These racist cakes have caused a row in France
To Grasse, France, where the local magistate is eyeing cakes which are an “attack on human dignity”. Baker Tannick Tavolaro’s “Gods” and “Goddesses” cakes are in the forms of two obese people fashioned from gingerbread and chocolate mouse enrobed in dark chocolate. The tips of their primary sexual characteristics are in a pink fondant.
“It’s pure and simple racism,” says Louis-George Tin from France’s Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN), a twist on the “obscene slave trade caricatures that tap into the tradition of colonial racism… We are in a country where the word equality is part of the constitution, which means it doesn’t allow for racism. Does he think these treats adhere to the values of the French Republic? We must fight this kind of racism. I cannot imagine what would be said (rightly) if an African baker decided to represent Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary in a similar way.”
Tannick Tavolaro is defiant. “At first I thought it was a joke. It’s absurd and hurtful. These pastries have absolutely no racial connotation at all,” he says.
“They are made of chocolate mousse, which is why they’re black. The characters are little human beings, a man and woman but not a black man and a woman. These people who attack me don’t know my story or my career or who I am. It’s just intellectual terrorism. I am not racist. I do not belong to any political party. I just argue for freedom of speech.”
We’ve been here before:
Posted: 28th, March 2015 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
