Why eating isn't political
As American as apple pie or Johnny Appleseed… what could be more Anglo-Saxon than the apple? Well, guess what? Apples originate in Asia and I'm not talking about phones or computers.
Apples were spread originally by animals, then cultivated and spread along the Silk Road. They were only brought to England in 200 BC by the Romans, and they certainly weren't in America till 17thC colonists brought them there.
But is the apple then an appropriated fruit? NO! Produce can't be appropriated. Animals and people spread apples because they tasted good!
Still not convinced? Still think the apple can be a symbol of Anglo-Saxon colonial dominance? Well I don't believe so and this is why:
Chilli peppers come from South America. That's right, that Vietnamese hot sauce you love, that spicy Indian curry, that Korean gochujang all products of discovering the so-called “new world.” The Portuguese brought the chilli plant back home from South America and from there it was spread all through the world. Why was it added to those traditional Asian cuisines? Because chilli tastes good.
Countries will argue about the ownership of dishes, but you know what? There's no plagiarism in cooking. Eating is so transitory and repetitive and necessary that there isn't time to argue when you eat and as a matter of fact arguments are known to make people lose their appetites. You eat what tastes good and healthy because you have to. You cook up good food for people you care about–and for strangers –and when it tastes good and you see the smiles on people's faces you know you've served up something I like to call gastronomical love.
And you know that authentic Tikka Masala? Well, it comes from Scotland. Food that tastes good spreads so quickly there's no time to claim a political identity for it. Heck, you might go into your kitchen today and tweak a recipe then feed it to someone with gastronomical love, then boom! A new dish is invented. But you know what? You can't own it, for it to keep existing it's gotta be digested and shared. Food is shared. Put a pig in the kitchen to remind you to share food!
