Once in a while I would cave and buy a can of the famous black bean soup, but then a Nicaraguan friend once told me that if you add some onion and garlic powder to a can of black beans and cook them down, the effect is similar (try it for yourself!) and less salty. The brand name subconsciously called up for me a certain South American pride, making their cans of beans suspicious. Sazón hails from Cuba or Puerto Rico or Barranquilla, why would a Spanish company be the go-to? His name made sense on the side of a can of olive oil (though I quickly preferred the taste and quality La Española or Carbonell) but not on the plastic shaker of Sazón. (Like you, I didn’t know yet what I know now.) But Goya is one of my favorite Spanish painters. Before I break my arm patting myself on the back, my aversion was gut- and not brain-based. In 2003, when I first moved to South Florida and began my love affair with Publix supermarkets and their wide selection of Latin American staples, I already avoided Goya. Today there is the need to do much better than in 2011 and publishing what at best is a shitty, back-room conversation convinces me that the adobo gotta go. The CEO’s uncalled for attack is as a good a catalyst as any for us to move along to the many other options available in 2020. But nearly a decade later, we deserve greater authenticity and transparency than Goya Foods provides its customers. As an avid grocery shopper, I’d argue that in 2011, visibility alone was enough. Some have pointed to President Obama’s commendation of the company back in 2011 for its role in increasing the visibility of Latin products on the shelves. Not everyone is offended enough to toss their can of adobo. I rarely respond to current events as are they are unfolding, needing usually more time to process and flesh things out, but this one is super easy for me: I’m not buying it. Latinx cooks are putting their homemade recipes on offer and a widespread boycott is rising organically from the rightfully disgruntled by Unanue’s remarks. Media outlets are also reporting that the backlash from many has been swift and cutting. No one asked this guy for his opinion why would he offer it now and risk alienating his bullseye customer? It’s condescending, dismissive of the very people your product targets, as well as a surprisingly dumb move from someone who had the Latin American goods market cornered to the tune of around $1 billion a year. To voice support for this particular president at this moment is passive-aggressive and arrogant. This administration is who the CEO, who has benefitted from the millions in sales to these same victims and their families, bothered to defend. Yes, that same administration that has waged war against DACA, defended the decision to strip Latinx mothers of their babies and keep these dismembered families in cages, clownishly tried to build walls along lines that should have remained theoretical. Thank you to my colleagues at BELatina and other news outlets for reporting on Robert Unanue’s, CEO of Goya Foods, absurd pandering to the current administration.
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