How Wellness Branding Appropriates Ancient Cultural Practices
Trendy bone broth spots in Toronto are popping up everywhere, but bone broth has been a cultural staple since time immemorial
By: Cherileigh Co
A steaming bowl of Vietnamese beef pho. (Cherileigh Co)
In mid-November, an Ossington clothing store PERMISSION hosted Ripe Nutrition’s broth bar pop-up across the well-known Pho Rùa Vàng Golden Turtle. Following the blowback after the inappropriate branding and cultural appropriation of Ripe Nutrition’s “brothel” pop-up, according to BlogTO, their supporters started spreading fake bad reviews on the Vietnamese restaurant.
Let’s unpack what happened here. As a Filipina-Canadian, it left a sour taste in my mouth when I heard about the news. Since Southeast Asia has a major humanitarian issue: sex tourism. It’s hard to ignore and very distasteful to sexualize hot sauces as “Hot Phò U” and “Jerk Me” as well as a broth bar pop-up referred to as a “brothel.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have suffered, in particular however, Asian businesses have been a target for increased racism and xenophobia. For instance, multiple San Jose Asian-owned businesses were vandalized in April 2020.
On the topic, Toronto-based food Instagrammer, @munchieswithjackie expressed, “When you see businesses like this, who are profiting off Vietnamese and Jamaican culture by making ‘funny puns’ out of it and are still being placed on a pedestal while Asians are still getting discriminated against for what they eat becomes a problem.”
Originally, a tweet thread by Toronto Star editor Evy Kwong broke the story of the Ossington pop-up. Immediate action was taken by PERMISSION and they halted the event. As a result, the founder of Ripe Nutrition, Alexandra Baird, publicly apologized on Instagram for her ignorance, asking for forgiveness and changing the hot sauce’s name to “Ripe Hot.”
Bone Broth in Toronto
In early November, before the PERMISSION pop-up, Ripe Nutrition opened up a namesake broth bar in Yorkville. Since 2017, Baird has been crafting her vegan mushroom and beef bone broths. For a few years, Ripe Nutrition sold it by the cup at various Toronto fitness brands, cafes and juice bars.
Since opening in 1987, Pho Rùa Vàng Golden Turtle has remained the oldest Vietnamese restaurant in Toronto. They serve traditional Vietnamese and Thai dishes, including pho bo and pho ga (beef stock and chicken stock, respectively). Like all Toronto restaurants and bars, business has been rough due to the COVID-19 lockdown. But to make matters worse, during this incident, the restaurant received multiple fake negative reviews.
Ripe Nutrition and Golden Turtle have since squashed the beef by collaborating on a lemongrass sa te chilli hot sauce, which launched on Saturday, Dec. 12. All of the proceeds will go to Food Banks Canada, an organization that helps those experiencing food insecurity, which is an endemic issue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
From Prehistoric to Paleo Diets
There’s an ancient South American proverb that states, “Good bone broth will resurrect the dead.” We all know that soup is the winter warmer that nourishes and rejuvenates our bodies. Bone broth has become the new “superfood” as of late in the wellness industry, creating issues about education and the historical, cultural context of where traditional, healthy foods come from.
There is a lack of awareness or respect being shown to the cultures that brought these recipes to worldwide recognition. When wellness brands legitimize cultural food or traditional practices without respect or recognition, it further colonizes those POC spaces.
We cannot be ignorant to ancient practices. Bone broth originated centuries ago from our prehistoric ancestors, hunter-gatherers of the late Stone Age who dropped hot rocks in an animal carcass out of necessity, so all parts of the animal were effectively used.
Ancient traditional Chinese medicine has used bone broth for over 2,500 years. They view it as extracting the essence of the animal in a way that can most easily be digested. As ancient Greek physician Hippocrates of Kos stated, “All disease begins in the gut.”
Bone broth is used in many traditional cultures over thousands of years. We see it in every culture: French bouillon, Jamaican cow foot soup, Korean seolleongtang, Japanese tonkotsu, Vietnamese pho, Portuguese and Spanish caldo, Italian brodo, Filipino sinigang, and so on.
From a piping hot pot of Arroz Caldo to egg drop soup on a lazy Susan at dim sum, I know bone broth is something to be shared amongst family at the dinner table. I remember when I was young, my parents and I would frequent at our local pho restaurant in Brampton. My mom would order the biggest size of pho and would always ask the server for a small bowl to share her order with me.
