Cambridge University college under fire for “cultural misrepresentation” of food items

Pembroke College in Cambridge is facing heavy criticism from students as food items with names like ‘Jamaican Stew’ and ‘Tunisian Rice’ have been labelled “cultural misrepresentations”.

The Sunday Times reported that one student commented on Facebook: “Dear Pembroke catering staff, stop mixing mango and beef and calling it ‘Jamaican stew’. I’m actually half Jamaican pls show me where in the Carribean they mix fruit and meat [sic].”

The student added: “I’m used to as a minority student being constantly invalidated when flagging up specific issues but if people feel their cultures are misrepresented they have they right to address this. Microaggressions are a reality of everyday existence for many people of colour.”

Another student complained about a different item, saying: “sorry but what is this we don’t eat these tings in Tunisia [sic].” The item in question was “cauliflower, date, and tofu tagine with Tunisian rice and coriander yoghurt.”

Other students chimed in and identified foods they were unhappy with. One said: “Sort out your Chinese chicken.”

Another complained about an item closer to home: “Don’t get me started on the Yorkshire puddings!”

Andrew Cates, the bursar at Pembroke College told The Sunday Times: “As a college which prides itself on the high standards of our cuisine and wants all our students of diverse backgrounds to feel a valued part of our community, we encourage our catering staff to take the views of any of our students seriously.”

However, not all students agree that Pembroke College should be so heavily criticised for this.

According to The Times, one student said:”You’ve got to be pretty privileged to have the time to sit and moan about the naming of the food you eat at one of the best universities in the world.”

One student also expressed their concern for the Pembroke College college staff members under fire: “If a member of Pembroke catering staff saw the original post, they might be dismayed, given the relative privileges afforded to all the students at Pembroke in comparison to the work they do to turn around lunch every day.

“So is there a better way to inform them when they’ve misrepresented a culture and that it’s offensive, even perhaps without meaning to be?”

It has since been reported that the complaints were raised at the college food committee meeting. The decision has been taken to “do more to avoid offending anyone else”.