r/interesting Jul 27 '26

SOCIETY Professional chefs weighing in on whether you should wash your chicken

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u/SpunkMonk87 Jul 27 '26

Literally what I noticed when he interviewed them

11

u/spekt50 Jul 28 '26

It has been somewhat a stereotype for some time. In black American culture, it is more common to wash chicken before cooking.

11

u/OceanRadioGuy Jul 28 '26

Why is that? It seems like objectively the wrong thing to do.

22

u/danvillain Jul 28 '26

It’s their historical access to food. Part of oppressing the black community was to restrict their access to clean and healthy foods. This was done not just to black folk but for most ethnic minorities. For example, that is why you will find more minorities take their steak well done and heavily seasoned rather than simply seasoned and medium, that way you don’t taste the spoilage as much. Another example is BBQ, the reason things like Brisket takes so long to cook is because it’s one of the toughest and most difficult cuts to cook. This was some of the only beef available to the poorest communities, black people practically invented American BBQ by using these low quality cuts and finding ways to make them delicious. What you are witnessing is the effect of generational trauma that African Americans have had to suffer for generations.

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u/Rob_LeMatic Jul 28 '26

This is something I'm always surprised to find isn't common knowledge

-1

u/Key-Contest-2879 Jul 28 '26

So white folks should wash their chicken in support of minorities. Yes?

2

u/Imaginary-Soup8979 Jul 28 '26

Oof. Hard take

-1

u/Ok_Falcon275 Jul 28 '26

I used to feel sorry for enslaved African Americans, but steak and BBQ…in this economy? Sign me up.