Half-baked Harvest blogger story in NYT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love her.

But just as much has changed. Ms. Gerard, who is white, has long been called out for mispronouncing dishes from other cultures and misidentifying her creations, like calling tacos with pineapple “Hawaiian” and noodles with honey and peanut butter “Chinese.”

Omg. Go enjoy some chop suey and crab Rangoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be even worse if she didnt reference the cultures she was inspired by- like Alison roman trying to pretend she invented chana masala by calling it her chickpea stew that she just dreamt up out of her head. I still cannot stand Alison roman and refuse to allow her to be rehabilitated. she's the worst kind of culture colonizer but hbh girl isn't that. she's just had no real exposure and I applaud her and her family for building her a life in the the constraints that she has.

Using English words to describe "stews found in South India and parts of the Caribbean" in an English language website. Practically Nazi.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019772-spiced-chickpea-stew-with-coconut-and-turmeric

[Anonymous]

It feel like if we are going to start blaming cooks for cultural appropriation, that’s really troubling. Should rick Baylee’s close frontera grill? Should Jose Andres close santinya? Should Julia Childs not have mastered the art of French cooking? All people do is appropriate other culture/‘ foods. That’s how great food is made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It feel like if we are going to start blaming cooks for cultural appropriation, that’s really troubling. Should rick Baylee’s close frontera grill? Should Jose Andres close santinya? Should Julia Childs not have mastered the art of French cooking? All people do is appropriate other culture/‘ foods. That’s how great food is made.

I agree with you, but also see the other side. I mean, Bobby Flay, a New Yorker of Irish descent, went to a culinary school teaching traditional (French) techniques and wound up the king of southwestern cuisine. I think the thing with him though, is that he actually learned and became an authority. He knows chiles and such better than a lot of people who grew up in Mexico or New Mexico. The accusation that HBH is not actually learning, just espousing stereotypes or things she believes to be true (tacos with pineapple are "Hawaiian") and thus her ignorance is trickling down to her followers who then believe the same. She's spreading misinformation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve made a couple of desserts from her instagram page and they weren’t great. I stopped following her because I found the pictures of her disturbing. She says she doesn’t have an eating disorder, and maybe she doesn’t, but at least when I stopped following her she was painfully thin.

She most definitely has an eating disorder. She has become painfully thin in recent year and has markings/Russel's markings on her hands. She is also obsessed with adding a ton of fat to her dishes while never showing herself so much as tasting any of them.

I rarely make any of her dishes because they are so heavy.

[Anonymous]

Rolling my eyes at this being a “controversy”. The real controversy is her rise to fame despite her lame recipes that rely solely on fat and sugar for taste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It feel like if we are going to start blaming cooks for cultural appropriation, that’s really troubling. Should rick Baylee’s close frontera grill? Should Jose Andres close santinya? Should Julia Childs not have mastered the art of French cooking? All people do is appropriate other culture/‘ foods. That’s how great food is made.

Yes, but they all respect the food. What upsets others is that she doesn't seem to actually even care about the food or the culture. She doesn't learn about the people enough to even pronounce it correctly. The NYT article even states that she dreams up the look of the dish first and works backward from that.

Honestly, she'd be a better food stylist than a recipe blogger. Good food stylists are very sought after. I have a relative who is a food stylist and she's always on the go from one location to the next for jobs.

Luckily HBH created her empire before the world became more attuned to recognizing cultural appropriation and calling it out. If she was just starting out, she wouldn't make it to be as successful as she is now. You're allowed one snafu with critics where you can apologize and promise to do better. Make a second snafu and you're canceled for good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It feel like if we are going to start blaming cooks for cultural appropriation, that’s really troubling. Should rick Baylee’s close frontera grill? Should Jose Andres close santinya? Should Julia Childs not have mastered the art of French cooking? All people do is appropriate other culture/‘ foods. That’s how great food is made.

I agree with you, but also see the other side. I mean, Bobby Flay, a New Yorker of Irish descent, went to a culinary school teaching traditional (French) techniques and wound up the king of southwestern cuisine. I think the thing with him though, is that he actually learned and became an authority. He knows chiles and such better than a lot of people who grew up in Mexico or New Mexico. The accusation that HBH is not actually learning, just espousing stereotypes or things she believes to be true (tacos with pineapple are "Hawaiian") and thus her ignorance is trickling down to her followers who then believe the same. She's spreading misinformation.

