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Jackfruit is the latest foodstuff to be misrepresented
Following the deployment of durian as a flavour symbol for domestic abuse, jackfruit is the latest fruit to be misrepresented in the media. A piece published in the Guardian today states that, “it is not the weirdest plant anyone has put in a tin”; that honour goes to the Jamaican staple, ackee. It is also, the article says, a “gross-looking lump of fibre,” and a “spectacularly ugly, smelly, unfarmed, unharvested pest-plant.” Jackfruit is also — not per the paper — the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; a staple food in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, Jamaica, Malaysia, and Taiwan; cultivated, harvested, and eaten.
Further commentary from the food world questions the central premise that the fruit needs to be somehow “transformed” to be enjoyable; and, on the closing statement: “Think of jackfruit as a triffid: they don’t even talk about farming it. It merely is, everywhere.” Who are “they?”
Honestly, these tone-deaf headlines. A good portion of the world believes that jackfruit is *already* delicious.https://t.co/CZCRNeA3Qy
— Robyn Eckhardt (@EatingAsia) March 28, 2019
“Some people ate it, but only if they had nothing better to eat” - erm, wtf https://t.co/PKuHuiLcdd
— MiMi with two big Ms (@meemalee) March 28, 2019
Jackfruit is a delicacy in India and prepared for festive occasions.
— vakibs (@vakibs) March 28, 2019
This is an important produce that was bartered by the forest-dwelling Vanavāsi tribes to the tribes practicing agriculture, along with honey and spices. The world has a history before the west “discovered” it. https://t.co/qQDiHNQGEb
Hi @guardian, @guardianfood, please look at "Jackfruit is a vegan sensation" carefully. Or get a person of colour to do so. Inaccurate (durian =/= jackfruit), full of implicit judgement ("ooh, look at what brown people eat!") Inadvertent, maybe? But poor. https://t.co/JSAIenqOUX
— (((Snigdha))) (@snigskitchen) March 28, 2019
It is prickly and doesn't look cute
— aneesh phadnis (@aneeshp) March 28, 2019
Yet there are reasons we like our jackfruit,
Fat or ugly we don't mind it's look
In slices or chips and like vegetable we cook,
If you like this short rhyme please do tweet
May be you don't know but I tell you it tastes sweet.
It also made the actual front page of the print version of the Guardian today. (See top right, “the new star of vegan cuisine.”) No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No
absolute classic of a front page from @guardian pic.twitter.com/0UgmRIHQ8u
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) March 27, 2019
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