comment
stringlengths 1
9.9k
| context
listlengths 0
835
|
|---|---|
>
It's a no win situation.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught."
] |
>
How do people make food racist omg
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation."
] |
>
I am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.
I am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.
❤️
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg"
] |
>
But if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️"
] |
>
Or if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable."
] |
>
POC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment."
] |
>
Honestly why is this a big deal?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough."
] |
>
United States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?"
] |
>
Cadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets."
] |
>
So they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience"
] |
>
Because when you have Chinese history month you don't put "dog food" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put "grain of rice, singular" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?"
] |
>
Dumbest counter argument to what I said
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck"
] |
>
Start talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said"
] |
>
This is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender"
] |
>
Aramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago
Also, holy shit that was 23 years ago
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots."
] |
>
It’s fucking food
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago"
] |
>
Normal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food"
] |
>
just don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things"
] |
>
Jesus Christ.
African American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”
African children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”
America needs better problems.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken."
] |
>
chicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems."
] |
>
I understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign."
] |
>
It's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad."
] |
>
This is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all?
I get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype."
] |
>
I dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.
If anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed."
] |
>
Anyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience."
] |
>
Black people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like."
] |
>
I don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype."
] |
>
British here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though."
] |
>
Sorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things."
] |
>
We stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.
What did your country do? Move it to the prisons?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists."
] |
>
1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.
2- we were a spanish colony
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?"
] |
>
Offended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?
This comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony"
] |
>
average white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club"
] |
>
Me, reading headline. "God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon."
*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof"
] |
>
Funny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord."
] |
>
It wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:
"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally," said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.
The girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it."
] |
>
Yeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before."
] |
>
Waffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though."
] |
>
Waffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!"
] |
>
how the heck can food be "racially insensitive"?
You guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance"
] |
>
So now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂"
] |
>
"blacks"
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf"
] |
>
Lmaooo that’s hilarious
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\""
] |
>
Hm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.
It seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.
Years back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.
All of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.
Well why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.
This did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's "American food."
We do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.
Chicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon "cuisine," it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not "just bread" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)
Basically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious"
] |
>
Wait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American."
] |
>
Now food is racially insensitive 🥱
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?"
] |
>
People are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱"
] |
>
I wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?"
] |
>
Is the lesson here for Aramark "don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism"?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none."
] |
>
TIL: Watermelon is racist.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?"
] |
>
"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service."
Quit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist."
] |
>
They did this a few years ago too, also in new york.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR."
] |
>
Every damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york."
] |
>
I had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now."
] |
>
Peeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada."
] |
>
Who fucking cares man. It’s watermelon
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on"
] |
>
Watermelons raccist. Got it. ✅
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon"
] |
>
Watermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅"
] |
>
Did the meal make fun of white people or something?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different."
] |
>
Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.
In a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, "While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...
Oh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?"
] |
>
Shoutout to all the racist in these comments.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo."
] |
>
Someone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments."
] |
>
Welp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out."
] |
>
Watermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda."
] |
>
It’s always in season somewhere.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive."
] |
>
What a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere."
] |
>
Aramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?"
] |
>
Watermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol"
] |
>
I refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all."
] |
>
I work there… on my campus… eww
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery."
] |
>
So glad I didn't go to such a racist school.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww"
] |
>
can't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school."
] |
>
In 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild."
] |
>
I don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?"
] |
>
And the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education."
] |
>
Just needed to give out some heroine and free needles to make it complete.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.",
">\n\nAnd the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐"
] |
>
You racist’d so hard you got your stereotypes mixed up.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.",
">\n\nAnd the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐",
">\n\nJust needed to give out some heroine and free needles to make it complete."
] |
>
This comment section is a complete shit show. How fucking dumb do you need to be to not understand the basic negative stereotypes black people face, or how racist do you have to be to think "they should get a grip lol" ?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.",
">\n\nAnd the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐",
">\n\nJust needed to give out some heroine and free needles to make it complete.",
">\n\nYou racist’d so hard you got your stereotypes mixed up."
] |
>
Don't let it be watermelon. Please, don't let it be..
Damn it! Seriously, we talked about this.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.",
">\n\nAnd the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐",
">\n\nJust needed to give out some heroine and free needles to make it complete.",
">\n\nYou racist’d so hard you got your stereotypes mixed up.",
">\n\nThis comment section is a complete shit show. How fucking dumb do you need to be to not understand the basic negative stereotypes black people face, or how racist do you have to be to think \"they should get a grip lol\" ?"
] |
>
It was intentional.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.",
">\n\nAnd the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐",
">\n\nJust needed to give out some heroine and free needles to make it complete.",
">\n\nYou racist’d so hard you got your stereotypes mixed up.",
">\n\nThis comment section is a complete shit show. How fucking dumb do you need to be to not understand the basic negative stereotypes black people face, or how racist do you have to be to think \"they should get a grip lol\" ?",
">\n\nDon't let it be watermelon. Please, don't let it be..\nDamn it! Seriously, we talked about this."
] |
>
Their response: Oops.
Sorry, this isn’t an oops, someone at that company actually made this happen. This wasn’t some unfortunate random grouping of food, someone was making a joke, thinking they were being funny.
Or even worse, they were hoping they could pull this crap and nobody would notice or say anything.
This is how racists think, they’re in some bubble where reality is warped, where the way they think is the way most people think. I’ve known people like this.
The person responsible needs to be found and disciplined, in the very least they need help. This is how you weed out most racists and bring them back to reality.
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.",
">\n\nAnd the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐",
">\n\nJust needed to give out some heroine and free needles to make it complete.",
">\n\nYou racist’d so hard you got your stereotypes mixed up.",
">\n\nThis comment section is a complete shit show. How fucking dumb do you need to be to not understand the basic negative stereotypes black people face, or how racist do you have to be to think \"they should get a grip lol\" ?",
">\n\nDon't let it be watermelon. Please, don't let it be..\nDamn it! Seriously, we talked about this.",
">\n\nIt was intentional."
