Thread by @captainsafia

Mini-rant time.

Coming from Sudan, I'm used to most Americans either not knowing anything about Sudan or having extremely reductive views on the country ("Oh, you mean like Darfur?").

I'm also used to Sudan not being referenced all that much in American pop culture.

Recently, I was watching an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

*spoiler alert*

One of the characters, who holds the lovable-weirdo-everyone-tolerates trope, has had a lifetime ban placed on him ordering lunch for the team because he orders disgusting food.

He was recently injured so the team decided to lift the ban temporarily as a courtesy and let him order lunch. He exclaims that he's been "craving Sudanese all morning."

I'm like "oh no, not this."

Later on, they are eating lunch and one of the other characters complains about a hoof in her food and there is a gag made about that.

As far as I know, no animal hooves are used in Sudanese cooking.

This scene has been irritating me all morning and I needed to rant about it.

Like I deal with America's imperialist and colonialist gaze with respect to Africa a lot but it was so annoying to have my culture (very specifically my culture and one that is often ignored) to be made the butt of a joke.

I guess what irritates me the most is that Brooklyn Nine Nine is a pretty popular show and I was looking forward to having some positive representation about Sudan in a popular show but that's too much to ask for in this day and age.

Racism in America is in part bolstered by the vast amount of effort undertaken by the media and education system to manufacture Africa as a, as the President would say, "shithole."

Ending this mini-rant on a positive note and sharing this website which includes a great collection of recipes for traditional Sudanese food.

Check it out!

sudanesekitchen.com

Omg. I'm shook. Look at this testimonial they have for the cookbook on their website.

"The food Trump didn't want you to have." 🤣