Cultural Appropriation Pt.2

Rick Bayless has made a living as a chef cooking up Mexican cuisine. Should the fact that he is not of Mexican descent mean we should scold him for producing this type of food? It’s undoubtedly a complicated and delicate situation involving cultural appropriation.

It’s certainly fair to frown upon him for reaping the benefits of selling Mexican food even though, well, he’s not Mexican. He simply seized an opportunity to capitalize on serving a certain type of food that happens to be very popular in America. The fact of the matter, however, is that Bayless spent a great deal of time in Mexico honing and perfecting his craft, so it’s not to say his success is unearned. He’s also an award-winning chef with a multitude of accolades, so it’s also not to say his food isn’t perceived as any good either. In addition, if serving Mexican food is genuinely something Bayless loves to do, would it be truly be fair to declare that he’s only allowed to cook American food?

The way I see it, if his food is good, should ridiculing him really be the first thing we think about? If the food wasn’t good, then we should point and laugh at how he tried, but failed and never stood a chance cooking Mexican food being a white American. Maybe this is just the “boomer” in me taking this side of the argument, but I simply can’t fault him that much if he really knows what he’s doing. Surely, however, without being Mexican, I can’t truly recognize the feelings of disgust that Mexican people may have for Bayless.

We can’t be ignorant to this issue either. For some, it seems like a non-issue at first glance, but that notion in itself further demonstrates this level of ignorance. Ultimately, I take no offense towards Bayless, but I can understand why others would take exception to him.