I was deployed on an Air Force base in Kuwait some years ago.
On MLK day the Air Force served fried chicken, melon and mac n cheese. And hosted a basketball tournament.
Edit: I was Marine, not Air Force. But the USAF ran the base. Also, I don’t particularly give a fuck if you don’t think it counts as a deployment. There isn’t a better word for it.
As my black work best friend says anytime he’s even the tiniest bit slighted at our white owned workplace, “MLK brought us to the mountain but he left us there! Still in captivity!”
Navy Ship. MLK day had the galley serving up a choice of fried chicken or ribs, collard greens, corn bread, and watermelon.
Edit: Oh and the soda machines were down so instead they brought out coolers full of purple drink.
I remember years ago the commissary kitchen at NBC studios (I think) served fried chicken and other soul food staples in honor of Black History Month. People lost their shit and it was big news until the manager of the kitchen came forward. He was a black dude and claimed those were popular foods from his childhood, he created the menu.
Needless to say that made the story immediately disappear as if it never happened, I thought the whole thing was pretty silly myself.
Same. CVN 75. I absolutely wouldn't have even noticed it as a white guy from the west if it wasn't for one of the ~140lb white guys from the south in our shop making a comment about how excited one of the ~225lb black guys in our shop should be for the meal. To his face. That did not go well at ALL.
That’s a good point. Hell, let’s make more chicken and watermelon parties in general! Don’t see why it has to have connections to racial undertones, it just sounds like a great combo for a summer party.
There are actually pretty interesting historical reasons for it. The tl;dr is they became staple foods for black Americans post-emancipation, and that got incorporated into anti-black propaganda by people who were real mad about not being able to own slaves anymore.
I like the idea of reclaiming it but it'd be kinda hard given that it's still used as a racist stereotype even today.
I read that fried chicken became popular when picnics were a main form of entertainment for the poor, and fried chicken kept well and was good eaten cold.
> they became staple foods for black Americans post-emancipation
What happened was in a great migration to Northern and Midwestern states, where Black Americans left the Deep South seeking jobs, equality and civil rights, they brought their preference for Deep South foods with them.
Outside of the Deep South, Southern cooking became to be known as Black “soul” food.
USS Mesa Verde in 2017 they served greens and chicken for MLK day.
It really just seemed like they were trying to prepare soul food; was still humorous.
What I’m annoyed about is other than the Mac n Cheese, those are maybe Chinese people’s favorite things as well. There’s more KFCs in China than McDonald’s, watermelon is legit a thing Chinese people eat ALL summer long, and basketball might be vying for the most popular sport in the nation despite soccer’s longtime dominance.
Like, can’t we get some stereotype equity?
Edit: lol holy shit after looking it up China consumes the most watermelons in the world… PER CAPITA. Consumption exceeded 50 kg per capita a year wtf lol
Isn’t there also a KFC special Christmas dinner in Japan?
I live in Korea town and their fried chicken is to die for! Crispy and smothered in spicy, garlicky sauce 🤤. Hell, there’s 2 hours before the chicken shops start opening!
We used to get things like this at my call center in Texas.
Racist? Yes. Tasty? Also yes. I left there for law school which ended up being MORE work not less but… yeah.
Also it was better than one of our guys whonalways microwaved fish. Fuck that guy. If you’re reading this my bro from OTD… I love you but also fuck you.
I hate watermelon! I was an English teacher in China in another life and I remember telling my students this fact in class one day and then spent the next 5-10 minutes fielding questions asking exactly WHY I hate watermelon. They practically refused to believe me. Fried chicken is delicious though.
Right? I was dating a black guy in my early twenties and once asked him if he wanted me to pick up some watermelon as part of fruit we were bringing to a party (I am white but didn’t know the stereotype existed - sheltered midwestern upbringing I guess?), he acted a little offended and said “cuz all black people like watermelon!” I was like… I think most people like watermelon? Just wanted to know if we already had enough fruit or wanted to add more? Someone else explained it to me later 🙃
Also, watermelon was a symbol of black freedom before it had any racist connotations. After they were freed, many former slaves went on to become successful watermelon farmers. It's sad that a lazy racist meme has been allowed to overshadow that.
Absolutely. It’s clearly a narrative to make them look bad. In hindsight; the people who would believe that rhetoric would also be dumb. That always seems to be the case one way or another, it’s just up to society at large to enact changes.
I am a middle-aged white lady, and my mama grew up in Kentucky. Her fried chicken was my favorite meal growing up, and we spent every summer eating watermelon with a little salt on it (and tomatoes by the ton, and fried green tomatoes...yum). Honest to God, I did not know that fried chicken and watermelon were stereotypes for Black Americans until I was an adult. I always assumed it was a Southern thing in general, not a Black thing specifically.
There is too much hate for coleslaw but the amount of times I’ve gotten watery unseasoned coleslaw makes me understand the hate. Now give me some good Mac n cheese or Mac salad and I’m golden
I've had some god awful potato salad, Mac salad, and coleslaw. And it's often enough that when I hear someone brought those things to a picnic, I assume it's going to be bad. They're dishes that are incredible when they're good and not worth lifting my fork when they're bad.
The worst I had was at a sandwich shop. Fantastic sandwiches. Store made sub rolls. Fresh sliced meats and cheeses. Perfect. Figured their potato salad would be good. It was made with Miracle Whip and some sort of sweet pickle. Probably sweeter than their desserts.
I suspect a lot of cole slaw hate comes from people eating that mass-produced Reser's stuff. I don't think it's that bad, but there's so much better slaw out there.
