green bin my
00:50
fingernails are shovel fulls of compost
00:53
digging through the family farm of his
00:54
heritage and finding nothing that grows
00:56
next to cumin coriander turmeric only
01:00
potato famine and spice trade curry is
01:03
not a word native to my skin it’s a
01:05
synonym for soupy saucy street food
01:08
India’s cuisines were as complex as its
01:11
languages so they’re a blanche to appeal
01:13
to a British palate erasure of the mouth
01:15
is to colonize the plate and the tongue
01:17
that licks it clean to slow cook mark
01:20
Makani until it reads butter chicken
01:22
Paula Deen comfort food
01:25
something familiar from the hands the
01:27
Pioneer Woman an American classic
01:29
rewriting history includes the cookbooks
01:31
tex-mex Asian fusion ethnic inspired
01:35
puts a mama out of business the average
01:37
Indian meal cooks for as long as it
01:39
takes a brown woman to give birth but
01:41
food from my cane is always $4.99 out in
01:44
five minutes barely passed the health
01:46
inspection not sure where it came from
01:48
or who’s cooking in South Asians work in
01:51
most Toronto kitchens but I’ve rarely
01:53
seen a brown woman on chopped Canada or
01:55
daytime TV
01:56
we gave foods who are colonizers as
01:58
peace offerings and they sold our
02:00
recipes in their Michelin star
02:02
restaurants or the only door were
02:04
allowed to enter was the one to the
02:05
kitchen
02:05
intellectual property does not have to
02:07
be written to be stolen pull the plug on
02:10
your crock-pot and direct deposit our
02:11
reparations we have records of your
02:13
grocery receipts no-name naan bread
02:16
Whole Foods coconut oil tightly chai tea
02:19
Amazon ghee when you’re browsing the
02:22
aisles namaste in your lane if you take
02:25
a seat at our dinner uninvited may the
02:28
sambar Singh set flames all you touch
02:30
mayor vindaloo rust your silverware to
02:32
dust may the spice draw salt water from
02:35
every entitled pour drown an upturned
02:37
nose in a chutney see leave a Rouge face
02:40
drenched and breathless daring be the
02:42
soul who lifts their glass for water
02:44
fill any scorched mouth with white tears
02:46
sacred is the sweat of a meal maker the
02:49
ancient boil over open flame the Bailee
02:52
floating in a soul’s basin our dense
02:54
history is not a loose powder will not
02:56
be charred or mislabeled to commodify
02:58
another’s culture is to spit in the
02:59
communal pot we close the lid close the
03:01
door close the border when the colonized
03:03
su we’re coming for everything they
03:05
claim is original authentic theirs
03:09
[Applause]
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