A Portland taco truck run by two white women was forced to shut down due to outrage over "cultural appropriation." https://t.co/HdaeLIwS5a
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 24, 2017
FOOD FIGHT: White women forced to close burrito shop after hounded by cultural appropriation charges... https://t.co/AM4XKm0stF
— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) May 24, 2017
Oregon Leftists Circulate List of Restaurants Engaging in 'Cultural Appropriation' https://t.co/BCBNs3AEVA #Trending via @pjmedia_com
— PubliusNV (@PubliusNV) May 24, 2017
Reason.com reports that some have put together a spreadsheet of Portland, Oregon, restaurants that allegedly engage in "cultural appropriation":
The list, a Google Docs spreadsheet, includes about 60 Portland-area restaurants, the names of their white owners, and the kind of cuisine they serve. (For example, the list informs us that Burmasphere "was founded by a white man who ate Burmese food in San Francisco.") The spreadsheet also lists competing restaurants that are owned by people of color and urges customers to try them instead.
"This is NOT about cooking at home or historical influences on cuisines; it's about profit, ownership, and wealth in a white supremacist culture," wrote the spreadsheet's authors. "These white-owned businesses hamper the ability for POC [people of color] to run successful businesses of their own (cooking their own cuisines) by either consuming market share with their attempt at authenticity or by modifying foods to market to white palates. Their success further perpetuates the problems stated above. It's a cyclical pattern that will require intentional behavior change to break."
The spreadsheet seems to be a response to the controversy over Kooks Burritos, a Portland-area pop-up food truck run by two white women. In an interview with Williamette Week, Kooks owners Kali Wilgus and Liz Connelly explained how they fell in love with authentic Mexican tortillas during a visit to Puerto Nuevo, Mexico.
Portlandia alert: White-Owned Restaurants Shamed for Serving Ethnic Food: It's Cultural Appropriation https://t.co/r9spUqsuF0
— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) May 23, 2017