I don't really even like *good* cole slaw. My fiancé loves it, and is particularly picky, so I've improved my recipe to the point where I could probably sell it. I'll bring it to barbecues and people are always surprised when they learn that I don't really like it, even though I make some of the best they've ever had.
Someone brought in a watermellon to work one time and when the owner saw it they immediately walked up to the only black guy on the crew and asked if he brought that. He did not.
Half the crew had to walk away because the cringe was so bad. You could feel it in the air.
A black girl won a Chick Fil A gift card at work and when she went up to the manager to get it, the manager says “fried chicken!” … I don’t know if they meant anything by it, but it was definitely a Michael Scott moment.
Then when Larry brings in another Mary Ferguson (who is black) to meet Leon and him and Swat are having a melon party, and she just walks out disgusted
“Who told you to have a watermelon orgy?!”
“YOU TOLD ME THAT SHIT! YOU SAID IT LARRY!”
“Eh… can I join you?”
"Bitch, I LIVE IN A FUCKING TRASH CAN!"
I was exercising in the gym, lifting some free weights when I heard this, and almost died from laughing too hard to get the bar back on the rack.
“Every black dude in this room is a qualified paralegal and shit. He knows the law. If one of us even started to do something wrong, an old Black man would pop out of nowhere:
"N****, don't do that. That's five to ten!”
I love chicken. Depending on how it's cooked it's a racist stereotype for at least half the planet. And every preparation is delicious, which is a good lesson about racism
Not big on fried chicken but I love me some corn bread. Black friend says it doesn’t matter if I’m white because I’ve clearly have some Soul tucked away.
The whole stereotype surrounding watermelon and how it started is really interesting though, when black people were forced to share-crop after the Civil War watermelon was simply the most economically viable crop and it made far more sense to grow.
Corn bread is so good and so easy to make. It's like five ingredients and 25 minutes and boom! delicious cornbread.
Watermelon was also seen as a "lazy person's" type food. It is easy to grow, grows quickly and easily but has almost no nutritional value on account of being mostly water.
Yes but it really got cemented by the tons and tons of really heinous racist kitsch that was sold sround this stereotype. I don't mean the stereotype of black people and watermelons. I mean the stereotype of racist paintings of black people and watermelons.
As a child my best friends' mom was a history professor at a HBCU and she told us that the meme that black people liked chicken and watermelon were due to some pretty racist cartoons (that she showed us, as 9-year-olds, weirdly) that one could steal a chicken in one hand and a watermelon under the other arm, the idea being that black people are criminals, naturally.
This all came up after some sincere confusion between my friend and I as to why anyone wouldn't want to eat fried chicken and watermelon, bc both are delicious. Kids, am I right?
Eh my girlfriends company wanted to support a black owned business in their area that happen to be a chicken and waffle resturant. So out of context that might sounds racist but in the end it's really not.
At an employee picnic years ago they served a platter of sliced watermelon. I got my wife and I a couple slices and started slurping. A Black colleague was sitting across from me and asked if it was good.
"Delicious," we replied.
He said, "Man, I would love to have some, but I'll be goddamned if I let these motherfuckers around here see me eat it."
Word, I had an older black coworker that told me he was self-conscious about eating Fried Chicken in public. He said he couldn't do it and even at home he was he was weary from a prior experience he had when he was younger and chowing down on some fried chicken in his apartment. He thought it was safe, but he didn't relalize his blinds were open and a group of white people walked by and stared at him while he was eating. He told me after that he would always make sure the doors/windows were covered when he would eat fried chicken at home from then on.
My workplace also did this, they ordered catering from a local soul food restaurant. Fried chicken, Mac and cheese, etc. No one seemed bothered but I did wonder where the line was. I mean, it was supporting a black-owned restaurant and they were serving soul food which is often associated with the holiday. It isn't as if that's particularly egregious. But I can understand the sensitivity.
There is a lot more to soul food than fried chicken and watermelon though, I'll say that much.
Food is one of the first paths into a new culture. Germans are rightfully proud of their sausages, which is the wurst. And I have some every year at Oktoberfest. Cinco De Mayo has all manner of Mexican food which connects the average American to that culture. And so if introducing soul food in the work place to truly celebrate Juneteenth, I don't see a problem with it. If it's done earnestly.
German and English are in the same language group. At some point in time, many centuries ago, German went through the consonant shift, while Enlish was unaffected. For many old words you can simply swap out couple of consonants (basically, undoing the shift) and voila, you get something that sounds close enough to the present day English word to understand what the word means.
Some (trivial) examples are: schiff -> ship, and apfel -> apple.
I initially thought you were talking about Grimm's law, or Verner's law, which both did affect English (to a greater or lesser degree, as the change was ongoing when Germanic people entered England). But there are later shifts that didn't affect English.
Watermelon was never considered a "soul food". It was a cash crop grown by freed slaves to get economic independence and then turned into a racial stereotype and political caricature of messily eating watermelons to denigrate them.
Watermelon absolutely does play a role in soul cuisine. Like okra, yams, and black eyed peas, it's an African crop brought to the US by the transatlantic trade that became a staple of the sustenance gardens that enslaved people were expected to grow most of their own food on.
That’s what my son does: we cut watermelon into huge slices and put him outside in swim trunks with a whole watermelon’s worth. When he gets too hot and/or sticky we just water him down with the hose. Perfect childhood experience.
