# When did ethnic food items become racial slurs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701 "2012-08-16T19:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rhaegar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@Rhaegar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhaegar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/21 "2012-08-16T21:12:56Z")
Ah, I had forgotten about Kraut and Frog. Beaner, eggplant and banana are all new to me. Fried chicken and watermelon are more racial stereotypes than actual slur names I think. I still remember Fuzzy Zoeller making a crack that Tiger Woods was likely to serve “Fried Chicken and Watermelon” at the Masters golf tourney dinner one year. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/22 "2012-08-16T21:13:11Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > Not quite the same thing but Oreo, egg, and banana were less than positive terms that I recall being in used when I was a young kid (80s). > > I do recall in elementary school a kid who got the nickname chicken feet for a while. But I think it was because we found it funny that he’d eaten such a gross (to us then, I’ve had them many times since myself) thing, not because he was Vietnamese. “Oreo” isn’t a racist slur anyway. It’s a behavioral criticism (and admittedly a slur) born of a pretty clear metaphor. I can’t imagine a white person calling me an Oreo, but I’ve often by called such by other black people. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/23 "2012-08-16T21:32:47Z")
I’d argue that “you’re not behaving in an appropriately black manner” or “you’re acting too Asian for a white person” or “you’re acting too white for an Asian person” are racist slurs of some sort. Hardly the worst end of the spectrum though. Curious where “wigger” (which is just the same thing, in reverse, without relying on food) falls on the line. And if you don’t think white people would use Oreo in that way, my experience has been different (not in reference to me as I’m white, but most of the times I’ve heard it, it has been from the mouths of white people.) Personally, since we never ate Oreos as a kid I just got teased for calling people Hydroxes. ---
**Author:** ![Rhaegar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@Rhaegar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhaegar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/24 "2012-08-16T21:50:04Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > [Limeys are Roast Beef](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2913151.stm) That article was enlightening. Apparently this is a much more common phenomenon than I had realized, and going on for a long time as well. From the link you posted : "The Racial Slur database lists hundreds of such terms, including “locust eaters” for Afghans, “salmon crunchers” for Alaskans, and “goulash-heads” for Hungarians. American use of the word “limey” as shorthand for British is another example, referring to the eating of limes by British sailors who were anxious to avoid scurvy. " ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/25 "2012-08-16T22:05:23Z")
The first “Harold and Kumar” movie had one, too. A Twinkie: yellow on the outside, white on the inside. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/26 "2012-08-16T22:14:25Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > I’d argue that “you’re not behaving in an appropriately black manner” or “you’re acting too Asian for a white person” or “you’re acting too white for an Asian person” are racist slurs of some sort. Racism is the belief that one “race” is inherently superior or inferior to others. Black people who call me an Oreo are not engaging in that behavior; they are accusing _me_ of engaging in that behavior, by eschewing what they see as the behavioral norms of black Americans in favor of the norms of white Americans out of shame and self-loathing. It’s not a racist slur; it’s an _accusation of self-directed racism._ A very stupid accusation, yes, but that’s not the point. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/27 "2012-08-16T22:16:41Z")
A classmate of mine in 8th grade called a rotund black girl “Aunt Jemima” and got in a lot of trouble for it. [http://www.auntjemima.com/](http://www.auntjemima.com/) ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/28 "2012-08-16T22:24:50Z")
Ok, how about we call it a racial slur? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/29 "2012-08-16T22:25:55Z")
