Happy July, Food Adventurer Friend!
I was going to play it straight with this month’s email. I planned to talk about fab food and fun, the way I usually do. But just as I’ve never walked away from a good plate of pasta, neither have I ever walked away from a good fight.
And the continuing violence and unjust treatment of the law-abiding by the lawless in so many of our nation’s cities, including my home town of New York City, make it impossible for me not to engage.
You see, still another email hit my inbox today expressing the sender’s understanding for the plight of black people in words that struck me — who happens to be black — as patronizing. However, because I haven’t believed that was the intent and know there’s a lot of misinformation out there, I’ve been clicking, “Delete,” and letting it go.
But today’s sender ended her email by pledging her support for Black Lives Matter (BLM). And that, I can’t let go; leastways, not anymore.
Because BLM has nothing to do with supporting black lives and a whole lot to do with harming them.
It’s an organization of self-described Marxists with a cleverly chosen name that is helping them to continue to destroy black people (among others) in the name and on the backs of black people. The group has several stated goals — you can find them on its website — that run contrary to the good of black people, but for brevity’s sake, I’ll just touch on one: defunding the police.
These are the results of city leaders having directed their police departments to stand down from performing their normal duties over the past few weeks:
- Incidents of violent crime are up 50 percent or more in urban centers like NYC and Chicago, home to large populations of black people.
- Rioters and organized bands of thieves have looted scores of businesses, many owned by black people.
- Mobs and solo criminals have brutalized ordinary citizens, some of them seniors. They’ve pummeled people to the ground with either bricks or their fists and they’ve set, at least, one man on fire. They’ve threatened others at gunpoint.
- Cops, both active and retired, white and black, young and older, have been murdered or left paralyzed by angry, ignorant people who shot them “just because.”
- And, yes, many monuments to heroes and important events in our American past, abandoned to mobs, now lay in rubble. Still other monuments remain at risk. These include the Emancipation Memorial, paid for with pleasure by those who had once been slaves. The defacement or outright destruction of this statue would be a real kick in the teeth to black people and their story.
The truth is most black people in our country do NOT want to defund the police; they want policemen patrolling their neighborhoods.
If we defund police officers and continue to vilify them, those Black people and others who live in poor neighborhoods will be the ones who suffer most. Unlike some of the people clamoring for getting rid of police, they don’t have the money to pay for private security.
And they have known — for decades — they have way more to fear from other blacks than the police. That black people in the U.S. typically die at the hand of other black people. They know it is an outrage.
But the only black lives BLM rages about are those taken by white people.
For other black lives taken too soon, like the three children, ages 1, 3, and 10 gunned down last week in Chicago along with 11 others, BLM is silent.
BLM is not about police brutality, they’re about being divisive. So when George Floyd died as a result of a despicable and willful act by a law enforcement officer that everyone (black, white, and all the shades in between) agrees was an outrage, BLM moved quickly to take advantage of that outrage. They’ve been fanning its flames ever since.
Why?
Because they want to divide us and have us looking at each other as the enemy—while they do their Marxist thing and work to turn our country upside down, undisturbed.
But I’d rather not let them do that.
So please, if you know anyone who is donating to the organization, Black Lives Matter, or supporting it in any other way, would you ask them to stop? (ESPECIALLY if they say they’re doing it to support black people😳.)
On the eve of our nation’s 244th birthday, I’m looking forward to celebrating the United States of America with millions of others who want to see us remain united.
And now —
—back to our regularly scheduled program😉!
Here are this edition’s
FIVE BITES
1. A BOOK TO LISTEN TO
Imagine you’re a student at a very special cooking school where you not only learn to make sensational food but find your entire way of looking at the world transformed in the process, always for the better. The School of Essential Ingredients is such a school and this book is about it’s amazingly intuitive instructor, Chef Lillian, and eight of her students. There is a print version of this book, but I recommend you listen to the audio version instead. The narrator’s voice is a delight and the way she describes the meals prepared in Lillian’s class may send you flying into your own kitchen to cook along.
2. A BOOK YOU CAN HOLD IN YOUR HAND
Looking for another book that intertwines a tasty storyline with mouthwatering depictions of food? The Hundred-Foot Journey fits the bill. The plot follows the ups and downs in the life of a talented Indian-born chef who is coming of age in the French restaurant world. Now, never mind if you’ve already seen the movie of the same name; the book is better. By the time you finish reading, you may catch yourself planning a trip to one of the beautiful locations in India or France where the action takes place. Or applying to the nearest cooking school.
3. SOMETHING I LEARNED
A black comedian created Aunt Jemima, the iconic black character that has been the image of the Quaker Oats pancake brand for a century. Over the years, several professional black models have portrayed her. So the news that Quaker Oats is planning to retire the brand comes both as a surprise and a disappointment. What irony that “enlightened” people can take it upon themselves to be so offended for others that they end up erasing the cultural record of the very people they claim to support.
4. SOMETHING TO WATCH
Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah is an oldie but goodie flick that is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. And since Queen Latifah’s character aspires to be a professional chef, you’d better believe the film features several food-filled scenes for us to enJoy. You’ll see everything from down-home comfort foods to haute cuisine. The movie costars Gerard Depardieu and L.L. Cool J.Plus, real life chef, Emeril Lagasse, appears in a cameo as our heroine’s long-time inspiration.
Chef Lagasse is our inspiration for this month’s quote, below.
5. ONE QUOTE
My philosophy from day one is that I can sleep better at night if I can improve an individual’s knowledge about food and wine, and do it on a daily basis.—Emeril Lagasse
Until the next time then, stay curious.
xxoo,
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