A year ago, we were interviewed for a feature in VICE’s Munchies online platform.
Mithalee is wordy, we know, so obviously the final cut didn’t have space for all the nuance this controversial subject needs to have. Here are some excerpts from the interview which took place via e-mail. We believe it more clearly illustrates the points she was trying to make.
Q: What exactly is bone broth?
Bone broth is basically what we commonly call soup stock. The way it is used in the health food industry now though is to signify that it has been simmered over a much longer period of time, 24-48 hours depending on the animal, and with a conscious selection of the bones all primarily for the purpose of extracting as much collagen as possible. This would most closely resemble the stocks that are used for Vietnamese pho, Japanese ramen, many Chinese medicinal soups and Ayurvedic recipes. It is mostly sold frozen although some brands have started doing shelf-stable versions of it. My products are frozen.
Q: What are your thoughts on appropriation vs re-appropriation?
I have very strong feelings about appropriation because my culture and roots get appropriated so very often.
I moved to Canada when I was 15, so I did not face discrimination based on my ethnicity as a child like many second generation Indians abroad do. However, the India I grew up in – English-speaking and Upper Middle Class – was very much experiencing what is commonly referred to as a “colonial hangover” wherein all things Indian were deemed uncool and whiteness or Western-ness was thought to be superior. I most definitely internalised this message growing up and was averse to many parts of Indian culture. So it was a very confusing experience for me to move to Canada and be faced with people expecting a very stereotypical version of an Indian of me (exotic but also backward) and actually be disappointed when I clearly did not deliver (I spoke English more fluently than most of them and was going through a goth phase). I was and still am constantly expected to be some wealth of knowledge about all things “Indian” such as yoga, meditation, Ayurveda etc – subjects that were eroded from my culture due to centuries of British colonisation and consequently generations of Euro centric education. A more confusing experiencing, in hind sight, was being validated when white pop culture icons like Madonna and Gwen Stefani appropriated Indian fashion because white people would think it was cool because other white people were doing it. Many people have written extensively about how historically POC culture gets appropriated by white people and only then is deemed acceptable in the mainstream, and I agree with all of that. Since getting into the “health food” scene I’ve noticed it happening time and time again with traditionally non-white foods, and paradoxically ethnic foods being seen as unhealthy.
An interesting aside is that most times when I tell someone white that I am a chef, they assume I cook Indian food. Although I am trained in classical French Culinary Arts and have a decade of experience in the contemporary modern dining industry, it seems as though I am disallowed from demonstrating expertise on cultures outside my own. This same judgment is not bestowed on white purveyors of non-white foods.
I’m not familiar with re-appropriation as a concept, and to be honest the word irks me a bit. I guess I would say it is a way in my opinion to reclaim agency of our culture. After years of clearly disappointing most people by telling them I do not cook Indian food for work, I decided to approach it another way and see what happens. People have taken to my Ayurvedic broth much more readily than anything else I’ve done before, something I feel bittersweet about!
Q: Ayurvedic: talk a little bit about using beef, and why this is significant.
It surprises many customers that I use beef. This is mostly due to the common misconception that all Indians and Hindus are vegetarian. There are of course many vegetarians in India, but a much larger population aren’t. I grew up eating a lot of chicken, fish and goat. As I was saying before, I am passionate about food security and sustainability within the food industry. I believe in eating locally, especially meat, if it is accessible to you. In India broth is made commonly with chicken and goat bones, because it is what is prevalent there and the obvious issue with cows bring sacred to Hindus. I believe in adapting to where we live in terms of diet. Ayurveda recommends taking meat products (taking, because it is used as medicine) to treat certain issues. My adaptation of this is using the meat sources abundant around us, and hence the use of grass-fed pastured beef.
Q: Talk about seeing the extension of colonialism in the food industry in Vancouver.
