LET’S CHAT ABOUT IT
Could these tacos that I ordered takeout after a long Friday night be a means of appropriation? Honestly, I have no idea…
Let me start by saying that taking a class called “Taco Literacy” as a senior with only four months left (and counting) of her entire college career is a power move in all senses of the phrase. So on the first day of class — my last first day of class ever, might I add — I was ready to eat some great Mexican food and enjoy my last semester with my best friend Sarah sitting next to me.
However, after the basic introductions and syllabus discussion, the class started to talk about cultural appropriation and what it means. And of course I — one of the whitest people to ever walk the earth and someone who almost never volunteers in class — am the first person chosen to give my definition of cultural appropriation. I stuttered, blushed, and cold-sweated my way through a good-enough response… but being caught off guard (and incredibly awkward in general) didn’t allow me to truly get all my ideas out.
I never really thought of cultural appropriation when it came to food before Thursday’s class. I come from a very stereotypical Jersey-Italian family — so stereotypical that I actually pronounce mozzarella “mutzadel” and capicola “gabagool,” and have never had gravy (yes, it’s gravy, not sauce) from a jar and never will — and I never considered that my non-Italian friends who tease me for my Sopranos-reminiscent pronunciations and then eat spaghetti for dinner could be “culturally appropriating” — and I don’t think they are. So how could food really be culturally appropriated?
For the record, I love Mexican food, it’s been my absolute favorite cuisine for as long as I can remember. If a date suggests going to a Mexican restaurant, I consider him a keeper. But, after this discussion in class, I began to think: Am I, a white girl, culturally appropriating by consuming as much Mexican food as I do and proclaiming how much I love it?
I don’t really know the answer. For me, cultural appropriation walks a line that’s extremely thin and extremely blurry. Participating in parts of a cultural that’s not one’s own can be appropriation if there’s not a definitive respect present. I respect Mexican cultural immensely, I recognize that I am not a part of it and it is not my own, and I truly truly truly love tacos and margaritas. I think that as long as one respects and recognizes their own distance from a culture, it’s not appropriation.
But maybe I’m wrong! Who knows!
Here’s a fun video from BuzzFeed about some undeniable appropriation of Mexican culture to watch while I sit here in uncertainty:
We Stan Tacos 
Ah, Jersey, a magical place with its own unique culinary traditions. Seriously! You should watch the episodes of Bourdain’s shows when he goes to Jersey. The cheesesteak from Camden, for example, is much more interesting and tasty than the Philly one.
Speaking of Bourdain, he’s a good example of someone who loves food, loves people, and their histories and cultures, who travels the world, and who never appropriated. Instead, he celebrated the foods of people as cultural expressions of genius. And that’s different than wearing a culture as a costume.
And thanks for being the first to speak up! You set the tone for class. 🙂
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