For those looking to divide and exclude, ham is still a weapon of choice, half a millennium later.So says Abbas Asaria, a food writer and chef based in Madrid. But isn't Spsain rightly famous for its cured pork products?
I’m not sure how widely understood the Inquisition’s legacy on the Spanish diet is, but seeing history repeat itself is a sign that the past has not been fully reckoned with. So while I’m not here to stop anyone from enjoying their favourite foods or traditions, I’d like to sound a note of warning. Jamón eating is once again being weaponised online as a means of social exclusion among the young Spanish far right against those from Muslim and north African backgrounds.
OH NOES! The vast right-wing conspiracy has discovered 'food racism'! Weaponising cultural diets!
Last November, a content creator made national news when he shared AI-generated viral posts showing shirts and phone cases made from jamón. The posts even featured a superhero called Ham-Man, who would, he said, protect people from being mugged by illegal immigrants of “Maghrebi and north African origin”. And it risks becoming a wider trend.
Well, good luck expecting the Spanish people to go along with the banning of pork products just to please the Mohammedans and their useful idiots like you, Abbas!
Even before Ham-Man, the comment sections beneath Spanish news articles and videos about crimes committed by young, racialised men elicited dog-whistle phrases such as “¿come jamón?” (does he eat ham?). This meme has been popular for a number of years among the Spanish far right as a way to persecute Muslim immigrants.
Sounds to me as if it’s persecuting Muslim criminals. And who wouldn’t want to see more of that?
