If someone wants to really be outraged then this line from a recent review of a brewery in Beaverton, “Hyggley’s brews will be paired with pintxos, small plates inspired by the snacks enjoyed in Spain’s Basque Country. They’re kind of like tapas, but they come with each beer and are usually skewered on a toothpick. It is one of Spain’s most civilized traditions.” I am quite confused on whether I will be upset over the reference to Spanish Tradition being the most civilized when the Inquisition harmed many people or the reference to the Basque which are people repressed by the Spanish Gov, or, by the Basque that were indiscriminate bombers while I lived in Madrid. Either way I am sure the cultural appropriation of the Tapa will be protested by the Basque and the Spaniards after they finish their afternoon cafe Ole and brandy.
A few days ago, I wrote about Saffron Colonial, a new restaurant here in Portland that “serves the globally inspired dishes from the height of the British Empire.”
It’s a restaurant. It serves food. What could possibly be controversial about that…right??
Being the reliably PC city we tend to be, there were those here in Puddletown who reacted with a truly silly inspired degree of faux outrage. Claiming that Saffron Colonial was “glorifying colonialism,” protesters staged not one but TWO marches (that I know of; there may have been more) down Williams Avenue to register their considerable outrage. Not only that, but protesters have felt sufficiently righteous and empowered to make several demands of Sally Krantz, the owner of Saffron Colonial. Among those demands were that Krantz (who really just wants to make food she finds interesting) change the restaurant’s name.
If I owned the restaurant, I’d be telling protestors to commit lewd act upon themselves…which is why I don’t own a restaurant. Diplomacy is generally lost on me. So is self-righteous faux outrage and political correctness.
Given the protests against Saffron Colonial, Ristretto Roasters, Krantz’s coffee supplier, declined to continue to sell her their products. This week, Steven Smith Teamaker has decided it will no longer sell its product to Krantz.
Way to cave in to (and thus further empower) the screaming ninnies, eh?
“We wanted to reach out to let you know we have stopped selling product to Saffron Colonial,” a company representative wrote in an email to activists.
Steven Smith Teamaker is arguably Portland’s finest tea company, founded by the late and much-beloved Steven Smith and now run by his protege Tony Tellin.
Last week Ristretto Roasters ended its long relationship with owner Saffron Colonial owner Sally Krantz, which dated back to her days in Hong Kong. A few days later, Ex Novo, a non-profit brewery in the North Portland, asked its distributor to halt sales to Saffron.
From where I sit, this “controversy” seems silly in the extreme, political correctness run amok from people with WAY too much time (and a gift for theater of the absurd) on their hands. Thankfully, I’m not the only one thoroughly gobsmacked by the silliness…but there are a surprising number of people who agree with the protesters.
I have yet to patronize Saffron Colonial, but I plan to do so soon- as much to show my support as to sample the cuisine. Krantz has made it clear all along that she’s all about the food. She’s running a restaurant, not trying to rewrite history and/or glorify genocide and oppression. There’s no political agenda, no attempt to glorify the excesses of the British Raj, no attempt to extol the virtues of colonialism. She simply wants to make and serve food she finds interesting. Period.
It seems that for some folks, nothing can happen without a political statement being made or implied.
People are free to hold such opinions as they will. If their tender sensibilities are bruised by the name of Krantz’s restaurant they’re certainly free to take their money elsewhere. That’s how capitalism works. Saffron Colonial may or may not survive given the shitstorm it’s faced thus far, but I don’t believe anyone has ANY right to makes demands of Krantz for any reason. It should rise and/or fall based on the quality of its food and its business practices…not a manufactured political controversy.
If you believe that protesting Saffron Colonial is an appropriate and reasonable thing, you really need to get over yourself. If you want to vent your considerable outrage, how about doing it on something that actually matters? Portland is a city facing more than a few serious and significant problems, issues eminently worthy of considerable amounts of righteous outrage. Targeting a restaurant is little more than a silly, mean-spirited attempt to destroy someone’s hard work and dreams for no good reason.
We should be better than this, but given Portland’s reputation for enforcing political correctness, it’s not surprising that so many have stooped so low. If it wasn’t for manufactured outrage, some would have no outrage at all.