] |
>
Did they play that "Eat dat watermelon, eat dat watermelon" song over the PA during lunch?
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.",
">\n\nAnd the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐",
">\n\nJust needed to give out some heroine and free needles to make it complete.",
">\n\nYou racist’d so hard you got your stereotypes mixed up.",
">\n\nThis comment section is a complete shit show. How fucking dumb do you need to be to not understand the basic negative stereotypes black people face, or how racist do you have to be to think \"they should get a grip lol\" ?",
">\n\nDon't let it be watermelon. Please, don't let it be..\nDamn it! Seriously, we talked about this.",
">\n\nIt was intentional.",
">\n\nTheir response: Oops.\nSorry, this isn’t an oops, someone at that company actually made this happen. This wasn’t some unfortunate random grouping of food, someone was making a joke, thinking they were being funny. \nOr even worse, they were hoping they could pull this crap and nobody would notice or say anything.\nThis is how racists think, they’re in some bubble where reality is warped, where the way they think is the way most people think. I’ve known people like this.\nThe person responsible needs to be found and disciplined, in the very least they need help. This is how you weed out most racists and bring them back to reality."
] |
>
|
[
"“Instead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon.”",
">\n\nThe fact that this same company has done this before is concerning",
">\n\nThey fired people the last time it happened but clearly that was just the expendable staff. The ones responsible are still working. They should end the contract with them instead of waiting for this to die down and do it again in 5 years.",
">\n\nAgreed. Also their food is garbage. It would be really neat if schools could hire local people to make food in house, instead of buying this overproduced stuff. It would also in highschools be a good work study period (or whatever they call it when seniors with space in their schedules can either shadow and help a teacher/admin or get a job) but I understand logistics/money etc makes this difficult, especially in poorer or more crowded school districts",
">\n\nThat would require changes to how federal funding happens for schools but as a former teacher? A lot of people working in the schools want that change too. It's also why ending the contract isn't likely to happen. This is just sad and part of the broken system.",
">\n\nI feel like if we all collectively agreed to start several things from scratch it would be beneficial. The way we do government spending? Full overhaul. The way we treat healthcare and schooling? Start over, make a new system that focuses on maximum benefits and minimum harm. Pipe dreams, but maybe one small thing at a time can change",
">\n\nThis will require a different government where I live but the majority of people want that. The problem is the system doesn't force the government to actually represent the will of the people. Which is the dumbest thing when the propaganda about how awesome the place is relies on that as a sales tactic. The other option for me would be to live where it's illegal for me to be myself and with a dictatorship so I will happily stay here I just will also call the bullshit out to try and make enough incentive for change to happen. We will get to the needed change it just will take more time.",
">\n\nFunny that Aramark was our food service provider in prison. I hope the kids don't get the same food we did 🤢",
">\n\nThey don't!\nThey get worse :)",
">\n\nI can't believe that's possible. Or let's say I CHOOSE to believe that's not possible. But then they say anything's possible. 🤷",
">\n\nMy high school had a “soul food” day on the day of our black history month celebration. No stereotypical watermelon or cool-aid though, just more authentic soul food, including fried chicken. Was one of the tastiest meals for sure. Our head cafeteria guy also wore a fake mustache and sombrero when they served Mexican for cinco de mayo.",
">\n\nWell, that's all fun. This is fried chicken, waffles, and watermelon. \nWe had soul food day in NC in the 00s. It was fried chicken, black eyed peas, mustard greens, and something else. We all looked forward to it.",
">\n\nI know what I'm cooking for dinner tomorrow, I'll even dig out the muffin tray for some cornbread.",
">\n\nWhelp I can't believe I I left off cornbread, but there really was something else and it's keeping me up tonight so far.",
">\n\nProbably not chitlins, I doubt the school would be brave enough to serve those. Maybe some kind of dessert, sweet potato pie maybe?",
">\n\nPeach pie was also considered legit by the soul food place in my previous town.",
">\n\nAnd banana pudding.",
">\n\nWait, what?? My mom is from Mississippi and my dad is from Louisiana. They moved north when I was a baby so I grew up a yank. It's a weird feeling learning something I thought was common is actually very regional. On the other side of that same feeling I like my grits with fig preserves like my grandmom from Louisiana made for me. Didn't learn about grits with salt and butter until I moved to a rough neighborhood in Philly.",
">\n\nAramark: What? I thought you people liked this stuff.",
">\n\nBut this isn't the first time Aramark found itself in hot water. Back in 2018, another racially insensitive meal was served at New York University during Black History Month. It included barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. When called out, the company apologized and workers were fired.\n\"I thought they learned from their last mistake, but I guess not,\" Honore said.",
">\n\n\nKool-Aid and watermelon-flavored wate\n\nLet's be honest this was the problem. Up until then I was thinking 'yeah that is a pretty normal thing I've gotten from 'soul food' restaurants",
">\n\nI'm 45 years old and I never knew Kool-aid was a trope. The only people I ever knew that drank Kool-aid were white people... mostly me when I was a kid.",
">\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope. I mean, who doesn’t love watermelon??? How can this be a stereotype about Black people when everyone eats watermelon? On a hot day, eating cold watermelon is such a treat. Such an asshole way to ruin the enjoyment of one of nature’s best creations for Black people who can’t just eat something without it being turned into racial slurs.",
">\n\n\nI had the same reaction when i first heard loving watermelon is a racist trope\n\nI did too, because watermelon is probably my favorite fruit, but that's a well known racist trope... I've known about it for at least three decades.\nFried chicken + watermelon is clearly (to me) something you should not serve to celebrate Black history. It's not as bad as celebrating it with a noose on the tree outside but it's in the same genre of things.",
