Padma Lakshmi, actress, model, Top Chef host and author, came down on Gene Weingarten for disrespecting Indian culture and cuisine saying it's "based entirely on one spice."
Weingarten's opinion column is generally humorous.
This week, The Washington Post column titled "You Can't Make Me Eat These Foods" focused on Weingarten's distaste for certain foods and ingredients, like sweet pickles and balsamic vinegar.
However, he also wrote Indian foods are "the only ethnic cuisine in the world insanely based entirely on one spice."
He continued:
"If you think Indian curries taste like something that could knock a vulture off a meat wagon, you do not like Indian food."
"I don't get it, as a culinary principle."
When Padma Lakshmi read the article, she aired her problems with it on Instagram and Twitter.
The Instagram caption read:
"There is truly no need for something like this to be published in 2021 (or ever)."
"It's racist and lazy at best."
"My issue is not this person's performative contrarianism (although it is tedious) or that he didn't enjoy the Indian cuisines he's tasted."
"My problem is in this attempt at a comedic piece he's actually just regurgitating old colonizer tropes, gleefully reducing the culture and country of 1.3 billion people to a (frankly) weak punchline- and that the @washingtonpost published it."
Lakshmi called out The Washington Post for even approving this to be published.
Is this really the type of colonizer 'hot take' the \n@washingtonpost wants to publish in 2021- sardonically characterizing curry as "one spice" and that all of India's cuisine is based on it?pic.twitter.com/suneMRD8vs— Padma Lakshmi (@Padma Lakshmi) 1629738025
Her tweet garnered the attention of thousands.
Not only is this laughably/embarrassingly wrong (like 2+2=75 wrong), the comparison to French/white food as the implicit standard by which all other foods should be measured is so revealing.— The Korean Vegan, Esq. (@The Korean Vegan, Esq.) 1629734923
lol. i loved this piece, it put some foods in perspective for me.https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/26/394339284/how-snobbery-helped-take-the-spice-out-of-european-cooking\u00a0\u2026— Adam (@Adam) 1629734487
Wow this article really explained the behavior of a lot of white men in a grilling and smoking group I'm part of who think if you add anything other than salt and pepper to a piece of meat, it's because you "can't cook it properly"— Jill Dobel (@Jill Dobel) 1629742081
Well at least he admits it\u2019s more than one spice. He should stick to unseasoned chicken and white rice, seems more suited to his refined palate— Seana Lyn (@Seana Lyn) 1629735100
Trying to figure out which one spice Indian cuisine is entirely based on\u2026pic.twitter.com/wJwubjBV1c— Tim Broyle, MD (@Tim Broyle, MD) 1629733681
"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 (@AZ) 1629737878
@bessbell/Twitter
Literally the whole reason Columbus put his colonizer behind on a boat (misnaming Native peoples of this continent as Indians in the process) was to Bring. Back. Spices. Plural. Even the original colonizers knew India wasn\u2019t a one spice kinda place. The Caucasity, indeed.— Maria (@Maria) 1629771724
Lawyer Meena Harris, niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, and writer/actor Mindy Kaling chimed in on Weingarten's piece as well.
Even Columbus knew it was more than one spice— Meena Harris (@Meena Harris) 1629782469
You don\u2019t like a cuisine? Fine. But it\u2019s so weird to feel defiantly proud of not liking a cuisine. You can quietly not like something too— Mindy Kaling (@Mindy Kaling) 1629757868
Since the immense backlash, The Washington Post has made a correction to the article.
At the top of the column it reads:
"A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Indian cuisine is based on one spice, curry, and that Indian food is made up only of curries, types of stew."
"In fact, India's vastly diverse cuisines use many spice blends and include many other types of dishes."
"The article has been corrected."
Someone in Lakshmi's comments pointed out Weingarten's since deleted tweet.
The doubling down is not a good look, my dude.pic.twitter.com/D4N1U48QKO— L Hale (@L Hale) 1629734352
He attempted an apology tweet as well.
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 (@Gene Weingarten) 1629747162
It's hard to say if this latest attempt was genuine or not.