Exotic Appetites

by Lisa M. Heldke

Exotic Appetites is a far-reaching exploration of what Lisa Heldke calls food the passion, fashion and pursuit of experimentation with ethnic foods. The aim of Heldke's critique is to expose and explore the colonialist attitudes embedded in our everyday relationship and approach to foreign foods. Exotic Appetites brings to the table the critical literatures in postcolonialism, critical race theory, and feminism in a provocative and lively discussion of eating and ethnic cuisine. Chapters look closely at the meanings and implications involved in the quest for unusual restaurants and exotic dishes, related restaurant reviews and dining guides, and ethnic cookbooks.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Food Writing

298 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2003

About the author

Lisa Heldke is a professor of philosophy at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Mona · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5: overall a thoughtful, personal engagement with the colonialist attitudes that people carry into eating “ethnic” cuisines. had some critiques that i’ll share in more depth on my substack sometime…

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heldke’s book is meant to direct our attention to the inherently colonialist practices of eating “ethnic” or “other” cuisines, an extension of orientalism into the consumer practices of the 20th century. She is writing from a philosophical and theoretical perspective, and as such she does little critiques of how such practices were put in place both by the historical development of global trade and distribution systems, mass marketing, or the development of a consumer market that is constantly needing to be fed. Such framing would help explain why it is so hard to shake off the impulses to seek ever greater proximity to “authentic” culinary experiences, and why white consumers tend to view their consumer practices and culinary traditions as neutral, traditional, or in need of exotic “spicing up.” It would have been very interesting for her to include an entire chapter on the purpose of the travelogue to exoticize agricultural and culinary practices to Western audiences, and how such travelogues were essential to both settlement and capitalist practices.) Yet even without a historical framework in place, there is much to be valued in what she is exposing, asking us to think critically about the colonialist practices that cause some to seek out “hidden menus,” judge restaurants’ authenticity based on their décor and the race/ethnicity of their staff, and encourage us to take home cookbooks that introduce foreign flavors but only with a limited degree of preserved foreignness. I especially appreciate her critique of cookbooks that base treatises on tradition and authenticity on claims to insider knowledge, yet continue to have to translate for outsider audiences.
One thing I would have liked a greater exploration of—to what extent can the restaurant reviewer facilitate an understanding of a foreign culture without acting as a colonizing force? How would she respond to Jonathan Gold’s work as treating immigrant cuisines as art? And why does she not make a distinction between decolonizing consumption practices versus decolonizing cuisines themselves? Which falls under the purview of insiders versus outsiders to initiate?

[michaelben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful, provocative, challenging, frustrating.