">\n\nAgreed that it is a racist trope. I’m not denying it. Just saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon. Racism is so awful and even though this is trivial in comparison to nooses or violence, it’s evidence of how it turns what ought to be innocent human actions (like eating watermelon) into pain. I wish we could all just eat watermelon without the layers of nastiness.",
">\n\n\nJust saying that I don’t understand why/how it is a racist trope when everyone loves watermelon\n\nYeah it doesn't make any sense at all.\nFor that matter neither does chicken.\nFor that matter neither does racism.",
">\n\nAs I learned last year MLKs favorite meal is: fried chicken, collared greens, and sweet potatoes",
">\n\n\ncollared greens\n\nCollard greens",
">\n\nColored greens\nDont cancel me pls",
">\n\nThey aren’t called collard people",
">\n\nPeople of collard",
">\n\nCollard TV?",
">\n\nNo, cholera tree.",
">\n\nThis is literally not the first time this company has done something like this…",
">\n\nServed food?",
">\n\nAccording to the article, several years ago, in another NY school, during black history month, they served fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collard greens and koolaid, watermelon flavored.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles are awesome regardless of skin color. Watermelon was over the line.",
">\n\nI'm confused. What's wrong with watermelon?",
">\n\nLearn something new everyday...I'd never heard of that and I live in the south too",
">\n\nYes, but you're 13, right?",
">\n\nHah... Just turned 40 unfortunately",
">\n\nI'm similar age, lived in California my entire life. Never heard of this stereotype.",
">\n\nDo you people live under a rock lol? It’s been a trope for like a century and if you’ve seen any cartoon or piece of media with a black person pre-90s it was absolutely prevalent. Pretty sure as like a young child I was aware of the “fried chicken, watermelon, dark face with red lips” stereotypes just from media alone and I’m 30",
">\n\nThis was something that took me a long time to accept, but people have super reliable blindspots for things that don't affect them.",
">\n\nI’m white as fuck and my entire family is. Pretty much no minority friends just due to proximity. I’ve always lived in white ass towns and grew up in a small town with a white ass church on every corner. \nThese things are incredibly obvious and even discussed in school, so unless you are willingly ignoring racism, you’d hear about it. “I just missed it” seems like bullshit in a country where every second news story is black and minority people being murdered by racists",
">\n\nFinally a relevant place to tell my story. \nI was a cook at Jobcorps in 2008 during black history month. At our center, it was reduced to black history week. The first day of which had a \"black history lunch\". The students were segregated and the black students were to have their own lunch time.\nNow, the women in charge of the menu was the student supervisor for PM shift, Ms.Francais.\nMs.Francais was in her 60's, african, and regularly came to work in traditional african garb complete with a dope totem-pole-style cane with elephants and shit.\nHer menu included:\nFried Chicken\nBaked Chicken\nCollard Greens\nChitlins\n(so far, not so bad right?)\nThe entire salad bar (2 of them in a line), were used for watermelon, exclusively.\n(okay a bit dicey...but then there was the ~~cherry~~ grape on top...)\nWe had one of those fancy juice machines you usually see at hotels with breakfast, and ours had 6 different flavors from orange and apple, to exotic shit like passionfruit guava. Despite this, Ms.Francais had us mix up 2 sports coolers (bout 10 gallons) of grape coolaid and place them by the juice machine...😑",
">\n\nOh lord. Did they really segregate the kids?",
">\n\nAbsolutely",
">\n\n99% of all non-Americans are just staring at the screen right now and have some giant question marks in their eyes.",
">\n\nExactly, like... \"Everybody eats watermelon and waffles... Don't all kids in the US eat those too, black or white or asian or latino or whatever? How can, of all things, eating watermelon - \"the\" fruit of summer - become a racial thing?\"",
">\n\nAfter the civil war, newly freed black people started growing and selling their own food.\nThe watermelon was especially popular because it was relatively easy to cultivate and in high demand.\nThis made some black people very wealthy and some white folk just were'nt having it so they started the stereotype of the lazy c**n that likes watermelon.\nSoon the fruit became associated with that image which led sales to briefly plummet (they were eventually restored )but the caricature persisted",
">\n\nOooh! I didn’t know where the bad image came from!",
">\n\nMy university did this. Except it was on a Feb 29th.",
">\n\nI’m sorry that people were upset by it, but that first fuck up meal where they served ribs, collards, and cornbread with kool aid sounds pretty fucking awesome.",
">\n\nWhat is a racially-sensitive meal that can be served in Black History Month?",
">\n\nFWIW, the article says that the announced meal was something else, Philly cheesesteak and sides. But instead somehow it got changed to a full checklist of stereotypes. Could be intentional, could be a really dumb series of substitutions.",
">\n\nYeah, my school serves chicken and waffles all the time, but what we dont have is fresh fruit so if that showed up eyebrows WOULD be raised! I think the fact it was an unannounced menu change adds more fuel to the fire.",
">\n\nThis school only served chicken and they had to apologize for it.",
">\n\nSo like genuinely curious, why’s the watermelon to far? Like the girl who complained said she wouldn’t have complained if it was just chicken and waffles. I feel like chicken and waffles is just as much of a stereotype as watermelon.",
">\n\nSo like I get that, but isn’t there also a stereotype for fried chicken? They seem kinda similar and equally as bad, but in this case it’s specifically the watermelon that’s the problem.",
">\n\nFried chicken and waffles is a super common dish in NYC and its metro area, where this school is. No one would associate it with Blackness tbh. Everybody eats it, even vegan/vegetarian versions exist.",
">\n\nEveryone also eats watermelon. Like, all over the world.",
">\n\nAs Dave Chappelle says “If you don’t like watermelon and fried chicken something is wrong with you! It’s delicious”",
">\n\nYeah but he’s also an ass",
">\n\nBefore I read the article I thought, \"what'd they serve, fried chicken and watermelon?\"\nYes. Yes they did. 🤦",
">\n\nSo moving forward are they going to serve racially insensitive meals during other months instead?",