At first, I was always embarrassed about this interaction because I wanted my own.
Why?
There’s a North American concept that the individual needs matter more than the collective. The wellness industry capitalizes on one’s personal wellness rather than communal recipes meant to be shared. They take an individualistic approach to marketing their bone broth in sleek, hype bottles.
For example, this Vancouver-based wellness brand sells six aesthetically-pleasing packs of bone broth for $80 CAD. You can make your own for less than $30, or support a local Vietnamese restaurant that sells pho for $10.
Wellness brands individualize bone broth and focus on one’s health rather than the collective. (Cherileigh Co)
Be Aware of What You’re Supporting
In the zeitgeist of Instagram and social media influencers, vital context and information can get lost, or simply left unsaid. Understanding what and who you’re supporting locally— whether it's a hotpot in Chinatown, pho on Ossington, a broth bar in Yorkville, matzah in the Danforth, or Jamaican cow foot soup in Scarborough—can help you make informed decisions of where to spend your money.
This is the first step to take in order to be a culturally aware and conscientious consumer. Bone broth is for everyone and it’s the answer to keeping up a healthy immune system, digestive system and strong bones, hair, skin and nails.
With that said, we can grow to appreciate and welcome other cultures into our own dinner plates without appropriating where it came from. Bone broth is an accessible food source and it doesn’t have to be gate kept by exclusive wellness brands.
How to Make Your Own Bone Broth
The following bone broth recipe is from my Grandma Lita, she swears it’s the best cure to the winter blues and keeps her looking young. Usually, my grandma opts for chicken feet because they’re rich in collagen and plus, it’s the most affordable option at the grocery store. Also, if you’re experiencing joint pain or inflammation, bone broth will help with that, too. She recommends a slow cooker or Instant Pot, but you can use a simple stockpot and stove.
This recipe is perfect for those who work from home or spend more time at home due to lockdown measures, because it needs at least 10 to 12 hours to fully mineralize the nutrients from the bones. For a more powerful dose of bone broth, you can leave it simmering for even 24 hours. But, don’t leave it longer than a day, because it will overcook.
Beef Bone Broth
Ingredients
3 pounds beef soup bones (knuckle, neck, or marrow bones)
1 cup water
4 medium carrots, cut up
3 medium onions, unpeeled and cut up
6 stalks celery with leaves, cut up
2 tablespoons dried basil or thyme, crushed
1 tablespoon salt
20 whole black peppercorns
16 sprigs fresh parsley
4 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled and halved
18 cups cold water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place soup bones in a large shallow roasting pan. Roast about 45 minutes or until browned, turning once.
2. Place soup bones in a 10 to 12 quart stockpot. Pour the 1 cup water into the roasting pan and scrape up browned bits; add water mixture to pot. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to boiling; reduce heat to low. Gently simmer, covered, 8 to 12 hours. (For a gentle simmer, you should see tiny bubbles coming to the surface. You will want to monitor cooking so it does not boil. Gentle cooking helps to draw out and develop the flavor of the broth.) Remove soup bones from broth.
3. Scoop out as many vegetables as you can with a slotted spoon. Strain broth through a fine mesh strainer, or 4 layers of dampened cheesecloth placed in a colander. Discard vegetables and seasonings.
4. If using the broth while hot, skim fat. Or chill broth in a bowl at least 6 hours; lift off fat with a spoon. Place broth in airtight containers. Cover and chill up to 3 days or freeze up to 6 months.
5. If desired, when bones are cool enough to handle, remove meat. Chop meat; discard bones. Place meat in airtight containers. Cover and chill up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.
Slow Cooker Directions
Prepare as directed, except reduce all ingredients by half. Roast bones as directed in Step 1. Pour the 1 cup water into the roasting pan and scrape up browned bits. In a 6-quart slow cooker combine the water mixture and remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low 10 to 12 hours. Remove soup bones from broth. Continue as directed in Step 3. Makes about 9 cups.
The Bones:
Look for soup bones at your meat counter. Neck bones, back bones, and marrow bones are good choices. Ask your butcher to cut the marrow bones into 2 to 3 inch lengths; this helps expose more of the marrow. Be thrifty and save your bones from steaks, roasts, or holiday dinner. Again, it doesn’t have to be beef, you can use any type of bone like turkey.