The moment I hear people mention this is the moment I roll my eyes, say someone has issues, and ignore them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It feel like if we are going to start blaming cooks for cultural appropriation, that’s really troubling. Should rick Baylee’s close frontera grill? Should Jose Andres close santinya? Should Julia Childs not have mastered the art of French cooking? All people do is appropriate other culture/‘ foods. That’s how great food is made.

I agree with you, but also see the other side. I mean, Bobby Flay, a New Yorker of Irish descent, went to a culinary school teaching traditional (French) techniques and wound up the king of southwestern cuisine. I think the thing with him though, is that he actually learned and became an authority. He knows chiles and such better than a lot of people who grew up in Mexico or New Mexico. The accusation that HBH is not actually learning, just espousing stereotypes or things she believes to be true (tacos with pineapple are "Hawaiian") and thus her ignorance is trickling down to her followers who then believe the same. She's spreading misinformation.

The moment I hear people mention this is the moment I roll my eyes, say someone has issues, and ignore them.

The people who are most likely to say "What's the big deal?" are the ones who are also most likely to squawk "Not all [X]" when they get offended by a statement about a group they're part of.

Yay colonialism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This wasn't a super in-depth article.

I have come across and used some of her recipes. I follow HBH on Instagram. I find that her site, Julia Turshen, Chrissy Tiegen, and Smitten Kitchen (Deb Perelman) hit all my spots. I like flavorful, veggie-heavy, vinegary, sweet, sour, salty, spicy, creamy foods.

As a DEIB champion I also am sensitive to the criticism. But an interpretation or inspiration of a recipe isn't cultural appropriation. She might want to give everything a non-cultural/ethic name and say it's inspired by such and such dish or such and such cookbook. But Meh.

She seems lonely. I had no idea.

This might be the point - I don’t think the author found her to be a super in-depth person. It starts with describing the one year build up to the interview where she was supposed to make two selected recipes, but she bails and makes an off-handed excuse. I get the feeling that the author anticipated learning more about her, but left disappointed. Thus, much of the article is not based on the interview at all, but quotes and events that occurred beforehand and could have been written without an interview at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It feel like if we are going to start blaming cooks for cultural appropriation, that’s really troubling. Should rick Baylee’s close frontera grill? Should Jose Andres close santinya? Should Julia Childs not have mastered the art of French cooking? All people do is appropriate other culture/‘ foods. That’s how great food is made.

I agree with you, but also see the other side. I mean, Bobby Flay, a New Yorker of Irish descent, went to a culinary school teaching traditional (French) techniques and wound up the king of southwestern cuisine. I think the thing with him though, is that he actually learned and became an authority. He knows chiles and such better than a lot of people who grew up in Mexico or New Mexico. The accusation that HBH is not actually learning, just espousing stereotypes or things she believes to be true (tacos with pineapple are "Hawaiian") and thus her ignorance is trickling down to her followers who then believe the same. She's spreading misinformation.

The moment I hear people mention this is the moment I roll my eyes, say someone has issues, and ignore them.

The people who are most likely to say "What's the big deal?" are the ones who are also most likely to squawk "Not all [X]" when they get offended by a statement about a group they're part of.

Yay colonialism.

Says the person who counts every inconvenience and slight as a migroaggression and trauma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rolling my eyes at this being a “controversy”. The real controversy is her rise to fame despite her lame recipes that rely solely on fat and sugar for taste.

Paula Deen and Ree Drummond rode that same bus to fame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love her.

But just as much has changed. Ms. Gerard, who is white, has long been called out for mispronouncing dishes from other cultures and misidentifying her creations, like calling tacos with pineapple “Hawaiian” and noodles with honey and peanut butter “Chinese.”

A mistake isn't appropriation.

[Anonymous]

Def eating disorder. Google pics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I haven't ever followed her myself, have made a recipe or two that were recommended to me by others. I read the NYT article. I was aware that she had the accusations of disordered eating before this, wasn't aware of the questions about cultural misappropriation.

There's no such thing as cultural misappropriation. All recipes are based on cultural exchange and no one can claim ownership over a food.