">\n\nWaffles? Like Belgian waffles with chicken?\nNon American here. What do you mean by waffles?",
">\n\nJust serve macaroni and cheese, with a side salad to keep everything kosher.",
">\n\nI swear I read this story last February!",
">\n\nWorked for these shit heels in the Refreshments AP team. Upper management is about as air headed as they come. I've had team managers disappear at lunch on day 1 because of poor corporate management. Not surprised.",
">\n\nWatermelon flavored water. Brought to you by the same company that's been sued for spending $2 on feeding prisoners",
">\n\nObligatory \"not american\"\nI admit my knowledge of the USA is memes and pop culture, from what I've gathered African Americans really seem to like that food. Why is it insensitive? Genuine question here.",
">\n\nThese foods are typically things that they were forced to eat as slaves because they were dirt cheap and nobody wanted to eat them. They claimed power over that situation by turning it into a tradition and celebrating it instead. Now all these years later people are serving this stuff to them \"because black food for black people on black history month.\" I think that's enough info to plainly see where people are coming from, and I don't think I have the ability to explain deeper or better than that. If you want to learn more I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there.",
">\n\nOr we could listen to the people that are genuinely offended by this and not whitewash over their pain.\nTalk about writing a paragraph about nothing. It doesn’t cost a thing to fucking listen, but here you are.",
">\n\nChicken and waffles with watermelon. Wtf, Aramark?",
">\n\nI've been a chef for 20 years in 7 countries\nFood is not racist unless you're in the States for some reason.",
">\n\nContext clues must be your greatest enemy.",
">\n\nNah right now this whole \"gas stove\" nonsense is prob my current nemesis",
">\n\nAs a European I would fail so hard in this food minefield.",
">\n\nAll you need to know is everything in America is racist. You’ll be ok /s",
">\n\nMe joking: \"jesus, what did they serve, like chicken and waffles with a side of watermelon or something??\" \nOh. They did do that.",
">\n\nIt could only be more racist if they served grape koolaid.",
">\n\nSoooo food legitimately part of the culinary cultural heritage of the culture being celebrated is off limits for this one and only culture. Got it.",
">\n\nYou stupid.",
">\n\nRacism never tasted so good. That meal sounds better than anything I ever had in middle school. Though the special pizzas you had to pay extra for were hold a special place in my stomach",
">\n\nWonder what they'll serve for Juneteenth",
">\n\nIf they are in Texas then it's barbecue..",
">\n\nLove me some brisket",
">\n\nid say this Is the height of ridiculousness , but there's always tomorrow",
">\n\n\"Racially insensitive meal\" wasn't on my 2023 bingo card. Damn.",
">\n\nI don't understand what's wrong with acknowledging that black people love chicken and watermelon.",
">\n\nWho doesn't enjoy amazing chicken and/or watermelon?\nGrew up in an Italian family and we sure as shit ate a ton of this too..... Isn't it just... Food?!...",
">\n\nCan you imagine there being an italian American month and having the school serve pizza and pasta to celebrate it lol yes please!",
">\n\nA bunch of us would have went wild! Half would complain it isn't as good as Nonna's haha",
">\n\nYep itd become a long conversation of how to make it more authentic as everyone enjoys the shabby cafeteria version..",
">\n\nbetcha next time they stick to menu from the week before. IF you try to appease everyone somebody gonna be offended\nwas it right what they did? nope\nwould I continue to attempt to craft ethnic holiday menu's? NOPE\nTomorrow you getting mystery meat \"chicken\" nuggets, corn and pudding.",
">\n\nsounds like a great meal to me",
">\n\nI’m white but I freakin love fried chicken and watermelon. I wish my school would’ve served that instead of the nasty shit we got",
">\n\nNone of this was \"unintentional\". You have to go out of your way to get watermelon... in February... in New York",
">\n\nStop. Being. Offended. By. Everything.",
">\n\nBro this ain’t it. I’m not one to clutch my pearls at everything either, but did you even read the article? Chicken and waffles, sure. That’s a common thing especially nowadays. It’s delicious and trendy (still) and kids love it. But that paired with watermelon? When the school has literally never served watermelon before? On the first day of black history month? Come on now. Anyone with two brain cells to run together knows that that’s a damn racist-ass meal.",
">\n\nAnd out of season, too.",
">\n\nI mean.. it’s perfectly in season in the Southern Hemisphere.. feb is like their august.. global economy just globally economy-ing",
">\n\nIf they had added a Pepsi and a moonpie it would have just been a southern picnic meal.",
">\n\nNaw, man, you mean Coke.",
">\n\nRC Cola",
">\n\nDude you are right. I haven’t had a RC in a long time",
">\n\nOmg! So what",
">\n\nI'll bet the kids loved the food.",
">\n\nWelcome to 2023, when people get offended over watermelon",
">\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.",
">\n\nHow dare they serve food that black culture likes. Disgusting. Can't wait till we just have standardized food pellets so this kind of travesty doesn't happen again.",
">\n\nJesus, is asking people to get a life too much?",
">\n\nI didn’t know watermelon was black kryptonite. It’s just a fruit. An expensive fruit in winter.",
">\n\nSounds like y’all are finding any excuse to label something racist. If they served chicken, waffles and watermelon I would’ve gladly ate it over the round greasy pizzas we were used to getting.",
">\n\nI don’t understand the whole watermelon thing. Do people not enjoy watermelon?",
">\n\nThe Internet has taught me that watermelons are stereotypically enjoyed by Black people in America.\nActually, it seems to have become a big deal when Obama was running for president, and somebody said he'd be growing watermelon on the lawn (iirc). Before that, I never associated watermelons with race.",
">\n\nThere was a black kid in an old racist advertisement for watermelon that has left a legacy of self consciousness regarding eating it. I think everyone can agree its a delicious fruit that’s universally enjoyed",
">\n\nbruh",
">\n\nAnd no one gave a damn about it",
">\n\nThey missed the last part to make it a truly offensive meal…",
">\n\nKoolaid.",
">\n\nPurple drank",
">\n\nNewport cigarette for dessert",
">\n\nThey’re alive with flavor!",
">\n\nLmao people getting shocked over literaly nothing, US fucked up woke society is getting funier and funier viewed from abroad",
