We’ve all heard that white people can’t handle spicy food and have no culture. We shouldn’t be sensitive to self-deprecating mildly-offensive jokes. But generalizing and downplaying all “white” cultures isn’t even offensive. It simply makes no sense.
I grew up Sicilian and Armenian in Minnesota, where the population is very Northern European. Even though my friends and I checked the same “White/Caucasian” box on government forms, we certainly didn’t inherit the same cultures. My family proudly displayed oriental rugs and Armenian crosses in our house and ate stereotypical big Italian dinners.
The white label covers Europe as well as nations in the Near East and North Africa. Countries like Latvia, Turkey, and Morocco bring vastly different images to mind. We dare not group all individual African or Asian cultures together, and rightly so. So why does it happen to white cultures?
The argument is that since Europeans have been in America for a long time, they forgot their cultural origins and blended into a dominant, overarching white American culture. Non-white cultures, by deviating from the white-dominated norm, are the real possessors of culture.
It is true that many white Americans have lost touch with their ancestral cultures to a degree, but that’s true for any group, white or otherwise, that’s been in a new county for a few generations. Even America’s most vibrant immigrant communities will assimilate in a few decades, while their influences still remain. It’s hard to imagine New York without Jews and Italians. Louisiana wouldn’t be Louisiana if not for the lasting French and Spanish influence. Historically, there’s never been one overarching white culture.
In terms of the spice jokes, sure, some white cultures like bland food – I’m looking at the Brits who eat beans on toast. But that’s not a remotely accurate representation of white people broadly. Weren’t the Americas discovered by white people who got lost looking for spices? Try my dad’s shish kebob and tell me white people have no taste.
Northern Europeans often get the brunt of the jokes. Minnesota Gov. and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz echoed the sentiment in a recent campaign video in August.
“Black pepper is the top of the spice level in Minnesota,” Walz said to Vice President Kamala Harris during a discussion about tacos.
Of course, it’s only a joke, but continually beating down the Germans, Irish, or Scandinavians isn’t helping anyone’s cause.
Plus, spice tolerance is not the objective measure of having culture. When I drive around Minnesota’s small towns, I see breathtaking German churches built by immigrants in the 1800s. Come Christmas, my high school classmates looked forward to enjoying their family’s Norwegian recipes. That’s culture. That’s something to be proud of, too.
I’ve been open about my ethnic background at Hillsdale. People ask about my family’s story surviving the Armenian Genocide, and I’ve taught friends how to make baklava and pasta from scratch. But I often hear others immediately respond by putting their Northern European ethnicities down, saying they’re “just white” or “not interesting.”
It doesn’t matter if someone is Scandinavian or Mediterranean; there is a cultural history that should be explored, not downplayed or dismissed.
Wherever people exist, so does culture. White people are no exception to that. Just like every other race, white includes a myriad of vibrant cultures. Let’s not erase them.
Adriana Azarian is a junior studying politics.