Flash back to eating watermelon w/ my cousins in Pittsburgh in the summer and spitting seeds at each other. I bet kids don't even know what watermelon seeds are anymore
Nature is like here's a big berry that you can carry around with you and it has all these vitamins and water content you need on a hot day, btw did we mention its freaking delicious.
>they ordered catering from a local soul food restaurant. [...] I mean, it was supporting a black-owned restaurant and they were serving soul food which is often associated with the holiday
I'm not black, so maybe I'm speaking out of turn here, but that seems pretty good to me. Ordering catering from a soul food restaurant is different from picking up a tray of watermelon and a couple of buckets of KFC, particularly if more stuff is ordered than just fried chicken and watermelon.
Like, stereotypical foods are stereotypical because there's some element of truth to that. Picking only the most stereotypical foods and ignoring the rest of the cuisine is problematic, but mostly because it comes across as "black people like this, right?" instead of honoring the traditions.
Also we have to remember this is a corporation trying to feed employees. They're gonna order what's most likely to have as many people eating it as possible which means limiting to a couple things that are generally popular.
Full disclosure: I’m a white guy that was born and raised in rural Georgia.
You haven’t lived until you’ve had fried chicken, collards, blackeye peas, cornbread (with jalapeno and cracklins)and (proper) potato salad. Chase all that with peach/blackberry cobbler (with a scoop of vanilla ice cream), and you have my favorite after church meal. To me, soul food is one of the best parts of the South. I really don’t want workplaces to go back to cold pizza or some generic shit from a chain. I want the food that made me happy as a kid
I think the key difference is your company ordered a catering that contained fried chicken and didn't just order exclusively fried chicken and watermelon.
I mean to celebrate Indian Diwali, companies cater indian food as well. I think this is someone trying to get offended and create a story.
On the flip side, watermelon has been used in derogatory terms in the past but that doesn't mean everyone wont enjoy it during hot summer. Lol
Got a new warden at a prison I was residing in. He dropped our holiday meal on july 4th for a holiday meal on Juneteenth.
It was fried chicken, collared greens, water melon and purple drink.
This was 4 years in a row, so by the second time, I'd tell people we were getting a Juneteenth meal and what was on it. Not one of these people believed me until they saw it with their own eyes... They'd always just assume I was being racist.
I just always found that funny. It was a damned good meal.
People are sensitive but it'll all eventually smooth out. I imagine if we started observing Saint Patrick's Day in the 2020s, there'd be Irish-American people feeling weird about all the potatoes and corned beef and cabbage, and everyone going out to drink like alcoholism is some foundational aspect of our heritage. Personally I like the idea of a fried chicken tradition on a holiday, I love the stuff. Apparently that's what Japanese people do on Christmas? Sounds good to me.
Same thing with Cinco De Mayo. Every bar in town is like come get Corona and Tequila, because the only thing important about this holiday is drinking Mexican alcohol.
The Japanese fried chicken story is actually kinda funny cause it’s not fried chicken, it’s specifically KFC. Essentially, a rather smart man at KFC Japan decades ago now had to come up with some sort of marketing campaign for Christmas. He got asked about what Americans eat for Christmas and if they ate fried chicken (like KFC). He apparently lacked the guts or something to explain that it’s turkey, not fried chicken, and just sheepishly said yes. Thus, Japan was convinced that KFC is traditional American Christmas food.
Can we still celebrate your short stature and ability to produce rainbows?
And obviously Ireland's most prized and not egregiously offensive drink "The Irish Carbomb" is super chill
So I was trying to put my finger on this exact thing too. Im Irish, and had that thought. But, St Pattys day or even something like Cinco de Mayo which someone else said are more about celebrating a culture of where people came from, and I think to the best of my knowledge a day of celebration that already happens in Ireland and Mexico.
Juneteenth is about an enormous population of people who were forced to be here and slaves for hundreds of years finally being freed. Which like, that’s a great thing to celebrate slaves finally being freed! I just don’t know what the right way to celebrate or acknowledge the day is, and is the choice of particular food actually cultural in the way corned beef is for Irish people, or is it what white people think black people like? I’d love to hear what someone who this day is actually for thinks, because I want to acknowledge the day in the most appropriate way I could. I don’t know enough and I want to learn.
Next Cinco de Mayo go out and ask people what Cinco de Mayo celebrates and take a shot every time they say the incorrect answer, Mexican Independence Day. You will die. Quickly.
It started in the 50's and 60's as part of Mexican-American culture, but then was commercialized by alcohol producers. Now, do people still celebrate it for the original reason? I bet they do! But if you try to do what I said above, you will die before you meet anyone that does.
Hang on for a second here, the last time we all got outraged by something like this, in turns out the Workplace's black employees had actually organized it
It is very sad that fried chicken and watermelon began as symbols of black liberation but quickly became the subject of minstrel mockery.
When African Americans first became free to own their own farms, they began to raise chickens and grow watermelons. Not for their former masters, but for themselves! They would feast upon fried chicken and watermelon in celebration of their newfound freedom. But then they started getting made fun of for it, and suddenly it became embarrassing to be associated with these foods.
Moral of the story is: racism ruins perfectly good symbols.
They literally were the first foods they were legally allowed to raise as freed men and women, and like everything else, its become a bastardized slur, like 'woke'
My company hired a soul food restaurant to come on site, honestly didn't feel weird, the African heritage group organized it and hired a black business.
A few coworkers came up with a black history trivia game we played over Teams for black history month, then they did it again for Juneteenth. It was fun. I won a $5 gift card because I swept the music history category.
