Consumption: Food

On reading an article about “intercultural food exhange”, I came across a part about working class British males’ consumption of curry and the idea of “conquering the chilli”; this entails ordering the hottest dish on the menu. “Conquering” with it’s links to colonialism, victory and conquest. This man consumes the overly hot food and he has “conquered” it, however, his outward passage is yet to partake in this battle, which will fail him and he will have to admit defeat. I then remembered the saga of Marco Pierre White’s “Jamaican” (man couldn’t even pronounce it, too funny) which I refused to watch at the time; but for the purposes of research now.. I hit the internet.

Eight year old “he didn’t even wash the rice! That’s nasty it looks like vomit!”

This man, (here we go) produced some inedible thoroughly un-Jamaican concoction (for I don’t know what reason, sorry tangent).

This man, a chef, tried to say he was creating the “very easy” (used this word a thousand times) “Jamaican” dish of rice, peas and chicken.

This man, he failed. Horribly.

The link that came to mind was the idea of conquering. He claims to have been there but his visit report sounds like a listing off the attractions he’s found off the internet, and if you’re staying in a place like Sandals, you are strongly recommended not to leave the resort so I don’t know what street food he’s talking about. He talks about how “simple” the food is and how friendly the locals are. He also claims to hate the snobbery of food (further alluding to it’s basic unsophisticated nature) yet doubts the possibility of being able to serve this stuff in a London restaurant i.e. crap looking, unsophisticated, too brown (colour is what his dish lacked). Low culture (as opposed to high culture of elite and rich), poor, so easy. See the stupid-ass’s article here.

Parody Recipe“…and the chicken comes out whiter after cooking than it did before it went in! Don’t worry about no seasoning!”

I find the whole thing patronising and paternalistic, oh I’m a harsh critic but I loooooove your food! Yay you people, well done! “You people” because he clearly consulted no Jamaican before creating a mockery of himself, and knows none either. Jamaicans responded in a variety of hilarious ways, even this eight year old could see all of the vital aspects wrong and missing.