">\n\nRacially insensitive meal. Nobody?",
">\n\nYet is a undeniably delicious meal",
">\n\nWhat makes it racially insensitive? Is this something that would be served at a black Americans home or is that just something portrayed in stereotypes?",
">\n\nIt is not just a stereotype, its soul food served in authentic restaurants and homes, a staple for people from the south",
">\n\nWatermelon isn’t soul food.\nEdit: I take it back.",
">\n\nWhoa. Interesting. I take it back.",
">\n\nSo, here is a suggestion, and bear with me on this one:\nJust serve your regular food and stop trying to be \"inclusive\" with the food. Not EVERYTHING has to revolve around this month and the spotlight for it. Just like Cinco de Mayo and St Patrick's Day does not need to have everything changed for it! \nI am not saying that Black History Month should be ignored (far from it-I agree with the phrase \"Black History is American History\"), but it does not have to be spotlighhted in the cafeteria with the food choices. \nToo many people are trying too hard to \"do the right thing\" that they are messing up. Just be aware of other ethnicities/ cultures. Be kind toward every human being. Find worth in all people. Be a decent human being. THIS is what needs to be taught.",
">\n\nIt's a no win situation.",
">\n\nHow do people make food racist omg",
">\n\nI am 100% against stereotypes, racism, etc. But the fact that a MEAL can be considered racist is proof that our culture has become wayyyy to sensitive.\nI am with my (non-white) brothers and sisters who fully agree.\n❤️",
">\n\nBut if this meal was served by an all black staff it would be perfectly acceptable.",
">\n\nOr if the menu was signed off by a POC. This would change the tenor of the conversation. More info needed to make an assessment.",
">\n\nPOC leader tapping a local black owned business to put out the Juneteenth offering and still caught flak. Rough.",
">\n\nHonestly why is this a big deal?",
">\n\nUnited States Military Academy used to celebrate Henry OFlipper day celebrating the first black cadet to graduate. They served a similarly racially insensitive meal. I remember it being very popular with the cadets.",
">\n\nCadets probably care way more about getting a good meal than about racial justice, not exactly the most unbiased audience",
">\n\nSo they’re making food racist now. That’s hilarious. You have a month where you make everything about African Americans, so why is this company doing exactly that with the menu suddenly offensive?",
">\n\nBecause when you have Chinese history month you don't put \"dog food\" on the table. When you have Ethiopia history month you don't put \"grain of rice, singular\" on the table. Do you not understand that when you have a month about the history of systemic struggle of a group of people, it's best not to make something that is associated with direct racism ? Educate yourself fuck",
">\n\nDumbest counter argument to what I said",
">\n\nStart talking when you experience any kind of racism once in your life, or at least not when you're the offender",
">\n\nThis is not Aramark’s first issue. Look them up. They’ve done this multiple times. Idiots.",
">\n\nAramark did this exact thing for Black History Month when I was In college in like 2000. Seriously, WTF? We made fun of that for being insensitive 23 years ago\nAlso, holy shit that was 23 years ago",
">\n\nIt’s fucking food",
">\n\nNormal dudes would just appreciate a meal that fills the stomach, this weak ass gen is worried about the wrong things",
">\n\njust don't bother, people complain too much, seen people complain when its just fried chicken.",
">\n\nJesus Christ. \nAfrican American children who get meals at school: “THIS MEAL IS RACIST!”\nAfrican children in Africa who go to school with the hopes that there MIGHT be ANY food for them (more often than not, likely not): “We’ll eat literally anything.”\nAmerica needs better problems.",
">\n\nchicken and waffles is a black person stereotype and so is watermelon. how is that not racist, in the first day of black history month, and with a martin luther king sign.",
">\n\nI understand watermelon is racially insensitive because its ties to slavery. What is wrong with soul food and chicken and waffles? I can’t imagine slaves were eating those. I am an Asian. I would be happy if they serve me spicy food for change in Asian American Heritage month. I don’t know why it would be bad.",
">\n\nIt's not because of its ties to slavery. It's because of the offensive stereotype.",
">\n\nThis is all about watermelon. They mentioned in the article that it would've been fine if it had been just chicken and waffles but the watermelon made it racist. Does that mean watermelon can't be served at all? \nI get that there are sensitivities here, but lots of students go hungry at school because they don't have money, at least these kids are being fed.",
">\n\nI dont know any white people who dislike fried chicken or watermelon.\nIf anything, the real tragedy is that black people seem to have a monopoly on the fried chicken and watermelon experience.",
">\n\nAnyone offended by this is a complete wimp. If you're celebrating them, fucking give them what they like.",
">\n\nBlack people do not like watermelon more than anyone else. It's a stereotype.",
">\n\nI don't know, I think they do. It's probably a culture thing. Lot of black people would agree. I guess we'd need a proper study to confirm one way or another though.",
">\n\nBritish here, I think you Americans have taken race too far, you are obsessed with it, you look for it in hairstyles, food, cars, shoes, literally everything a white person says, if there is an innocent way of receiving it or you can do some mental gymnastics to make it sound racist, you'll do that, if you are white and hear another white person say something that could sound racist if you think hard about it and take it out of context, you'll get offended. Black people are racist too... and for your information there are other races too no just white and black that seem to be getting on with things.",
">\n\nSorry man, I do get the argument that you are making but I don't think the british have any right to talk about race being an imperialist country that conquered and discriminated against all tones of skin and whose major historical icons were also racist imperialists.",
">\n\nWe stopped slavery across the planet, after hundreds of thousands of years of it being part of human life in earth. We banned it in Africa where it had been happening since before Britain existed.. We threatened nation's with war if they didn't abolish it. But not everyone was perfect. The UK tax payers paid off the slave owners.\nWhat did your country do? Move it to the prisons?",