> [@Yarster](#): > > Not sure if it counts, but it would appear someone who is black might be referred to as an ‘eggplant’ based on the movie ‘True Romance’. > > Dennis Hopper accuses Christopher Walken’s character of being part ‘eggplant’ when he is being tortured as to his son’s whereabouts as an insult to the otherwise Sicilian mobster to get him to kill him quickly, knowing that in the context of the Moors invading Sicily, that all Sicilians are part black or ‘part eggplant’ explaining their dark hair and darker (than normal Italians’) skin… > [@BurnMeUp](#): > > Eggplant was also used in the Steve Martin movie “The Jerk” > > Navin: “Select class. Very, very good.” > Boss: “We’ll keep the eggplants out!” > Navin: “Ah good! We don’t want any vegetables.” > Con Man: “Na, na. The jungle bunnies!” > Navin: “Oh of course! They’ll eat the vegetables!” _Mulignan_ (often shortened to “mooley”), derived from _melanzana_ (eggplant) is a standard slur in Italian (especially Sicilian) for a black person. It was often used in the Sopranos. In this case, however, it refers to skin color instead of an ethnic food. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/30 "2012-08-16T22:36:25Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > Ok, how about we call it a racial slur? I prefer to just use the word _insult_ myself. Words have meaning. True, they have multiple meanings more often than not, but it’s possible to add on so many usages that the word loses usefulness. Oreo isn’t the same sort of slur as nigger, kike, honkey, and so forth, because it’s not based on an immutable, inherent aspect of a person’s identity; it’s all about behavior. I will always be black, but I could choose to eschew the parts of my behavior that lead some other black persons to call me an Oreo. I could listen to hip hop rather than show tunes; I could dress differently; I could watch Tyler Perry television shows rather than read mystery and fantasy novels. But I decline to do any of those things. I sometimes call young urban black men who behavior in stupid, destructive, violent ways _ghetto_ or _gangsta_. When I do that I’m insulting them using terms I would not apply to a young white rural man who was similarly stupid, stupid, destructive, violent ways. But that doesn’t make _gangsta_ a racist slur; it’s still an insult as I am using it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/31 "2012-08-16T22:45:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > “Oreo” isn’t a racist slur anyway. It’s a behavioral criticism (and admittedly a slur) born of a pretty clear metaphor. I can’t imagine a white person calling me an Oreo, but I’ve often by called such by other black people. For a related example, there’s “[Apple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs#A)”; used by one Native American to another to call them “red on the outside, white on the inside”. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/32 "2012-08-16T22:50:30Z")
“Kraut.” In high school, my friend Jon and I, being of German descent in a heavily German and Irish-settled area, tried to find the Irish equivalent of “Kraut.” We settled on “Potato.” ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/33 "2012-08-16T22:52:29Z")
Probably just the region, but when I was a teen, taco referred to a woman’s vagina. So, if you were a guy, you were being called a “pussy” Going on a date with a girl, you were gonna get some taco. Taco this and that, open in the classroom for almost an entire school year before the faculty caught on. Then you couldn’t say “tacos” even when you were asked what they were serving in the cafeteria. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/34 "2012-08-16T23:00:37Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > For a related example, there’s “[Apple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs#A)”; used by one Native American to another to call them “red on the outside, white on the inside”. I’ve never heard of that one; thank you for educating me. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/35 "2012-08-16T23:00:43Z")
Fast and dirty micro-model of the euphemism treadmill. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/36 "2012-08-16T23:14:37Z")
Re watermelon. I don’t know if “Watermelon Man” is a slur or just a groovy tune. What about “coon”? Is that from rural people – black and white, but whites conveniently forgotten – eating road meat? I heard the “eggplant” and “cantaloupe” exchange from … _True Romance_ was improvised by Hopper and Walken. Is eggplant a real term for southern Italians? I’m betting cantaloupe was just supposed to be funny. Wait – white people. “White bread,” “mayonnaise.” I guess “milquetoast” has been around for a long time in its current meaning as roughly “pantywaist” or “sap” or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/37 "2012-08-16T23:16:35Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > A classmate of mine in 8th grade called a rotund black girl “Aunt Jemima” and got in a lot of trouble for it. > > [http://www.auntjemima.com/](http://www.auntjemima.com/) Perhaps he was simply a fan of the film The Eiger Sanction. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/38 "2012-08-16T23:27:46Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > Is eggplant a real term for southern Italians? No. See my post above. Eggplant is a term for “black.” He was indicating that _because_ he was a southern Italian, he was part black. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/39 "2012-08-16T23:42:06Z")
“Mackerel snapper” was a derogatory name for Catholics. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701/40 "2012-08-16T23:54:58Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > [Limeys are Roast Beef](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2913151.stm) Rosbif was what I thought of first when I read the OP (despite my being neither British nor French). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ethnic-food-items-become-racial-slurs/631701.md?page=3)