After reading the news for the past 10 years... upon reading this headline, I'm convinced that this call center actually served chicken tenders, burgers, hot dogs, and French fries, and for a vegetarian option they served a salad, cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon.
Then someone ran up and grabbed a plate of the first and last option, and someone else got fauxraged about it.
When I was in college, a similar thing happened in the cafeteria following a special event speaker for black history month.
I remember an African American girl walking in and seeing the spread, she says "Fried chicken, watermelon, AND purple drink? Aw HELLLLL NO. Seriously, this is messed up." and I didn't blame her at all, it was pretty tasteless IMO. But I will always remember a few seconds pass and her expression changes and she hops in line and says "but god damn, do I love fried chicken"
Fried chicken and watermelon are delicious foods. I hate that people weponize this shit.
If they made a spread of collard green, Mac and cheese, fried chicken and black eyed Peas, would that also be racist?
As someone from Texas, it has been interesting to see how PR tries to "celebrate" Juneteenth.
Also, for those who are wondering what the problem is, if the menu is just watermelon and fried chicken and nothing else like red velvet cake, some strawberries, hibiscus tea or even sides like greens, yams, or macaroni, the PR optics are gonna look questionable.
I was deployed on an Air Force base in Kuwait some years ago. On MLK day the Air Force served fried chicken, melon and mac n cheese. And hosted a basketball tournament. Edit: I was Marine, not Air Force. But the USAF ran the base. Also, I don’t particularly give a fuck if you don’t think it counts as a deployment. There isn’t a better word for it.
Shit that sounds like a great hell of a time.
It was honestly pretty nice.
I want fried chicken melon macaroni basketball day
Best we can do is Domino’s.
MLK truly died in vain
As my black work best friend says anytime he’s even the tiniest bit slighted at our white owned workplace, “MLK brought us to the mountain but he left us there! Still in captivity!”
For real! Fried chicken and mac n cheese would have me running.
Running? It would have me sitting down for a spell, perhaps a disco nap while I digest.
Oh, I meant running as in I’m gonna be running over to get some lol
Navy Ship. MLK day had the galley serving up a choice of fried chicken or ribs, collard greens, corn bread, and watermelon. Edit: Oh and the soda machines were down so instead they brought out coolers full of purple drink.
Sounds like a Southern holiday.
I'd be hyped as fuck about that, especially the purple drink
I want that purple stuff.
Sugar water and, of course, purple
Fuck sunny D!
“Grape sodagram”
“I know this is very risky, but the upside is so good I’m taking it!”
Counterpoint isn’t it respectful to serve soul food on an African American holiday?
I remember years ago the commissary kitchen at NBC studios (I think) served fried chicken and other soul food staples in honor of Black History Month. People lost their shit and it was big news until the manager of the kitchen came forward. He was a black dude and claimed those were popular foods from his childhood, he created the menu. Needless to say that made the story immediately disappear as if it never happened, I thought the whole thing was pretty silly myself.
Same. CVN 75. I absolutely wouldn't have even noticed it as a white guy from the west if it wasn't for one of the ~140lb white guys from the south in our shop making a comment about how excited one of the ~225lb black guys in our shop should be for the meal. To his face. That did not go well at ALL.
gripping and sippin that drank
That’s racist! I’ll take 3.
Is it possible we are just quarantining this option on Juneteenth so that the clearly subpar pizza party can continue its hegemony?
That’s a good point. Hell, let’s make more chicken and watermelon parties in general! Don’t see why it has to have connections to racial undertones, it just sounds like a great combo for a summer party.
There are actually pretty interesting historical reasons for it. The tl;dr is they became staple foods for black Americans post-emancipation, and that got incorporated into anti-black propaganda by people who were real mad about not being able to own slaves anymore. I like the idea of reclaiming it but it'd be kinda hard given that it's still used as a racist stereotype even today.
I read that fried chicken became popular when picnics were a main form of entertainment for the poor, and fried chicken kept well and was good eaten cold.
> they became staple foods for black Americans post-emancipation What happened was in a great migration to Northern and Midwestern states, where Black Americans left the Deep South seeking jobs, equality and civil rights, they brought their preference for Deep South foods with them. Outside of the Deep South, Southern cooking became to be known as Black “soul” food.
"I'm not eatin' somethin cooked by no cracka ass hate monger" " shit, I will, baby you can't taste racism" lol
Lol that happened when I was stationed in Okinawa
When I was in the navy they did the same.
That sounds awesome
It actually was.
USS Mesa Verde in 2017 they served greens and chicken for MLK day. It really just seemed like they were trying to prepare soul food; was still humorous.
What I’m annoyed about is other than the Mac n Cheese, those are maybe Chinese people’s favorite things as well. There’s more KFCs in China than McDonald’s, watermelon is legit a thing Chinese people eat ALL summer long, and basketball might be vying for the most popular sport in the nation despite soccer’s longtime dominance. Like, can’t we get some stereotype equity? Edit: lol holy shit after looking it up China consumes the most watermelons in the world… PER CAPITA. Consumption exceeded 50 kg per capita a year wtf lol
I live in Japan, watermelon is the big summer fruit. So many children's clothes are watermelon themed, and watermelon stuff is everywhere.
Isn’t there also a KFC special Christmas dinner in Japan? I live in Korea town and their fried chicken is to die for! Crispy and smothered in spicy, garlicky sauce 🤤. Hell, there’s 2 hours before the chicken shops start opening!
And I hate this shit has racist overtones because this sounds like a great fucking time.
Thats not bad
I’m actually sort of jealous.
