Anyone with even the slightest knowledge about Indian cuisine would know that calling it ‘Indian cuisine’ is incorrect. Our country has a variety of cuisines starting from Punjabi to Bengali to Udupi to Kodagu, and the list just goes on. If there are so many cuisines in the first place, imagine how many spices are used across India.
Therefore, when one American writer wrote a piece for The Washington Post where he claimed that Indian cuisine is based entirely on “one spice”, desi foodies lost it.
.@geneweingarten thinks Indian food is terrible because it is entirely based on one spice. Which is basically the opposite of the truth. pic.twitter.com/sumaGpOBl4
— Anand Giridharadas @ The.Ink (@AnandWrites) August 23, 2021
Several people online schooled the writer on the varieties of spices used for making food in India. From sharing pictures of the different spices and the quintessential spice box to asking him to do some research, here’s what people online said:
What in the white nonsense™️ is this? pic.twitter.com/ciPed2v5EK
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) August 23, 2021
“Curry” is not one spice. I don’t even know how these people do their research.
— Anand Giridharadas @ The.Ink (@AnandWrites) August 23, 2021
WHAT SPICE?????
Americans seem to be really wary of Indian food from what I’ve picked up from pop culture, which is so alien to me as a person from the UK.
— Hello Gillian (@mippy) August 23, 2021
This is even dumber than people saying they don’t like Indian food because they don’t like “curry.” 🙄 A curry is a masala, which is a *combination* of spices. There are tons of masalas. Which one? 🤦🏽♀️
— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) August 23, 2021
That is the most ignorant passage I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading.
There is no actual dish called a “curry” in India. Every prep has its own name
Every region has its own dishes, own spices
Every neibourhood has its own variations
What utter drivel!!!!
— curiouscat (@curious_cat20) August 23, 2021
We literally invented this which kinda disproves his point. pic.twitter.com/ja6GWipWpJ
— Jackie Daytona (@Modhabobo) August 23, 2021
“ONE SPICE?” Which one? cumin? coriander? turmeric? kalonji? ajwain? cardamom? paprika? amchur? mustard seed? black pepper? fenugreek? cinnamon? kala namak? I’ll run out of space before I run out of Indian spices I can think of off the top of my head. White nonsense(TM) indeed!
— AZ (@alfazed7) August 23, 2021
How does this fool actually get paid to eat food when he doesn’t know what curry is? Maybe he should stick to reviewing grilled skirt steak and roasted Brussels sprouts. Clearly ethnic foods are too challenging for him.
— Dave Lu 呂曉龍 (@davelu) August 23, 2021
It’s almost impressive he didn’t even google “curry” before writing that it was “one spice.” It’s not exactly a secret that the term is hopelessly overbroad because it refers to too many different dishes and seasonings. pic.twitter.com/S1eTFGkOr4
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) August 23, 2021
This dude had one butter chicken from his local Star of India takeaway, smothered in that generic red butter sauce, and thinks all of the food is only that. How was this even given the green light by an editor?
— Vik Sohonie (@VikSoho) August 23, 2021
Tell me you’ve never been to an Indian grocery store without telling me you’ve never been to an Indian grocery store. They have whole aisles for different spices!!!
— Lucy Huber (@clhubes) August 23, 2021
After facing tremendous backlash online, the writer of the piece, Gene Weingarten took to Twitter to apologize.
From start to finish plus the illo, the column was about what a whining infantile ignorant d—head I am. I should have named a single Indian dish, not the whole cuisine, & I do see how that broad-brush was insulting. Apologies.(Also, yes, curries are spice blends, not spices.)
— Gene Weingarten (@geneweingarten) August 23, 2021
The Washington Post too addressed the issue and corrected the article accordingly.
.@washingtonpost does the right thing, and puts a correction on @geneweingarten’s food column. Maybe he’ll be more careful from now on. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/sEf4cTxZog
— Sree Sreenivasan (@sree) August 24, 2021
What do you think of this incident? Tell us!