">\n\n1- that didn't stop your morally rotten country to colonize them until well into the 90s, pretending they were as equal as any british. HELL, the british have stolen artifacts, statues, etc etc from a loooot of cultures, and Argentina was robbed of the Malvinas by the UK, who still claims ownwrship over them.\n2- we were a spanish colony",
">\n\nOffended by watermelon. Where does this madness end?\nThis comment was sponsored by the Watermelon Fan Club",
">\n\naverage white person governing what people can be offended by. watermelon does have racist connotations. idiot. proof",
">\n\nMe, reading headline. \"God, I hope they didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon.\"\n*Scrolls down.* Oh dear Lord.",
">\n\nFunny enough the girl that complained was fine with the fried chicken and waffles. But the watermelon specifically is what did it.",
">\n\nIt wasn't the girl who said that. From the article:\n\n\"If they had served chicken and waffles by itself, I don't know that we would be having this conversation. But the moment you add in the watermelon, that changed the whole complexion, literally,\" said Wilbur Aldridge, with the Nyack NAACP.\n\nThe girl simply became suspicious of the reason for the meal since the school had never served watermelon before.",
">\n\nYeah I guess I miss read it, the watermelon is still the culprit though.",
">\n\nWaffles with watermelon? Wtf? Even if it’s chicken and waffles, waffles do not go with watermelon!",
">\n\nWaffles go with everything and watermelon goes with everything, so I encourage you to reconsider your stance",
">\n\nhow the heck can food be \"racially insensitive\"?\nYou guys better stop with this whole mental ma$turbation 😂",
">\n\nSo now we can’t have watermelon in February because blacks will be upset? Wtf",
">\n\n\"blacks\"",
">\n\nLmaooo that’s hilarious",
">\n\nHm. Man, I gotta say, I'm conflicted on this one.\nIt seems very possible that the menu was intended to poke fun, someone was being cute. On the other hand, it's sad that this food has been politicized this way because there's an actual lesson to be taught that is relevant to Black History Month, and it's not to do with the insensitivity of whoever thought this would be funny.\nYears back, I noticed that most countries have cuisine that is uniquely their own, while the US doesn't really seem to have its own cuisine. If I ask you to describe the cuisine of a country, or more specifically, the particular regions of a country—most countries don't have national cuisine, but are known for different regional cuisines—it's not hard to say where pasta and pizza are from, or baguettes, or Mapo Tofu, etc.\nAll of the dishes the US is known for are transplants of the cuisine of other nations: NY pizza (from Naples), hot dogs and hamburgers (both from Germany), etc. If you go through the list of dishes most identified with the US, it's usually pretty easy to trace it back in a single hop to an Americanized version of another country's dish.\nWell why isn't this the case for these other national cuisines too? What's different about them? As I thought about this more, I began to realize that all of these other nations developed a unique cuisine by mashing together the different cultures that met on that land, usually an occupying force moved in and mingled with the locals to create something new and unique, which evolved into what we identify with that country's region today.\nThis did not happen in the US as a rule. We mostly extinguished the natives, and other cultures didn't meet and mingle for the most part…they just got pushed out. So our dishes tend to be mostly transplanted from the people that immigrated here, with some tweaks based on available ingredients. Combine that with the industrialization of the food supply in the 1950s and all of that gets pushed through the prism of TV dinners and fast food, and now that's \"American food.\"\nWe do have pockets of actual cuisine, though, where this same kind of cultural collision happened. Creole / Cajun, for example. Tex Mex / Tejana in the Southwest. The most prominent cuisine that I would call truly American, though, is soul food. Our different BBQ traditions and a lot of Southern cooking has roots in the cuisine of Black Americans that were enslaved or freed slaves, combining their home techniques and methods with the local ingredients available to them. Unfortunately, in the US, because this food was associated with freed slaves and sharecroppers, it was not respected very much until people like Sean Brock came along and started pointing to these rich food traditions that have been ignored or disrespected for generations. And the way that it evolved into the unhealthy, overly sugary versions that most people think of has to do with that more recent history, but if you go back to the roots of Southern cuisine, that is truly American food.\nChicken and waffles is more of a Harlem thing invented during the Jazz era, but it was adapted from the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) dish of stewed chicken with white gravy over waffles. Again, though, because of the time period and the associations, it's disrespected. Watermelon, similar arc. (You might find it a bit of a stretch to call watermelon \"cuisine,\" it's just a sliced up melon, right? Cuisine is a little more complicated than that. It's not the melon, it's that it's included in an overall approach to food and eating in a particular way where it's part of the whole, along the same lines of how baguettes are not \"just bread\" but a part of a larger picture, if that makes sense.)\nBasically, the United States has a very limited cultural cuisine because we have managed to consistently destroy or disrespect every bit of cuisine in our history and put the focus on industrially produced food instead. It's very sad that we don't recognize these regional cuisines as what they are: uniquely and authentically American.",
">\n\nWait whats racist about ribs and collard greens? Was it the watermelon juice?",
">\n\nNow food is racially insensitive 🥱",
">\n\nPeople are complaining about being served chicken? Is this an American thing?",
">\n\nI wonder how many Italians would be crying if they were served spaghetti on Columbus Day? My guess is none.",
">\n\nIs the lesson here for Aramark \"don't serve watermelon-anything to blacks because they will flip out and accuse you of racism\"?",
">\n\nTIL: Watermelon is racist.",
">\n\n\"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.\"\nQuit your bullshit. Admit you've got a racist on staff and tell us you fired them, it'll look better for your PR.",
">\n\nThey did this a few years ago too, also in new york.",
">\n\nEvery damn year this story happens and every damn year some idiot hasn't learned or read the news. Like seriously freaking Ground hogs day with the inappropriate insensitive lunch for Black History Month going on for decades now.",
