The Fried Chicken Episode Of 'Ugly Delicious' Is Actually All About Food Politics And Race In Our Society
The Netflix food show is more than your average food show.
When I first began watching the episode, I was very surprised to see that fried chicken had an impact on chefs who are of color. I have always known of the stereotype that connects fried chicken and the African Americans but never realized this would be present in the cooking industry.
Chef Eduardo Jordan literally kept away from fried chicken because he didn't want to be seen as following a stereotype.
That led me to think about food's really impact on the division of races.
Even though Eduardo made the decision to not cook with fried chicken, this decision was only influenced by the fear of being stereotyped. This episode reminded me of my PLSC 497 Food Politics class discussion.
In it, we discussed how most food critics are white and come from a place of privilege when critiquing other cooks.
It's important for more of them to recognize the hardships people of color have to go through due to their race or ethnicity. The theme of the discussion was stereotypes. Hearing about Eduardo's story made me realize white chefs and critics may not understand why he chose not to cook with fried chicken.
Never having to make decisions revolving around foods that were affected by a stereotype meant to offend them.
