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nvisible Culinary Knapsack
In 1989 Peggy McIntosh wrote the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” about unacknowledged white privilege. Read her article here and think about the significance of unacknowledged white privilege.
Then read the following list (below), inspired by McIntosh’s article. This checklist relates specifically to racial and ethnic privileges related to food and eating. Answer this checklist to the best of your ability, then answer the discussion questions below.
Checklist:
I can if I wish arrange to eat the food of my cultural/ethnic heritage most of the time.
I can be pretty sure that my neighbors will not complain about the smell of my food.
I can tur on the television and see food from my cultural/ethnic heritage represented.
When I see representations of food from my cultural/ethnic background in the media, I see someone of that heritage cooking and explaining its practices.
When I am told about the food of my cultural/ethnic heritage, I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
The most expensive restaurant in town serves the cuisine of my cultural/ethnic background.
I can eat food from my cultural/ethnic background in a public setting without experiencing embarrassment or hostility.
When I bring food from my cultural/ethnic background in a public setting, I can expect that statements others make about it are positive or complimentary.
If I cook for others and someone says something negative about the food, I can be sure it is because I cooked it improperly.
I can easily buy cookbooks and magazines at a bookstore featuring recipes from my cultural/ethnic cuisine.
I can be confident that others are interested in my cuisine because it is tasty and not because it is trendy at the moment.
I can easily shop for ingredients to make my cultural/ethnic cuisine, at the nearest mainstream supermarket.
I can be confident that restaurants and food sellers serving my cultural/ethnic cuisine are making a living wage.
I can name more than a handful of celebrity chefs who serve my cultural ethnic cuisine.
The ingredients to make my cultural/ethnic cuisine are located throughout the supermarket and not just in the “ethnic foods” aisle.
I can travel and find my cultural/ethnic cuisine easily accessible wherever I go.
Friends are not afraid to dine at restaurants serving my cultural/ethnic cuisine.
I can study the foodways of my cultural/ethnic background without being seen as self-interested or self-serving.
I can be sure that media representations of the foodways of my cultural/ethnic background regularly show off the best of its practices and gastronomy.
I have never been asked why people from my background eat exotic or unusual food.
Discussion Questions:
What were the patterns you noticed in your response? Describe.
How might your responses change if you were to move in an area with different racial/ethnic demographics? Explain.
How might your experiences related to food (in terms of your racial/ethnic background) be related to broader issues of race and ethnicity in your home society?
What could/should be done to improve the situation with respect to food from your ethnic/cultural background?
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