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Food has grown to so much more than a means of sustenance. For some, it’s an unspoken language through which you’re sharing your culture, history and traditions. For those that move across national boundaries, food becomes a comfort – a thread to the homeland and the life they’ve left behind. Others leave behind legacies for their family and future generations, in the form of cakes, bakes and aachars. The food we eat has been so indicative of our cultural roots and heritage and is garnished, for many, with nostalgia.
What we didn’t expect though is the intermingling of race, culture and gender dynamics with food, in a way that we never thought about before. In today’s multicultural world, the way we consume and create food has become quite political, with people of colour having to cater and tweak ‘ethnic’ dishes to fit the Caucasian/white gaze and palate (on the global scale). While the world has grown to love Indian ‘curry’, ‘kebobs’ and ‘poppadoms’, many restaurants have popped up with white male head chefs serving the same to their customers, but there are still countless children in schools that get teased for bringing their own home-cooked meals for lunch that looks and smells ‘weird’.
It is this perspective that the podcast Racist Sandwich wishes to bring to the table when it comes to conversations regarding food. Co-hosted by restaurant chef and writer Soleil Ho and journalist Zahir Janmohamed who bumped into each other at a potluck, the origin of the podcast’s curious name is explained in the first episode itself. “In 2012, a principal here suggested that schools should understand the needs of students by asking them what kind of food they want. So maybe not serve peanut butter and jelly sandwich, maybe serve pita, maybe serve torta, maybe—if it’s a predominantly Asian school—not have milk in the lunches because Asians have a higher rate of lactose intolerance,” says Janmohamed.
He further adds, “People flipped out and said, Are you calling the peanut butter and jelly sandwich racist? And instead of listening to her critiques about diversity in schools, they kind of mocked her and she was ridiculed and the school had to kind of come to her defence. So, that’s where we got the name ‘Racist Sandwich.’ It sort of shows how silly we oftentimes get when we try to talk about food and race. And what we wanted to do on this podcast was to have a discussion about food and the food industry from people of colour, with people of colour and to centre it around people of colour. And I think that’s especially important here in Portland given that it is America’s whitest major city.”
While the people that they speak to, and the podcast itself, are US-based and centred, the conversations have a universal appeal; a relatability especially for Indians (and other people of colour) living abroad, and the authenticity they bring to this discussion is undeniable. From addressing sexism in the food industry, interviewing the first black winemaker, the fusion food of the Indian diaspora to the bastardisation of the word ‘curry’ – Racist Sandwich does it all through a witty dialogue that, despite the content and topics they address, don’t deep-dive into judgement or white-bashing, as such.
With 43 episodes under their belt and a brand new season that debuted last month, Racist Sandwich has made itself a place for conversations about navigating the culinary world as a person of colour– whether you’re in the kitchen and service industry or not; just simply an admirer, and well, eater of food.
You can listen to Racist Sandwich on Podbay, Stitcher and Apple Music, or directly on their website.
Feature image courtesy of William Anthony | Portland Monthly
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