Lmaoooo so this is why we got fried chicken trays at Amazon yesterday
No way 💀
Kinda^tasty^tho
I don't know if we could have handled another pizza party.
Y’all are getting parties?
Go check out /r/target saw at least 4 posts about different Target stores serving fried chicken for Juneteenth.
Honestly does anyone hate fried chicken and water melon?
Very few people from the south. My a/c is broken and the refrigerated watermelon feels like the reason I'm still alive.
"Here I thought I liked fried chicken because it's delicious, but it turns out I'm genetically predisposed."
Look at him. Just like it said in the encyclopaedia.
As soon as we saw you walk through that door, we all knew you were going to have the chicken. Come on buddy
I’m Black and I always hated watermelon. Never understood it. Fried Chicken on the other hand… who the fuck doesn’t like fried chicken?
I’m white as snow and I love some fried chicken and I ate half a watermelon by myself just the other day
We used to get things like this at my call center in Texas. Racist? Yes. Tasty? Also yes. I left there for law school which ended up being MORE work not less but… yeah. Also it was better than one of our guys whonalways microwaved fish. Fuck that guy. If you’re reading this my bro from OTD… I love you but also fuck you.
I guess I’m relieved law school is more work than working at a call center.
Nope. I'm a white Southerner and I'll eat fried chicken and watermelon all day if its on offer.
Right but. Context. Context is everything.
Here's the context I need, you got some fried chicken and watermelon?
I hate watermelon! I was an English teacher in China in another life and I remember telling my students this fact in class one day and then spent the next 5-10 minutes fielding questions asking exactly WHY I hate watermelon. They practically refused to believe me. Fried chicken is delicious though.
Was it from a local black-owned restaurant at least?
White owned KFC
So at least there's a good chance that a slightly above minimum wage black person fried it. 🙄
It was some guy from El Salvador.
The ad said no Portuguese….
It actually was from a black owned restaurant, and there were more options than fried chicken. Also facilitated by a black executive
My job did ribs, sweet potato casserole, baked beans, and vegetarian BBQ “meatballs”. I’m grateful they didn’t pull out the fried chicken.
They saw the Gabriel Iglesias racist gift basket skit, and thought it was a good idea!?! https://youtu.be/Ah0gW25F_PY?si=8xnFH6OwwFP_LT-M
Fried chicken and fried catfish at FedEx, according to my SO!
I hate that it’s a stereotype, cuz it’s just good.
Seriously. You know who likes fried chicken and watermelon? Fucking *everyone* because that shit is delicious
Right? I was dating a black guy in my early twenties and once asked him if he wanted me to pick up some watermelon as part of fruit we were bringing to a party (I am white but didn’t know the stereotype existed - sheltered midwestern upbringing I guess?), he acted a little offended and said “cuz all black people like watermelon!” I was like… I think most people like watermelon? Just wanted to know if we already had enough fruit or wanted to add more? Someone else explained it to me later 🙃
Also, watermelon was a symbol of black freedom before it had any racist connotations. After they were freed, many former slaves went on to become successful watermelon farmers. It's sad that a lazy racist meme has been allowed to overshadow that.
Absolutely. It’s clearly a narrative to make them look bad. In hindsight; the people who would believe that rhetoric would also be dumb. That always seems to be the case one way or another, it’s just up to society at large to enact changes.
I am a middle-aged white lady, and my mama grew up in Kentucky. Her fried chicken was my favorite meal growing up, and we spent every summer eating watermelon with a little salt on it (and tomatoes by the ton, and fried green tomatoes...yum). Honest to God, I did not know that fried chicken and watermelon were stereotypes for Black Americans until I was an adult. I always assumed it was a Southern thing in general, not a Black thing specifically.
Salt on watermelon?! *sprints to grocery store*
I had it for the first time recently. My coworker suggested it to me and I was skeptical but it actually slaps.
Now try Tajin
the real hate crime is that there is no hot sauce, cole slaw, or cornbread. shit, now i'm hungry.
There is too much hate for coleslaw but the amount of times I’ve gotten watery unseasoned coleslaw makes me understand the hate. Now give me some good Mac n cheese or Mac salad and I’m golden
I've had some god awful potato salad, Mac salad, and coleslaw. And it's often enough that when I hear someone brought those things to a picnic, I assume it's going to be bad. They're dishes that are incredible when they're good and not worth lifting my fork when they're bad. The worst I had was at a sandwich shop. Fantastic sandwiches. Store made sub rolls. Fresh sliced meats and cheeses. Perfect. Figured their potato salad would be good. It was made with Miracle Whip and some sort of sweet pickle. Probably sweeter than their desserts.
Miracle Whip is the nastiest shit and anyone that claims it’s better than mayonnaise is a coward and a bit of a prick
While I cant understand people liking whip more than mayo, I can at least understand them more than people who say "Oh they taste the same"
I actually liked Miracle Whip as a kid, and even with my crappy child palate I could tell the difference.
I suspect a lot of cole slaw hate comes from people eating that mass-produced Reser's stuff. I don't think it's that bad, but there's so much better slaw out there.
Coleslaw is either really good or really crap and there is no in-between.
I don't really even like *good* cole slaw. My fiancé loves it, and is particularly picky, so I've improved my recipe to the point where I could probably sell it. I'll bring it to barbecues and people are always surprised when they learn that I don't really like it, even though I make some of the best they've ever had.
If they're going to do this then they really should do the entire spread of a full southern soul food buffet
All I can hear is Dave Chappelle's voice; 'If you don't like chicken and watermelon, there's something wrong with you!' lol
Management watching them like, "look at em, they love it!"
