Three Ways To Appreciate Culture Without Appropriating

I'm constantly being asked how to avoid cultural appropriation. Many of my friends want to appreciate a culture, but don't want to over-step and risk appropriation. If you follow these tips, you can enjoy and appreciate the food and culture attached to it.

Follow Recipes From That Culture

It is best to follow recipes that you know came from someone of that culture to guarantee the dish you are enjoying is authentic. Recipes are often passed down from generation to generation and they hold significant meaning to families they originate from. Simply asking someone for a recipe or showing interest while someone prepares and cooks for you is one of the highest forms of flattery and shows your appreciation for their food and their culture. If you don’t have access to someone from that culture, but want to perhaps recreate that kofta masala you had the other night or want to attempt to make your own bone broth for ramen, conduct some online research for recipes that include traditional ingredients rather than modernized substitutes.

It’s important to keep in mind that local and regional culture will also determine what ingredients you need, how you prepare and cook your dish, even how it is served.

For example, Mexican food from Texas is vastly different from Mexican food in California and even more different in Mexico! For example, you probably won’t find too many restaurants serving flour tortillas in Mexico City but in Texas they are served by default. California Mexican food uses a lot of garlic and avocado since most of the avocados in the United States are produced there, but in Texas, you’re more likely to have your food drowning in sauce and smothered with cheese.

Use Authentic Ingredients When Possible

Sometimes your local grocer won’t have exactly the right ingredients you need to make certain dishes, especially because many ingredients are regional or localized. Seek out small markets that cater to the communities of that culture. Make sure store is owned and operated by people of that culture. You will often find that the women and men that run these stores will be more than willing to help you find what you’re looking for and might even give you advice for preparing your dish. If you found your recipe online, ask the grocer what they think and how they would improve upon it. I have been told by local grocers that things as small as buying spices in their whole form, toasting, and grinding them yourself using a mortar and pestle vastly improves the flavor. They were right! Time consuming but definitely worth it.

Once it’s time to eat your food (the best part in my opinion) it is important that you observe any customs surrounding your food. For example, when drinking sake (Japanese rice wine), it’s customary to have someone else pour from the carafe for you, usually your server or someone you’re dining with should pour the sake for you.

Another example of relevant customs to observe can be found in how you eat your food. In several many cultures, it’s completely fine to use your hands to eat or to use some sort of bread to scoop up your food like naan bread in Southeast Asian cuisines and tortillas in Mexico.

Observe Relevant Customs

Today's Woman to Watch is Manal Kahi, co-founder and CEO of Eat Offbeat which features homemade recipes made by chefs from all around the world.
She started making her own based on a family recipe, which her friends started raving about. Her brother, Wissam, saw the opportunity there and said: “We should sell it!” So, they went on a mission to find a hummus as good as their grandmother's. That’s how they came to think of refugees being resettled in New York as an excellent community to find someone just like her. And thus, Eat Offbeat was born.

To learn more about her and her story, click here!