NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� It's a practice that's about as American as apple pie 鈥� accusing immigrant and minority communities of engaging in bizarre or disgusting behaviors when it comes to what and how they eat and drink, a kind of shorthand for saying they don't belong.
The latest iteration came at Tuesday's presidential debate, when former President Donald Trump around the of Springfield, Ohio. He repeated the groundless claim previously spread by his running mate, JD Vance, that the immigrants were stealing dogs and cats, the precious pets belonging to their American neighbors, and eating them. The furor got enough attention that officials had to step in to refute it, saying there was no credible evidence of any such thing.
But while it might be enough to turn your stomach, such food-based accusations are not new. Far from it.
Food-related scorn and insults were hurled at immigrant Chinese communities on the West Coast in the late 1800s as they started coming to the United States in larger numbers, and in later decades spread to other Asian and Pacific Islander communities like Thai or Vietnamese. As recently as last year, a Thai restaurant in California was hit with the stereotype, that the owner had to close and move to another location.
Behind it is the idea that 鈥測ou鈥檙e engaging in something that is not just a matter of taste, but a violation of what it is to be human,鈥� says Paul Freedman, a professor of history at Yale University. By tarring Chinese immigrants as those who would eat things Americans would refuse to, it made them the 鈥渙ther.鈥�
In the US, foods can be flashpoints
Other communities, while not being accused of eating pets, have been criticized for the perceived strangeness of what they were cooking when they were new arrivals, such as Italians using too much garlic or Indians too much curry powder. Minority groups with a longer presence in the country were and are still not exempt from racist stereotypes 鈥� think derogatory references to Mexicans and beans or insulting African Americans with remarks about fried chicken and watermelon.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a slur for almost every ethnicity based on some kind of food that they eat,鈥� says Amy Bentley, professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University. 鈥淎nd so that鈥檚 a very good way of disparaging people.鈥�
That's because food isn't just sustenance. Embedded in human eating habits are some of the very building blocks of culture 鈥� things that make different peoples distinct and can be commandeered as fodder for ethnic hatred or political polemics.
鈥淲e need it to survive, but it鈥檚 also highly ritualized and highly symbolic. So the birthday cake, the anniversary, the things are commemorated and celebrated with food and drink,鈥� Bentley says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just so highly integrated in all parts of our lives.鈥�
And because 鈥渢here鈥檚 specific variations of how humans do those rituals, how they eat, how they have shaped their cuisines, how they eat their food,鈥� she adds, 鈥淚t can be as a theme of commonality ... or it can be a form of distinct division.鈥�
It's not just the what. Insults can come from the how as well 鈥� eating with hands or chopsticks instead of forks and knives, for example. It can be seen in class-based bias against poorer people who didn't have the same access to elaborate table settings or couldn't afford to eat the same way the rich did 鈥� and used different, perhaps unfamiliar ingredients out of necessity.
Such disparagement can extend directly into current events. During the Second Gulf War, for example, Americans angry at France's opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq started calling french fries 鈥渇reedom fries.鈥� And a much-used insulting term in the United States for Germans during the first two world wars was 鈥渒rauts鈥� 鈥� a slam on a culture where sauerkraut was a traditional food.
鈥淛ust what was wrong with the way urban immigrants ate?鈥� Donna R. Gabaccia wrote in her 1998 book, 鈥淲e Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans.鈥� In reviewing attitudes of the early 20th century and its demands for 鈥�100% Americanism,鈥� she noted that 鈥渟auerkraut became 鈥榲ictory cabbage鈥�" and one account complained of an Italian family 鈥渟till eating spaghetti, not yet assimilated.鈥�
The expanding food culture provides continuing fodder
Such stereotypes have persisted despite the fact that the American palate has significantly expanded in recent decades, thanks in part to the influx of those immigrant communities, with grocery stores carrying a wealth of ingredients that would baffle previous generations. The rise of restaurant culture has introduced many diners to authentic examples of cuisines they might have needed a passport to access in other eras.
After all, Bentley says, 鈥渨hen immigrants migrate to a different country, they bring their foodways with them and maintain them as they can. ... It鈥檚 so reminiscent of family, community, home. They鈥檙e just really material, multisensory manifestations of who we are.鈥�
Haitian food is just one example of that. Communities like those found in New York City and south Florida have added to the culinary landscape, using ingredients like goat, plantains and cassava.
So when Trump said that immigrants in Springfield 鈥� whom he called 鈥渢he people that came in鈥� 鈥� were eating dogs and cats and 鈥渢he pets of the people that live there,鈥� the echoes of his remarks played into not just food but culture itself.
And even though the American palate has broadened in recent decades, the persistence of food stereotypes 鈥� and outright insults, whether based in fact or completely made up 鈥� shows that just because Americans eat more broadly, it doesn't mean that carries over into tolerance or nuance about other groups.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a fallacy to think that,鈥� Freedman says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like the tourism fallacy that travel makes us more understanding of diversity. The best example right now is Mexican food. Lots and lots of people like Mexican food AND think that immigration needs to be stopped. There鈥檚 no link between enjoyment of a foreigner鈥檚 cuisine and that openness.鈥�
Deepti Hajela, The Associated Press