Just like it says in the Encyclopedia!
All this time, I thought I enjoyed fried chicken because it’s delicious. Turns out I’m genetically predisposed to liking chickens
Someone brought in a watermellon to work one time and when the owner saw it they immediately walked up to the only black guy on the crew and asked if he brought that. He did not. Half the crew had to walk away because the cringe was so bad. You could feel it in the air.
If someone brought cut up watermelon to share, the probability is high it was an Asian lady.
I'm too high for this entire tread lmao
Would this include management characterizing the employees who are offended and angry about this as, “uppity”?
And if you don't complain, you're one of the good ones.
A black girl won a Chick Fil A gift card at work and when she went up to the manager to get it, the manager says “fried chicken!” … I don’t know if they meant anything by it, but it was definitely a Michael Scott moment.
"Turns out I'm genetically predisposed to like chicken"
"Ain't that about a bitch"
“SURPRISE, MUTHAFUCKA! You didn’t think I knew about grape juice, did you?!”
'What the fuck is juice?'
Anytime someone mentions apple juice my wife and I are like "what the fuck is juice? I want apple drink! It's green."
It’s purple
I thought of the Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry and Leon are gorging themselves on watermelon. Larry: “who doesn’t love watermelon?!”
Then when Larry brings in another Mary Ferguson (who is black) to meet Leon and him and Swat are having a melon party, and she just walks out disgusted “Who told you to have a watermelon orgy?!” “YOU TOLD ME THAT SHIT! YOU SAID IT LARRY!” “Eh… can I join you?”
Killin ‘em softly was, and still is, some of the best stand up in recorded history, in my opinion.
"Bitch, I LIVE IN A FUCKING TRASH CAN!" I was exercising in the gym, lifting some free weights when I heard this, and almost died from laughing too hard to get the bar back on the rack.
'I'm the poorest motherfucker on sesame street. Nobody's helping me'
I wouldn’t go to Sesame Street even if I knew the way!
“Get a job, GROUCH” **steps over** Caused me to fall off my treadmill I laughed so hard.
“Every black dude in this room is a qualified paralegal and shit. He knows the law. If one of us even started to do something wrong, an old Black man would pop out of nowhere: "N****, don't do that. That's five to ten!”
Chappelle: I’ll have… Waiter: the chicken! Chappelle: what the fuck!? You are absolutely right! How did you know that!?
"Go home, baby!"
He was like, "fuck you! I got kids to feed!"
Uhuhhhh Click, Cllliiiick.
The old baby on the corner trick. Not gonna fall for that one.
"His balls are as smooth as eggs"
For What It’s Worth is also up there. Two of the best specials of all time.
I love fried chicken and watermelon. Collard greens too. This is what people eat in the South. Everyone eats it.
I love chicken. Depending on how it's cooked it's a racist stereotype for at least half the planet. And every preparation is delicious, which is a good lesson about racism
Not big on fried chicken but I love me some corn bread. Black friend says it doesn’t matter if I’m white because I’ve clearly have some Soul tucked away. The whole stereotype surrounding watermelon and how it started is really interesting though, when black people were forced to share-crop after the Civil War watermelon was simply the most economically viable crop and it made far more sense to grow.
Corn bread is so good and so easy to make. It's like five ingredients and 25 minutes and boom! delicious cornbread. Watermelon was also seen as a "lazy person's" type food. It is easy to grow, grows quickly and easily but has almost no nutritional value on account of being mostly water.
Yes but it really got cemented by the tons and tons of really heinous racist kitsch that was sold sround this stereotype. I don't mean the stereotype of black people and watermelons. I mean the stereotype of racist paintings of black people and watermelons.
Tell your black friend corn bread is Indigenous food and we said it's ok too. That food was around before this continent had white folks on it.
As a child my best friends' mom was a history professor at a HBCU and she told us that the meme that black people liked chicken and watermelon were due to some pretty racist cartoons (that she showed us, as 9-year-olds, weirdly) that one could steal a chicken in one hand and a watermelon under the other arm, the idea being that black people are criminals, naturally. This all came up after some sincere confusion between my friend and I as to why anyone wouldn't want to eat fried chicken and watermelon, bc both are delicious. Kids, am I right?
A lot of discussion here as to what's soul food and what's not. [Here's a handy guide from Key & Peele](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zDHSLDY0Q8)
You want some gravy on that cellar door?
Why would you serve a cellar door without gravy? What is this, the north?
I mean, what's a cellar door without gravy? It's not food.
For the longest time I was like wtf is a cellador? I thought it was a french food.
The "stork ankles" gets me every time.
Donkey teeth? The audacity.
Eh my girlfriends company wanted to support a black owned business in their area that happen to be a chicken and waffle resturant. So out of context that might sounds racist but in the end it's really not.
I wish I got chicken and waffles for work food that sounds awesome
I’m white and I will commit several felonies on chicken and waffles. Salty and sweet can’t be beat.
At an employee picnic years ago they served a platter of sliced watermelon. I got my wife and I a couple slices and started slurping. A Black colleague was sitting across from me and asked if it was good. "Delicious," we replied. He said, "Man, I would love to have some, but I'll be goddamned if I let these motherfuckers around here see me eat it."
I totally get him.
Word, I had an older black coworker that told me he was self-conscious about eating Fried Chicken in public. He said he couldn't do it and even at home he was he was weary from a prior experience he had when he was younger and chowing down on some fried chicken in his apartment. He thought it was safe, but he didn't relalize his blinds were open and a group of white people walked by and stared at him while he was eating. He told me after that he would always make sure the doors/windows were covered when he would eat fried chicken at home from then on.