">\n\nI had no idea Aramark is in the US too. I thought they just happened to run every high school and university/college cafeteria in Canada.",
">\n\nPeeps feelings get hurt to easy ! Just enjoy the delicious food and move on",
">\n\nWho fucking cares man. It’s watermelon",
">\n\nWatermelons raccist. Got it. ✅",
">\n\nWatermelon was given on purpose. If it were in season and a glut on the market, it would be different.",
">\n\nDid the meal make fun of white people or something?",
">\n\n\nInstead of the Philly cheesesteak, broccoli and fresh fruit that appeared on the school's lunch calendar, Aramark, the food service company that provides meals to the district, served chicken and waffles with watermelon. \nIn a statement, Aramark apologized for the insensitivity, saying in part, \"While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal...\n\nOh bullshit. All they missed is a big styrofoam cup of lean and they'd have had racist meal bingo.",
">\n\nShoutout to all the racist in these comments.",
">\n\nSomeone had to approve that. They’re apologizing that someone called it out.",
">\n\nWelp guess I learned watermelons is a black person stereotype today. Never heard this in my life. Usually fried chicken, cool aid, and grape soda.",
">\n\nWatermelon is way out of season. Must have been expensive.",
">\n\nIt’s always in season somewhere.",
">\n\nWhat a stupid place to pull that bullshit. You’d think the company would’ve tread more carefully given it’s a wealthy, diverse, deeply progressive NYC bedroom community. Tf were they thinking?",
">\n\nAramark is so fucking ignorant. I initially thought there may be some ill intent in them serving fried chicken, waffles, and WATERMELON on black history month. However, after seeing some of the comments on this thread, I'm leaning towards pure ignorance and a dash of stupidity. Some of y'all are just completely blind to the stereotype. It doesn't effect you and you have no reason to learn about it. But then some of you are still baffled that ANYONE could possibly be offended by a food, after learning about the racial undertones. The cognitive dissonance is real lol",
">\n\nWatermelon isn't even really in season in February. Aramark had to be going against all kinds of efficient processes to get this fruit on a menu, meaning this was some jackass being racist for it to even be presented at all.",
">\n\nI refuse to believe this was an accident because no one is this obtuse. This was a deliberate racist attack disguised as a food delivery.",
">\n\nI work there… on my campus… eww",
">\n\nSo glad I didn't go to such a racist school.",
">\n\ncan't believe these guys would go and change the whole shipment of food to the school like that though. like there are differences in price between different food items. also you have to source the ingredients at the start of the chain of custody. so is it like one guy who goes around and buys hundreds of meals worth of food a day AND delivers it to the school all in one go and thought it would be just HILARIOUS to lose his best customer over a racist joke? or is it like a dozen people who all work at different locations and all had the same idea to pick and ship out an entire order of items that weren't on the manifest sheet? idk man, shit's wild.",
">\n\nIn 2023? Noooo one second guessed this?",
">\n\nI don't see an issue with this. If they really wanted to be mean they could have handed out math books they will never understand or English books that they won't be able to read even after 4 years of HBCU education.",
">\n\nAnd the poor food server who had to serve this abomination was the one who took the most heat, I bet! How horrifying to be the one to have to serve that when you had nothing to do with creating the menu 😐",
">\n\nJust needed to give out some heroine and free needles to make it complete.",
">\n\nYou racist’d so hard you got your stereotypes mixed up.",
">\n\nThis comment section is a complete shit show. How fucking dumb do you need to be to not understand the basic negative stereotypes black people face, or how racist do you have to be to think \"they should get a grip lol\" ?",
">\n\nDon't let it be watermelon. Please, don't let it be..\nDamn it! Seriously, we talked about this.",
">\n\nIt was intentional.",
">\n\nTheir response: Oops.\nSorry, this isn’t an oops, someone at that company actually made this happen. This wasn’t some unfortunate random grouping of food, someone was making a joke, thinking they were being funny. \nOr even worse, they were hoping they could pull this crap and nobody would notice or say anything.\nThis is how racists think, they’re in some bubble where reality is warped, where the way they think is the way most people think. I’ve known people like this.\nThe person responsible needs to be found and disciplined, in the very least they need help. This is how you weed out most racists and bring them back to reality.",
">\n\nDid they play that \"Eat dat watermelon, eat dat watermelon\" song over the PA during lunch?"
] |
Why'd they have to say the glory hole was only 9mm? That's just disrespectful.
|
[] |
>
Ze glory hoooooole
|
[
"Why'd they have to say the glory hole was only 9mm? That's just disrespectful."
] |
>
Spoiler alert, it was a glory hole!
|
[
"Why'd they have to say the glory hole was only 9mm? That's just disrespectful.",
">\n\nZe glory hoooooole"
] |
>
It’s always the catholic priests and their “virgin births” /s
|
[
"Why'd they have to say the glory hole was only 9mm? That's just disrespectful.",
">\n\nZe glory hoooooole",
">\n\nSpoiler alert, it was a glory hole!"
] |
>
9mm glory hole was the culprit.
|
[
"Why'd they have to say the glory hole was only 9mm? That's just disrespectful.",
">\n\nZe glory hoooooole",
">\n\nSpoiler alert, it was a glory hole!",
">\n\nIt’s always the catholic priests and their “virgin births” /s"
] |
>
Nope.
|
[
"Why'd they have to say the glory hole was only 9mm? That's just disrespectful.",
">\n\nZe glory hoooooole",
">\n\nSpoiler alert, it was a glory hole!",
">\n\nIt’s always the catholic priests and their “virgin births” /s",
">\n\n9mm glory hole was the culprit."
] |
>
?
|
[
"Why'd they have to say the glory hole was only 9mm? That's just disrespectful.",
">\n\nZe glory hoooooole",
">\n\nSpoiler alert, it was a glory hole!",
">\n\nIt’s always the catholic priests and their “virgin births” /s",
">\n\n9mm glory hole was the culprit.",
">\n\nNope."
] |
>
|
[
"Why'd they have to say the glory hole was only 9mm? That's just disrespectful.",
">\n\nZe glory hoooooole",
">\n\nSpoiler alert, it was a glory hole!",
">\n\nIt’s always the catholic priests and their “virgin births” /s",
">\n\n9mm glory hole was the culprit.",
">\n\nNope.",
">\n\n?"
