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July 09, 2008
Food racism
Old lady cooking, originally uploaded by Manuel_Focus.
I've heard of racist dogs before, and racism is undoubtedly a continuing problem. So, what has an organization in Great Britain done to combat the racism problem? Nip 'em in the bud, so to speak:
The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care.
This is all well and good, and they propose some interesting solutions:
The 366-page guide for staff in charge of pre-school children, called Young Children and Racial Justice, warns: "Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships."
It advises nursery teachers to be on the alert for childish abuse such as: "blackie", "Pakis", "those people" or "they smell".
Things get a little wacky, however, when they suggest not liking unfamiliar food is racist:
The guide goes on to warn that children might also "react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuk'".
Whaaaa? Yes, the reason the 3-year old doesn't want that hummus is because he hates Arabs. I was a toddler once, and as anyone who knows me can attest, I am a finicky bastard when it comes to food. That doesn't make me a racist, it means I know what I like. I was even worse when I was a kid - it was turkey sandwich or the highway for me. The fact I didn't want Chinese food, or Indian food, or even Mexican had more to do with my palette than it did latent racism. I'm sure it's the same for kids now.
Even better, scientific studies suggest kids have different taste buds than adults. So disliking something as a 5-year old doesn't mean you'll also dislike it as an adult.
I'm sure the bit of the study that mentioned saying "yuk" to unfamiliar food is taken out of context and a very small portion of the overall report. Nevertheless, this is, how do you say... Asinine!
entry no. 1181
Posted at July 9, 2008 05:22 PM