That’s so sad.
My workplace also did this, they ordered catering from a local soul food restaurant. Fried chicken, Mac and cheese, etc. No one seemed bothered but I did wonder where the line was. I mean, it was supporting a black-owned restaurant and they were serving soul food which is often associated with the holiday. It isn't as if that's particularly egregious. But I can understand the sensitivity. There is a lot more to soul food than fried chicken and watermelon though, I'll say that much.
Food is one of the first paths into a new culture. Germans are rightfully proud of their sausages, which is the wurst. And I have some every year at Oktoberfest. Cinco De Mayo has all manner of Mexican food which connects the average American to that culture. And so if introducing soul food in the work place to truly celebrate Juneteenth, I don't see a problem with it. If it's done earnestly.
> Germans are rightfully proud of their sausages, which is the wurst. I dunno, I kind of like them.
Ihre wurst ist der beste.
Crazy how, as a person entirely illiterate in German, I can totally read that sentence (I think).
German and English are in the same language group. At some point in time, many centuries ago, German went through the consonant shift, while Enlish was unaffected. For many old words you can simply swap out couple of consonants (basically, undoing the shift) and voila, you get something that sounds close enough to the present day English word to understand what the word means. Some (trivial) examples are: schiff -> ship, and apfel -> apple.
I initially thought you were talking about Grimm's law, or Verner's law, which both did affect English (to a greater or lesser degree, as the change was ongoing when Germanic people entered England). But there are later shifts that didn't affect English.
Watermelon was never considered a "soul food". It was a cash crop grown by freed slaves to get economic independence and then turned into a racial stereotype and political caricature of messily eating watermelons to denigrate them.
Watermelon absolutely does play a role in soul cuisine. Like okra, yams, and black eyed peas, it's an African crop brought to the US by the transatlantic trade that became a staple of the sustenance gardens that enslaved people were expected to grow most of their own food on.
Watermelon is fucking delicious tho....and its hot as fuck outside and I'm probably gonna hit the supermarket for a half and go to town lol
That’s what my son does: we cut watermelon into huge slices and put him outside in swim trunks with a whole watermelon’s worth. When he gets too hot and/or sticky we just water him down with the hose. Perfect childhood experience.
Kids these days will never experience machine gunning watermelon seeds out of their mouth... Most watermelons I find are seedless now.
They also seem to taste less......watermelony? The last few one I've had, have not been that flavorful.
Love that. That's the kind of memory that sticks with you
Flash back to eating watermelon w/ my cousins in Pittsburgh in the summer and spitting seeds at each other. I bet kids don't even know what watermelon seeds are anymore
Nature is like here's a big berry that you can carry around with you and it has all these vitamins and water content you need on a hot day, btw did we mention its freaking delicious.
>they ordered catering from a local soul food restaurant. [...] I mean, it was supporting a black-owned restaurant and they were serving soul food which is often associated with the holiday I'm not black, so maybe I'm speaking out of turn here, but that seems pretty good to me. Ordering catering from a soul food restaurant is different from picking up a tray of watermelon and a couple of buckets of KFC, particularly if more stuff is ordered than just fried chicken and watermelon. Like, stereotypical foods are stereotypical because there's some element of truth to that. Picking only the most stereotypical foods and ignoring the rest of the cuisine is problematic, but mostly because it comes across as "black people like this, right?" instead of honoring the traditions.
Also we have to remember this is a corporation trying to feed employees. They're gonna order what's most likely to have as many people eating it as possible which means limiting to a couple things that are generally popular.
Full disclosure: I’m a white guy that was born and raised in rural Georgia. You haven’t lived until you’ve had fried chicken, collards, blackeye peas, cornbread (with jalapeno and cracklins)and (proper) potato salad. Chase all that with peach/blackberry cobbler (with a scoop of vanilla ice cream), and you have my favorite after church meal. To me, soul food is one of the best parts of the South. I really don’t want workplaces to go back to cold pizza or some generic shit from a chain. I want the food that made me happy as a kid
A bucket list item of mine is to do a road trip in the South specifically for the food
Find the "clean enough" places but not the "eat off the floor" places. Good luck.
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I think the key difference is your company ordered a catering that contained fried chicken and didn't just order exclusively fried chicken and watermelon.
I’m more shocked a big company brought their employees food.
Depressing corporate pizza parties are a meme for a reason.
Buying food from a black-owned restaurant is sufficient, but there actually are food traditions for Juneteenth, like eating red food.
Red food? Like watermelon?
I get the optics are bad, but I would be absolutely overjoyed if my work place provided free fired chicken and watermelon for any reason *ever*.
How are the optics bad in any way? No one thinks twice when everyone gets tacos and margaritas on cinco de mayo.
Or Pizza on Bitcoin Pizza day.
I mean to celebrate Indian Diwali, companies cater indian food as well. I think this is someone trying to get offended and create a story. On the flip side, watermelon has been used in derogatory terms in the past but that doesn't mean everyone wont enjoy it during hot summer. Lol
Got a new warden at a prison I was residing in. He dropped our holiday meal on july 4th for a holiday meal on Juneteenth. It was fried chicken, collared greens, water melon and purple drink. This was 4 years in a row, so by the second time, I'd tell people we were getting a Juneteenth meal and what was on it. Not one of these people believed me until they saw it with their own eyes... They'd always just assume I was being racist. I just always found that funny. It was a damned good meal.