] |
This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
(For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
Rule-breaking posts may result in bans.
|
[] |
>
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans."
] |
It doesn’t matter what Biden does. They’re going to criticize him no matter what
|
[] |
>
I agree, and even though I don't like Trump, that's the same thing Democrats did when he was in office.
|
[
"It doesn’t matter what Biden does. They’re going to criticize him no matter what"
] |
>
The democrats criticized trump because trump kept doing things that broke laws or at the very least, tradition/good faith agreements. They aren't saying "water is wet" and then when trump says "water is wet" going "well we think water is dry".
They arent CHANGING their stances to disagree with Trump, which is key, since that's the difference between criticism and dishonesty.
|
[
"It doesn’t matter what Biden does. They’re going to criticize him no matter what",
">\n\nI agree, and even though I don't like Trump, that's the same thing Democrats did when he was in office."
] |
>
The tribalism is not helping America. It's only dividing us further. Democrats complained about everything Trump did (rightfully or not), and now they seem to be upset when Republicans complain about everything Biden does.
It's just turned into us vs them. I vote for many Democrats but I still hate the tribalism. It's the kind of stuff that makes people believe both sides are the same.
|
[
"It doesn’t matter what Biden does. They’re going to criticize him no matter what",
">\n\nI agree, and even though I don't like Trump, that's the same thing Democrats did when he was in office.",
">\n\nThe democrats criticized trump because trump kept doing things that broke laws or at the very least, tradition/good faith agreements. They aren't saying \"water is wet\" and then when trump says \"water is wet\" going \"well we think water is dry\".\nThey arent CHANGING their stances to disagree with Trump, which is key, since that's the difference between criticism and dishonesty."
] |
>
Democrats complaining about the terrible policy decisions of Trump vs. Republicans complaining that Biden didn't drop something the size of 3 busses over a populated area... yeah that's the same thing.
Give the "both sides" BS a rest.
|
[
"It doesn’t matter what Biden does. They’re going to criticize him no matter what",
">\n\nI agree, and even though I don't like Trump, that's the same thing Democrats did when he was in office.",
">\n\nThe democrats criticized trump because trump kept doing things that broke laws or at the very least, tradition/good faith agreements. They aren't saying \"water is wet\" and then when trump says \"water is wet\" going \"well we think water is dry\".\nThey arent CHANGING their stances to disagree with Trump, which is key, since that's the difference between criticism and dishonesty.",
">\n\nThe tribalism is not helping America. It's only dividing us further. Democrats complained about everything Trump did (rightfully or not), and now they seem to be upset when Republicans complain about everything Biden does. \nIt's just turned into us vs them. I vote for many Democrats but I still hate the tribalism. It's the kind of stuff that makes people believe both sides are the same."
] |
>
You don't have to agree with Trump's policies but it's all a matter of perspective. Some people say all of Biden's policy decisions are terrible.
Aside from the issue of Trump being a horrible human, I'd still bet a lot of his policies are things he (and his voters) thought were good for the country.
I wouldn't say both sides are the same, but they are similar in many ways.
|
[
"It doesn’t matter what Biden does. They’re going to criticize him no matter what",
">\n\nI agree, and even though I don't like Trump, that's the same thing Democrats did when he was in office.",
">\n\nThe democrats criticized trump because trump kept doing things that broke laws or at the very least, tradition/good faith agreements. They aren't saying \"water is wet\" and then when trump says \"water is wet\" going \"well we think water is dry\".\nThey arent CHANGING their stances to disagree with Trump, which is key, since that's the difference between criticism and dishonesty.",
">\n\nThe tribalism is not helping America. It's only dividing us further. Democrats complained about everything Trump did (rightfully or not), and now they seem to be upset when Republicans complain about everything Biden does. \nIt's just turned into us vs them. I vote for many Democrats but I still hate the tribalism. It's the kind of stuff that makes people believe both sides are the same.",
">\n\nDemocrats complaining about the terrible policy decisions of Trump vs. Republicans complaining that Biden didn't drop something the size of 3 busses over a populated area... yeah that's the same thing.\nGive the \"both sides\" BS a rest."
] |
>
Republicans, lets be real here, daddy Trump let three of these things fly over the US and he didnt even blink in their general direction. Yet somehow he is some peerless saint who can do no wrong and Biden is the dumbass since this incident went on so long during his term. Grow the fuck up.
This democracy is fucked. We're more concerned about party loyalty than we are working together to advance this country. Its fucking embarrassing.
|
[
"It doesn’t matter what Biden does. They’re going to criticize him no matter what",
">\n\nI agree, and even though I don't like Trump, that's the same thing Democrats did when he was in office.",
">\n\nThe democrats criticized trump because trump kept doing things that broke laws or at the very least, tradition/good faith agreements. They aren't saying \"water is wet\" and then when trump says \"water is wet\" going \"well we think water is dry\".\nThey arent CHANGING their stances to disagree with Trump, which is key, since that's the difference between criticism and dishonesty.",
">\n\nThe tribalism is not helping America. It's only dividing us further. Democrats complained about everything Trump did (rightfully or not), and now they seem to be upset when Republicans complain about everything Biden does. \nIt's just turned into us vs them. I vote for many Democrats but I still hate the tribalism. It's the kind of stuff that makes people believe both sides are the same.",
">\n\nDemocrats complaining about the terrible policy decisions of Trump vs. Republicans complaining that Biden didn't drop something the size of 3 busses over a populated area... yeah that's the same thing.\nGive the \"both sides\" BS a rest.",
">\n\nYou don't have to agree with Trump's policies but it's all a matter of perspective. Some people say all of Biden's policy decisions are terrible. \nAside from the issue of Trump being a horrible human, I'd still bet a lot of his policies are things he (and his voters) thought were good for the country.\nI wouldn't say both sides are the same, but they are similar in many ways."
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.