Supermarket giant Coles will change the name of an in-house brand of biscuits amid claims it is racist.
Coles Spokesman Jim Cooper said the name of the “You’ll Love Coles” brand of chocolate and vanilla biscuits, called Creole Creams, will be changed as part of the company-wide rebranding of Coles products.
The name change comes on the back of claims of racism, with the word Creole used to describe a person of mixed European and African ancestry.
“The word Creole comes from a period when people’s humanity was measured by the amount of white blood they had in their bloodstream. This is the same kind of thought that underpinned horrific regimes like the Nazis,” Sam Watson, the deputy director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland, told brisbanetimes.com.au yesterday.
But Mr Cooper today disputed the racist claims and said the name Creole Creams referred to the “well-known Creole cuisine style that originated in the US.”
The word ‘creole’ is racist? It clearly refers to race, or more specifically skin colour, but as far as I’m aware its not derogatory. Is this biscuit thing just politically correct nonsense? If you are injured while eating one, would it constitute a race related incident?
Louisiana native here.
Creole is not a racial slur and people taking it to be one really offends me.
# 15 Faxon said, on October 27th, 2009 at 6:19 am
“If I see an African walking down the same street, and refer to him or her as an “African”, I am in deep shit.
How many hoops we must negotiate to please the race gods.”
I have a black friend and an African American friend. My black friend prefers to be called black and my African American friend prefers to be called African American. I follow their preferences because they are my friends. In practice, though, I usually just refer to them by their first names instead though.
If you live in the United States the term “African” might not be appropriate. Besides the Africans I know prefer to be called Egyptians, Somalians, Kenyans, South Africans, or Namibians. Interestingly enough, not all, but some of these people are not black.
“The food cooked by American Creoles is more commonly referred to as Cajun.”
Whoa whoa whoa hold up a minute.
Cajun food and Creole food are NOT the same thing.
They do share some common dishes, but there is a world of difference between Creole Jambalaya and Cajun Jambalaya for example.
#23 “Cajun food and Creole food are NOT the same thing.”
Looks like a road trip to Louisiana is needed to run experiments to test this theory of yours. I look forward to testing the difference between Creole Jambalaya and Cajun Jambalaya. I would also be willing to test other dishes.
Do Creole dishes and Cajun dishes have different regions within Louisiana or can I find both throughout Louisiana? Can you recommend other dishes that the two types of cuisines do not share?
My fellow Americans,
We aren’t the only people to use the word “creole.” There are a lot of “creole” people that have nothing to do with Louisiana.
I am curious about the usage of the word in Australia since it is a French word and Australia doesn’t have a strong French influence.
I’m guessing maybe it’s called creole because the word *looks* a lot like oreo (where c and o look similar) as a nod to the cookie they copy?
Looks like the Barack Hussein Obama modus operandi is spreading around the world.
I guess its no more black bottom pie for me. So wrong on so many levels…
I have never purchased a Coles product, and after hearing of this pathetic attempt to appease a bunch of whiners, I assure you I never will.
No more watermelon for you!
If you really want to see examples of racist product packaging (and racism in general) look at The Jim Crow Museum.
http://ferris.edu/jimcrow/menu.htm
I wonder if the Creole really MADE creme filled cookies..LMAO..
and its #1 for the win!
Oreos used to be a lot better before they started with all the trans-fats….back when they were filled with lard. mmmmmmmmm.
Either Australians have strange tastes or the store really doesn’t know Creole food really is.
Australians have strange tastes in food. Proof? Vegemite. QED.
I don’t know what “creole” food is either. Creole is an adjective, like “mixed”, or “plain”, or “unknown”. I don’t know what the dictionary definition is, but it’s frequently used to describe a mix of foreign and indigenous *anything*; food, culture, language, race, etc etc etc etc etc.
And creole and cajun are hardly synonymous although you could say that cajuns are a creole culture. (Look up the history of the arcadian “cajun” people sometime… their culture and persecution predate the founding of the US.)
Sorry, “acadians”, not “arcadians”.
I do that every time.
#23, Super,
Whoa, good catch. You are correct. I was editing my post and was distracted. I don’t remember what I wanted to say but obviously, I was wrong.
Thank you for pointing out my error.
Wikipedia has 46 entries under the term “Creole” — it’s quite a complex subject.
Creole and Acadian are two different and distinct cuisines here in Louisiana. The Acadian (Cajun) people were forced to migrate here from Canada when this was still the Louisiana Purchase. Creoles are mixes of French, Native American, Spanish and African peoples whose ancestors predate the Louisiana Purchase era.
However, references to Creoles have been made in reference to peoples in the Philippines, Mauritius and other islands in the Indian Ocean. This must be the source of the concern over the brand name of the products in Australia. The term Creole here in Louisiana is worn with pride.
A hand full of activists, directed from foreign countries like Zimbabwe and Cuba, are holding the very language to ransom.