EARLY this week, I heard a loud commotion all over Twitterverse.
The microblogging and social networking universe was making a protest against Ikea for the dish it debuted also this week. One ingredient was wrong. The Independent, Fox News, Business Insider, Mail Online and other news agencies were quick to pick up the blooper. Just as quickly, Ikea apologized for its mistake. Since the error was food-related, I picked it up also because it is worth discussing in the OberKhokverse.
Ikea is a Swedish furnishing company that also has food offerings that are healthy. Someone in charge probably thought that presenting a Jamaican dish would be cool. Jerk chicken with rice and peas was the dish in question.
The company thought that “peas” meant green peas and proceeded with the new menu using the jolly green veggies. But the peas called for in the recipe is not green peas. According to Twitter user @eleanormia: “If you were confused, beans are called peas in the Caribbean. This is what happens when you try and cash in with no input from that culture.”
This reminds me of how fond some Cebuanos are at calling soy sauce as patis. Technically, patis is fish sauce. Soy sauce should be called toyo. Just saying.
Back to the story, the legume to use is pigeon peas or kidney beans. The dish is also cooked with coconut milk and topped with green onions.
Jerk with rice and peas is an iconic Jamaican fare. Jerk here is not a reference to someone foolish or obnoxious but a certain way of treating meat. Wikipedia notes that the word comes from the Spanish charqui or dried and/or salted meat. The meat is traditionally marinated with spices before it is cooked.
Twitter user @PJnmarie said: “Actually, it was a jerk who made the ‘rice and peas’ of this plate...”
Ikea was humble enough to apologize for the offense the new menu has created. “Our intention was to create a dish for many people to enjoy but we appreciate that we may have got it wrong.”
Fox News reported that the rest of Twitter called out the brand for “cultural appropriation.” It is defined as the “unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, idea of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.”
It is a heavy judgment to slap upon a brand that maybe just wanted to feature Jamaican food. Maybe they were unfamiliar with the meal. But I am also wondering how we Filipinos would react if our adobo or pinakbet would be presented as such, minus one ingredient or with one wrong ingredient. Would we give an outcry?
My cousin Dona’s husband Peetong is an Ilocano. He once said pinakbet is not pinakbet without ampalaya. ”Don’t call it ‘pakbet if it has no ampalaya,” he said.
Maybe restaurants can either present an authentic, traditional dish or serve a plate as “our version of” something. Do you think there would still be some protest?