Idris Elba and Blackness

Is Luther, the character Idris Elba plays in the BBC television series Luther, black enough?

Miranda Wayland, BBC’s Head of Creative Diversity, feels Luther is not, because he doesn’t have black friends and doesn’t eat Caribbean food. Where does that come from? So many things determine food choices.

1. What we ate on mother’s lap.

2. Where we grew up. Immigrant parents have stories to tell about kids not liking food from the original country, because they want to fit in.

3. What we acquired along the way. Pizza for example, I first tasted it in New York. I also met brusssel sprouts, said hello and left them right there on the road. Sue, my friend from Hong Kong introduced me to many things in New York, including sushi and we’ve been friends every since (sushi and I, that is).

4. What we can afford e.g. macaroni and cheese in a box, noodles, pasta, baked beans on toast 'for tea', corn porridge, yam flakes, cabbage, potato soup, pork pies or ham hogs. How about rack of lamb and roast beef? Yes, some British people can afford it. Being born and raised in South Africa the land of plenty, I was shocked to learn that meat is a luxury in Britain. It’s expensive, explained Pat, my English friend the university assigned to me to walk me through Durham’s cobbled streets.

5. Then there’s the acquired taste, food we eat to demonstrate where we are socially and economically. It usually involves pruning mama’s food because we feel it has 1001 calories, so we eat asparagus, which goes well with a particular wine imported from somewhere.

I don’t know what Caribbean food is, but I refuse to eat asparagus. I don’t care how pretty it looks in a movie scene. I refuse to inflict misery through my mouth. My life is a mess as it is.

Being Caribbean

Super market checkout: ‘You have a Jamaican accent,’ said the friendly cashier. He asked me how I was paying for the loot. I said debit. That’s all he needed to deduce that I was Jamaican.

New job. Lunch room. Friendly people welcoming new employees. ‘You have a Jamaican accent.’ One of the supervisors stated for a fact.

Most black people have stopped explaining. Why bother, when nobody is listening? They have a problem, we don’t.

This is another 'written podcast' by Nonqaba waka Msimang.