The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris yielded at least one line that was heard around the world.
DT1: “In Springfield they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
That quote from Trump made him the subject of a meme fest. Or rather a meme feast
Late night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel had a field night. He said Kamala Harris seemed prepared.
KIMMEL1: while Trump was like “my homework was eaten by a dog… that was eaten by people in Ohio.”
I woke up in Kolkata to friends messaging me from America. Have you stopped eating your neighbors pets yet? Or is that only in Ohio?
This is Sandip Roy in Kolkata.
The mayor of Springfield Rob Rue told Forbes immigration has put a strain on Springfield’s infrastructure but that’s not because of immigrants eating their neighbors. pets.
RUE1: we have to keep telling press that hey your pets are safe in Springfield Ohio. They absolutely are. It’s crazy to have to keep saying that.
But that cat is literally out of the bag. It’s entered pop culture. Globally.
For example the South African band Kiffness has a song called Eating the Cats with Trump’s voice (the Debate Remix)
KIFFNESS:
Love him or hate him, Donald Trump can certainly move the needle when it comes to popular culture.
But here’s my pet peeve.
Food is the way we often break down barriers people. Think of the office potluck. Someone brings the adobo, someone the green bean casserole, someone tandoori chicken. Even the NewYork Times spelling bee accepts NAAN and RAITA as valid words.
But food is also the way we can other the other. After Kamala Harris posted on X about her Indian roots, Trump supporter Laura Loomer said if she becomes President the White House will smell of curry. J D Vance Trump’s running mate who happens to be married to an Indian American told NBC News.
VANCE 1: I make a mean chicken curry
But he understood why people were upset with Loomer
VANCE2: Do I agree with what Laura Loomer said about Kamala Harris? No I dont. I also don’t think this is an issue of national import.
Maybe not. Loomer said it was just a joke but its not funny in a world where landlords sometimes refuse to rent to people because they are worried the house will smell of curry.
Food is the first thing immigrants show off about their culture. But food is also the first thing they censor and hide.
Decades ago my parents lived in London when Indian food was not as ubiquitous. On days when the Polish landlady was out and couldn’t complain about the smell, my mother would cook dishes that reminded her of home - like greens with fish heads. Too embarrassed to admit she ate fish head and bones, she would pretend to her English fishmonger that she had a cat. I sometimes imagine my mother coming home, past English flowers like primrose and snowdrops, clutching her packet of smelly lies wrapped in newsprint.
Loomer’s comments made news in India with many outlets dubbing it a racist cringe post. But in India there are plenty of Loomers who wont rent to people whose food they think smells weird.
For example recipes from north east India often include fermented foods like fermented yams, bamboo shoots or soya called Akhuni, foods that most of the rest of India are unused to. The Indian film Axone is a comedy about a bunch of friends from North East India trying to cook Akhuni for a wedding in New Delhi.
AXONE1: Do you know any place where we can cook this axone?
That leads to all kinds of chaos.
AXONE2: Even if it kills us I think we should cook this Axone today.
The film is a comedy but it is based on the very real experiences of north-easterners and their suspicious landlords in Delhi.
Of course eating the pets is another step down the food chain. These immigrants don’t just eat weird smelling food. They are not just taking our jobs. Now they are stealing our pets and eating them. Yet even this is not a new low. In the 2000s the Sun Newspaper in the UK claimed that refugees were stealing the swans in the Queen’s parks and barbecuing them. It even published a photograph of immigrants with the caption ”immigrants like these are blamed for eating the birds”.
Later it was discovered that it was the Swanbake story that was cooked up, not the swans.
This is Sandip Roy in Kolkata for KALW.
Sales of the single “Eating the Cats (feat. Donald Trump) are donated to the Clark County SPCA in Springfield, OH.