Washington Post Corrects Column That Dissed Indian Food
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Gene Weingarten wrote that the entire cuisine is based on a single spice. Agita and a correction ensued.
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Washington Post humor columnist Gene Weingarten left a sour taste in many mouths when he wrote that he doesn’t like Indian food because the entire cuisine is based on one spice (wrong!), which he identified as curry (not a spice!). The column, which covered a variety of Weingarten’s culinary dislikes, sparked a torrent of criticism—including a tweet from Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi telling him to “f-ck off.” The Aug. 19 column was amended Monday with a correction at the top: “A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Indian cuisine is based on one spice, curry, and that Indian food is made up only of curries, types of stew. In fact, India’s vastly diverse cuisines use many spice blends and include many other types of dishes. The article has been corrected.” Weingarten also tweeted a defensive apology, saying he did not mean to be “insulting.”
From start to finish plus the illo, the column was about what a whining infantile ignorant d---head I am. I should have named a single Indian dish, not the whole cuisine, & I do see how that broad-brush was insulting. Apologies.(Also, yes, curries are spice blends, not spices.)
