Food as a Slur

As a preface, this is for more of an analysis of language and not in any way meant to inspire or instill any form of racism or larger parts tribalism. So take the below with a grain of salt.

Throughout history, people have used the foods of different cultures to describe people, but using the food as a noun for the people is often viewed as offensive and is a slur.

In World War 2, Allied soldiers called German Soldiers Kraut, like in Sour Kraut.

In Vietnam war, US soldiers called Vietnamese Fish heads or Fish faces, based on both the uncanny look of a fish as well as the dish of fish head soup (which is a popular south east Asian dish shared by Lao, China, and other cultures)

People can call a person or place by their culture, and one of which is Food.

Here are some other slurs;

Rice for anyone Asian.

Ramen or sushi for Japanese.

Beaner for Hispanic people, based on eating beans.

Curry for Indian.

Spaghetti for Italians.

Tea for Chinese or British.

Burgers for Americans.

Dirt for poor people in general (not really a race, more classist).

It appears,

That there is a tribalism element, and that both race and class can be used as a sort of mocking point with names. Calling the rich ‘caviar’ or ‘fish eggs’ can be insulting as well.

I’m sure there were slurs for those in nobility and those in peasantry in medieval times.

There seems to be a larger connotation between tribal dynamics between the culture of a person based on either their ethnicity, class, wealth, status, or even tribal affiliation.

To be honest, As I write any article, I am exploring the results and findings as I explore the contents and subjects. So everything above is subject to change with further and future insights, and this article will remain unedited as a testament to previous lines of inquiry. A sort of preservation model and also acting as way to see how things have changed or how new insights and studies relate.

In a side note,

There is a culture in Japan that pushes out Outsiders. Some establishments have rice bowls in front of their business in order to preclude outsiders or ‘Gaijin’. So food itself can be a code in language meaning something symbolic and used as a sort of sign for others.

There’s a lot of nuance to food and culture, and it defines people and things. For better or worse. Perhaps the language is subjective, or perhaps there’s a reoccurring theme that’s objective and transcendental to mere language and symbols. With food, it’s a complex story.

Epilogue;

Humans throughout time use objective things in reality as a basis for language, and we use metaphors and relations between other objective things as a way to communicate. In German, they call ‘gloves’ as ‘hand shoes’, as such we find a way to communicate using some form of objective landmark. When that landmark is food, it can often be used in a derogatory sense.

Calling someone a food item, is in many cultures degrading.

The reason why, seems elusive, but remains rather universally true. It might be due to a learned cultural behavior, or it might be due to degrading someone to something that they eat consistently or are stereotyped and thus a crude comparison to a stereotype that one might be identified with.

The old adage “you are what you eat” seems to be insulting to call someone as what they eat.

Either people who mock what people eat, or remind them of their station or class or situation in a derogatory way. It might reinforce the separation in class or a people, removing an element of unity or humanity in people. Not very Ubuntu.

I’m curious if someone out there doesn’t find this offensive.

And all of these thoughts outline the chief most aim of all articles here, which is;

Words Mean Things.