Smells
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I found Buettner's discussion of smells especially interesting here. I had heard of white flight (though mostly in the context of American inner cities) and I had heard the stereotype of the immigrant whose food is "smelly" to the white nose, but it didn't click until now how related these phenomena are. This fits into our larger discussion of racism and the body, that Fanonian triple sight, where the things most intimate to us (such as the smells of food at home) are recast as threatening and offensive. We've seen this in class, with stories of people eschewing the food they grew up with in favor of whitened flavors and smells. And it makes sense, with food being as primary as it is in our lives and cultures, that it would also be the site of racism, both externally enforced and later internalized. Masking this prejudice is a kind of colonial fascination with "exotic" food cultures. We see this in Buettner's description of British men "going for an Indian," excusing their own boorish behavior by taking pride in supposed culinary exploration. This showed up in late-60s counterculture, with young Brits trying to get back at their parents by rejecting traditional British food in favor of chicken tikka masala. But far from being countercultural, "going for an Indian" is a perfect encapsulation of the British colonial mindset, the brutality thinly veiled by "appreciation," the expectation of instant gratitude for shallow lip service.