I feel like we need to talk about how structural racism decides whose food gets valued and why. Like I mentioned before, it has been seen time and time again that when white people adopt and rebrand traditionally non-white ideas, fashion, foods etc they get valued more. An obvious example of this is the yoga industrial complex. A good example of this in terms of food is how most fine dining restaurants aren’t “ethnic”. When we think of Indian, Chinese, Mexican cuisine we usually associate them with a cheap meal (which is so unbelievable to me because of the nuance and complexity within those cuisines, but I digress). Vancouver is not immune to this, especially being such a famously health conscious city. The health food industry here is huge. I notice the same trends here as I did when I worked in a health food store in Edmonton – newly “discovered” superfoods such as chaga, ashwagandha, turmeric, holy basil etc are sold by people not of those cultures at exorbitant prices to (mostly) white people. The dynamics of presenting non-Asians as experts of Asian medicine are racially problematic and Orientalist. Some of these companies do give back to the cultures these foods come from originally through providing fairer wages and setting up useful programs, but most as far as I have seen do not. This to me is an extension of colonialism – the blatant exploitation of physical and intellectual labour and products sourced from (so-called) developing nations in order to create capitalist profit in highly industrialised nations.
Q: How is the food itself “decolonising”?
(I did not use the term “decolonising” in the initial interview. I did say I viewed cultural appropriation in food as an extension of colonisation. Although I am familiar with the term “decolonising”, I can not comfortably outright claim my food is decolonising. I’d prefer if the question doesn’t imply that I am making that claim. I’m okay with including my response here as in answering a question about decolonisation in food/ colonisation in food)
I feel like we first need to talk about colonial attitudes in the food industry, and in order to do that in an intellectually honest way, we have to address structural racism, power dynamics, agency and ultimately money. Whose food is getting valued more, and why? It has been seen time and time again that when white people adopt and rebrand traditionally non-white ideas, fashion, foods etc they get valued more. This is also called Columbus-ing, which in food refers to when white people “discover” or rather appropriate a culture’s food and it then becomes the heath trend du jour. We see how most fine dining restaurants aren’t “ethnic”. Indian, Chinese or Mexican cuisine are usually associate with a cheap and indulgent meal. This is firstly because of ignorance about these cuisines, which actually are plenty healthy unlike the Westernised restaurant versions. White supremacist attitudes in food can be seen when what is considered healthy centres only what white people deem healthy. In health food stores, nutrition blogs, internet searches etc we are much more likely to see pictures of smoothies, salads and bars containing Eastern superfoods than actual Eastern meals. When people think of health food, often they may even think of the raw ingredients from brown and black countries but only in its isolated form – eg turmeric, goji berries, holy basil, maca, quinoa. We see these foods being promoted to be used in smoothies, lattes, “bowls” but rarely if ever in the form they are traditionally consumed. Ironically, science is now catching up to the fact that when some of these foods aren’t consumed how they have been historically, the lack of symbiosis and unusual consumption methods actually render their benefits moot. Most recently this was evidenced in the research done on turmeric where it was found that the active component is not bioavailable in our bodies without the addition of black pepper (which is how it has been used since time immemorial in cultures turmeric is indigenous to). The health food industry here is vast and highly lucrative, and overwhelmingly white. The dynamics of presenting non-Asians as experts of Asian medicine are racially problematic and Orientalist especially considering Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine are still widely practiced in the lands of their origin. Some companies do give back to the cultures these foods come from originally through providing fairer wages and setting up useful programs, but most as far as I have seen do not. This to me is an extension of colonialism – the blatant exploitation of physical and intellectual labour and products sourced from (so-called) developing nations in order to create capitalist profit in highly industrialised nations. There are ways for white people to appreciate cultures and their foods without feeling entitled to them. To begin to decolonise food here, we have to begin with acknowledging and crediting the original source of the knowledge and wisdom, and ensuring they too benefit from the commercialisation of it. It must be empowering for the cultures whose ancestral teachings are being used and our narratives needs to be centred and our stories should not be told through a white lens with the intention of claiming ownership of it.
