TIME TO TALK POVERTY
Sometimes I think people have nothing better to do than sit around waiting to be offended. The latest example of this is the huge storm created by a simple packet of rice. Yes, you read that right. MP Dawn Butler tweeted chef Jamie Oliver, saying: “I’m just wondering, do you know what Jamaican jerk actually is? It’s not just a word you put before stuff to sell products. Your jerk rice is not ok. This appropriation from Jamaica needs to stop.” Where will this trend of people being offended end? Social media has a lot to answer for, but these are real people who are becoming caught up in all this outrage. I can understand this one, to a degree. Jamie is a millionaire chef and he’s making money out of Jamaican culture. But some think he’s got this one wrong. Jerk is a style of cooking usually associated with meat, fish or chicken. The meat is dry-rubbed or wet-marinaded with a hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice. It doesn’t usually have anything to do with rice. Many of the protesters see a wealthy celebrity making money from their world. Jamie sees it differently – he’s a chef and he takes inspiration from all over the globe and puts his own twist on it. This whole fuss was started by an MP. Politicians are notorious for trying to attract attention. Tabloid newspapers can also take a story and help to blow it up out of all proportion, especially when it features a celebrity. The whole fuss reminded me of the rage back in May when an 18-year-old Twitter user, Keziah, shared a picture of herself in a prom dress. It was a Chinese Cheongsam and there were thousands of tweets criticising her for her choice and accusing her of “cultural appropriation”. I’m sure Jamie will take this in his stride. It’s not the first time he has been controversial and you could argue that, as a person in the public eye, he’s got to take it. He comes in for a lot of stick from certain quarters but I think his heart is in the right place. Look at all the great work he did trying to make school dinners more healthy and to educate parents about making better food choices for their children. He has bounced back before and I’m sure he’ll bounce back from this. Anyway...aren’t there more important issues to worry about than this latest episode of thousands jumping on a bandwagon and taking offence? I don’t know about you but I’m far more concerned with children living in poverty, or the numbers of young people in UK cities affected by knife crime. In the grand scheme of things, a packet of rice isn’t so important.