Yale Removed The Name "Israeli Couscous" From Their Dining Halls
Sometimes I feel like I am writing for The Onion, but this happened...
The powers-that-be up in New Haven have since added the word "Israeli" back to the salad's name, but for a hot second, yet another Ivy League school fumbled the rock in their dealings with the Israeli/Palestine Conflict.
This is nowhere near as dangerous as the rhetoric that was broadcast involving other Ivy administrators last week. Rhetoric that resulted in what is arguably the "Gay-est" piece of merch ever offered in the Barstool Store...
But I feel it is worth mentioning that the supposed "best and brightest" college students are being purposefully misinformed not only on socio-political issues but also on side dishes.
Was Yale justified for removing the Israeli part of Israeli Couscous (even temporarily) from their menu? I suppose you could argue they were just trying to avoid any unnecessary complaints from the Pro-Palestine folks eating in their dining halls. The move didn't mean they were antisemitic, just anti-having-to-deal-with-politics-when-they-are-trying-to-create-a-diverse-and-nutritious-salad-bar. But avoiding conflict by excluding the true name of those delicious pearls of toasted pasta (developed in Israel in the 1950s when rice was scarce) created a silly headline that was bound to infuriate many.
I'd like to think I am intelligent enough to look past potentially unsavory names when I am choosing my savory meals, but then I also remember there was a short time when I refrained from eating Italian ices because the name was too close to ISIS… All the while, I was well aware that Italy did not have any direct connection with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
I also recall when the American Indian Discovery Society (which did some great work researching the atrocities committed against Indigenous people) had to change its moniker once AIDS became synonymous with something altogether different.
So, although I am hoping this temporary "hiccup" in common sense does not cause Dave to add Yale to the list of forbidden recruits, I do hope the 15 minutes of outrage it has wrought will cause lunch ladies to think twice before they censor their salads.
Take a report.
-Large