Where Shmaltz and Soul Food Meet

April 17, 2015 9:59 AM

Michael Twitty, Black Jewish Foodie, Talks 'Culinary Justice'.
posted by josher71 (20 comments total)

This is awesome.
posted by Mchelly at 10:06 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

So where is that peach kugel recipe? It sounds great.
posted by jeather at 10:23 AM on April 17, 2015

This was an insanely great read. Twitty reminds me of Bryant Terry, another black chef/foodie who is brutally honest about where Southern cooking really comes from: the labours of their ancestors.

He also pinpoints my discomfort with Thug Kitchen--I confess I do own the cookbook--and its creators. I really love the recipes themselves but the way they are presented feels very problematic to me.
posted by Kitteh at 10:50 AM on April 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

Yeah, I had no idea about Thug Kitchen.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:57 AM on April 17, 2015

Twitty is great on his Facebook feed -- he shares finds from so many areas of culinary and cultural intersection.
posted by bizzyb at 11:02 AM on April 17, 2015

Well, I could kinda guess that the creators of TK weren't black. The layout, art direction, and photos alone hipped me to that!
posted by Kitteh at 11:05 AM on April 17, 2015

Well, I could kinda guess that the creators of TK weren't black. The layout, art direction, and photos alone hipped me to that!

Huh?
posted by clockzero at 11:20 AM on April 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

“But the editor who made the final decision on whether the book will be published or not – she basically said, ‘Okay, what about this Jewish part? Can we just get rid of that?’ And she basically told my agent: We will give him a fabulous book deal if he just won’t wear his kippah in public, or talk about it in any radio interviews. And I said, I hope you told them to … And she said: Yes, I told them you won’t go for that. I said you’re damn right.”

He adds, without a trace of rancor: “Black guy, heritage, food justice, ghetto people, eat broccoli – that was cool, but me being complicated and Jewish and all that other stuff was not cool, not marketable, I was, quote, ‘muddying the waters.’ This is America, the water has been done muddy. And [the publisher] said something on the phone, with a nervous laugh: I don’t think America is ready for someone like you. F–k you, I am America. It infuriated me, because this woman was Jewish and she said, ‘Jews don’t read our books. Jews don’t buy our books.’ It’s this box again, I will put you in this box – if you complicate it I don’t know what to do with you.

This is both maddening and unsurprising. I can't decide whether it is internalized antisemitism or garden-variety racism, so I will split the difference and say it is both.
posted by maxsparber at 11:43 AM on April 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

To clarify: the book has a lot of markers in what people like to think of as "hipsterism." I get what Twitty is saying about the black culture appropriation, but there also feels like a lot of Latin culture appropriation too.
posted by Kitteh at 11:58 AM on April 17, 2015

People think that it is great on a spiritual, religious level [that I am a Jew], but that I can’t culturally or intellectually understand, especially about the Ashkenazim, what it’s like to be really Jewish. And I am like, ‘Kiss my ass.’ Being black was a great preparation. I talk with my hands, I eat chicken, I complain, I survived my oppression. What else you need to know? It’s like saying someone is not American enough.”

Who in their right fucking mind would tell a black man he has no idea what it's really like to be alienated, disrespected, isolated and exterminated for being born the way he was born?
posted by griphus at 12:03 PM on April 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

Who in their right fucking mind would tell a black man he has no idea what it's really like to be alienated, disrespected, isolated and exterminated for being born the way he was born?

Somebody who doesn't understand what it means to be Jewish. Once somebody is a convert, according to halakha, you're not supposed to behave in any way that distinguishes them from any other Jew, and you're not supposed to remind them that they were not born a Jew.

King David is thought to be descended from Ruth, a convert. In Judaism, once you're a Jew, you're a Jew, with very few exceptions -- and "you're black so you can't really understand" is not one of them.
posted by maxsparber at 12:10 PM on April 17, 2015 [8 favorites]

I really, really resist the idea that being alienated, disrespected, isolated and exterminated are the things that define Ashkenazi culture. For what it's worth.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 12:20 PM on April 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

I mean those aspects are not by any means solely what define it. But nine times out of ten when I hear other Jews continue that particular eternal pissing contest, it almost always leads back to non-Jews (or, in this case, Jews they don't think are somehow Jewish enough) not having an inherent understanding of the ongoing trials and tribulations of the Jews and I have no doubt that's what Twitty is talking about in that quote.
posted by griphus at 12:25 PM on April 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

(Especially when the halakhic imperative maxsparber mentions is often limited to the "people think that it is great on a spiritual, religious level [that I am a Jew]" part and ignored otherwise.)
posted by griphus at 12:32 PM on April 17, 2015

This is a great talk by Twitty.

He was on Bizarre Foods or some such dreck a couple years ago. It was the first I'd heard of him. I just cringed through the segment where the disgusting asshole host kept offering rashers and hog tripe. He was gracious enough, but kept going "dude, I'm jewish, I don't eat that." Also, since his really awesome creations were lumped into the "Bizarre" category. I pretty much stopped watching the show after that episode (there was also a pretty awful segment on DC food trucks).
posted by lkc at 1:04 PM on April 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I really, really resist the idea that being alienated, disrespected, isolated and exterminated are the things that define Ashkenazi culture. For what it's worth.

Thank you. I've been beating the "I refuse to categorize my people and culture by its lowest points" drum for years, with extremely mixed results. It's amazing how resistant other Jews are to the idea that there may be more to our shared identity than struggle.

(I have some thoughts as to why, but I don't want to make this any more of a derail than it already is).
posted by Itaxpica at 2:15 PM on April 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

that was great and i agree with Kitteh, a great read. thanks.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 5:25 PM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

He's great. I wish there was more meat on this article's bones--I'm certain he has plenty more to say about these matters. Guess I should read his blog.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:23 PM on April 17, 2015

I met Michael Twitty a couple of years ago - he came to a Klezmer concert I played at and we met afterwards. The man is entirely legit and - like most Jews - fully grounded in more than one self-defining culture. He isn't ashamed of the culture that Africans brought to the Americas under slavery, and he can be fierce in its defense, as he showed in his letter to southern cooking TV silly git celeb Paula Deen. He is also a serious genealogical researcher and profesional museum chef who recreates slave menus at plantation museums across the south. He may barbecue those hogs like an expert, but he doesn't eat them. You won't find too many guys in Boro Park who do that.
posted by zaelic at 3:22 AM on April 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

I had never heard of this man, and I'm so glad to learn about him. Thank you for posting this!
posted by magstheaxe at 4:31 PM on April 18, 2015 [1 favorite]