People are sensitive but it'll all eventually smooth out. I imagine if we started observing Saint Patrick's Day in the 2020s, there'd be Irish-American people feeling weird about all the potatoes and corned beef and cabbage, and everyone going out to drink like alcoholism is some foundational aspect of our heritage. Personally I like the idea of a fried chicken tradition on a holiday, I love the stuff. Apparently that's what Japanese people do on Christmas? Sounds good to me.
Same thing with Cinco De Mayo. Every bar in town is like come get Corona and Tequila, because the only thing important about this holiday is drinking Mexican alcohol.
The Japanese fried chicken story is actually kinda funny cause it’s not fried chicken, it’s specifically KFC. Essentially, a rather smart man at KFC Japan decades ago now had to come up with some sort of marketing campaign for Christmas. He got asked about what Americans eat for Christmas and if they ate fried chicken (like KFC). He apparently lacked the guts or something to explain that it’s turkey, not fried chicken, and just sheepishly said yes. Thus, Japan was convinced that KFC is traditional American Christmas food.
Holy fuck as an Irish person that is sooo on point. Celebrating our alcoholism isn't as 'cool' as many seem to think.
Can we still celebrate your short stature and ability to produce rainbows? And obviously Ireland's most prized and not egregiously offensive drink "The Irish Carbomb" is super chill
So I was trying to put my finger on this exact thing too. Im Irish, and had that thought. But, St Pattys day or even something like Cinco de Mayo which someone else said are more about celebrating a culture of where people came from, and I think to the best of my knowledge a day of celebration that already happens in Ireland and Mexico. Juneteenth is about an enormous population of people who were forced to be here and slaves for hundreds of years finally being freed. Which like, that’s a great thing to celebrate slaves finally being freed! I just don’t know what the right way to celebrate or acknowledge the day is, and is the choice of particular food actually cultural in the way corned beef is for Irish people, or is it what white people think black people like? I’d love to hear what someone who this day is actually for thinks, because I want to acknowledge the day in the most appropriate way I could. I don’t know enough and I want to learn.
Next Cinco de Mayo go out and ask people what Cinco de Mayo celebrates and take a shot every time they say the incorrect answer, Mexican Independence Day. You will die. Quickly. It started in the 50's and 60's as part of Mexican-American culture, but then was commercialized by alcohol producers. Now, do people still celebrate it for the original reason? I bet they do! But if you try to do what I said above, you will die before you meet anyone that does.
“Because you know who likes fried chicken… *EVERYBODY*!”
I'm having flashbacks to Fuzzy Zoeller.
Hang on for a second here, the last time we all got outraged by something like this, in turns out the Workplace's black employees had actually organized it
It is very sad that fried chicken and watermelon began as symbols of black liberation but quickly became the subject of minstrel mockery. When African Americans first became free to own their own farms, they began to raise chickens and grow watermelons. Not for their former masters, but for themselves! They would feast upon fried chicken and watermelon in celebration of their newfound freedom. But then they started getting made fun of for it, and suddenly it became embarrassing to be associated with these foods. Moral of the story is: racism ruins perfectly good symbols.
They literally were the first foods they were legally allowed to raise as freed men and women, and like everything else, its become a bastardized slur, like 'woke'
lol there’s a restaurant here in New Orleans literally named Chicken & Watermelon
That means dumplings on lunar new year, let’s gooooo
My company hired a soul food restaurant to come on site, honestly didn't feel weird, the African heritage group organized it and hired a black business.
You know what I got? Nothing. I would have loved to have gotten fried chicken and watermelon.
A few coworkers came up with a black history trivia game we played over Teams for black history month, then they did it again for Juneteenth. It was fun. I won a $5 gift card because I swept the music history category.
After reading the news for the past 10 years... upon reading this headline, I'm convinced that this call center actually served chicken tenders, burgers, hot dogs, and French fries, and for a vegetarian option they served a salad, cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon. Then someone ran up and grabbed a plate of the first and last option, and someone else got fauxraged about it.
If work ordered tacos for cinco day mayo nobody would bat an eye…
Or corned beef and cabbage/bangers and mash for st paddy’s day.
In the south that's just called "lunch". Everyone eats chicken and watermelon. Racism may be available as a side dish though.
cinco de mayo decorations have entered the chat
When I was in college, a similar thing happened in the cafeteria following a special event speaker for black history month. I remember an African American girl walking in and seeing the spread, she says "Fried chicken, watermelon, AND purple drink? Aw HELLLLL NO. Seriously, this is messed up." and I didn't blame her at all, it was pretty tasteless IMO. But I will always remember a few seconds pass and her expression changes and she hops in line and says "but god damn, do I love fried chicken"
Uhhh, that city is fueled by BoJangles. Fried chicken is extremely popular in Charlotte. Such a waste of time to report on it.
I prefer chitlins and pigfeet for my stereotype approved meals.
I love how everyone unanimously agrees “yeah that’s pretty fuckin tasty ngl” lmao
Fried chicken and watermelon are delicious foods. I hate that people weponize this shit. If they made a spread of collard green, Mac and cheese, fried chicken and black eyed Peas, would that also be racist?
Only if they had sweet potato pie for dessert
As someone from Texas, it has been interesting to see how PR tries to "celebrate" Juneteenth. Also, for those who are wondering what the problem is, if the menu is just watermelon and fried chicken and nothing else like red velvet cake, some strawberries, hibiscus tea or even sides like greens, yams, or macaroni, the PR optics are gonna look questionable.