Gumbo is a polarizing topic. Louisiana’s famous stew has been known to inspire passion and even murder (though we’re hoping the murder bit was a fluke thing). Now, it’s uniting the state in collective cyber outrage toward Disney.
Here’s what happened: recently, Disney posted a video on its social media outlets for “Princess Tiana’s Healthy Gumbo.” Princess Tiana is the cooking-savvy main character of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, a movie that takes place in New Orleans. So it only made sense for Disney to publish a gumbo recipe in her name, right?
Maybe — if they’d done it right. The problem is, Disney’s recipe included some very non-gumbo ingredients, like kale and quinoa. And, scandal of scandals, it didn’t even start with a roux. You’ve got to start with a roux! What monster doesn’t know that?
The post soon went viral, even inspiring a hashtag, #GumboStrong. Outraged Louisianans came in full force to express their ire at Disney. Some of the greatest tweets:
I just heard about the #disneygumbo… with the kale and quinoa and tomatoes and chili powder in it. #gumbostrong pic.twitter.com/oncOSS2H4A
— DJ Soul Sister (@djsoulsister) September 14, 2016
Disney can give us stereotypical characters, bad Louisiana French and bad accents but don't mess with the gumbo #gumbostrong #disneygumbo
— Prairie des Femmes (@AshleeMichot) September 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/Garywashatn/status/776033439195680768
https://twitter.com/fiercelyfabulus/status/775967244476157952
https://twitter.com/IAM_Brittney/status/775919121330352129
"For a healthy gumbo, try loading it up with kale!" -said no one from Louisiana ever. #GumboStrong
— Savoie's Sausage (@SavoiesSausage) September 14, 2016
I love you Disney, but Louisianans WILL call you out about our food! Bless your heart #gumbostrong https://t.co/q193nnMBAL
— Molly Malain (@mollymalain) September 14, 2016
The one thing that instantly unites Louisianans of all races and creeds is the horror of a gumbo recipe with kale and no roux #gumbostrong
— Winston Hall (@Winstonian24) September 14, 2016
They might as well call it GumboGate #gumbostrong
— Shelby Landry (@shelbyelandry) September 14, 2016
Delete 👏 your 👏 account 👏 #gumbostrong https://t.co/CKNFdEW4tm
— Smail (@smailtronic) September 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/allison_ellzey/status/775850136761012224
I'm fairly certain Tiana is shaking her head and saying "That ain't MY gumbo, leave me outta this!" #gumbostrong https://t.co/NpGC6fdOB5
— emily b (@ebrooksb) September 13, 2016
#GumboStrong was a quick success. By Tuesday evening, the video recipe for Princess Tiana’s Healthy Gumbo had disappeared. The good news is, even though Disney took down the flawed recipe (hey, we’re curious!), a remnant of that video remains via Facebook user David Hilbun. The video cuts between the recipe and clips of people expressing outrage and is just generally kinda fun.
Hilbun’s video got its point across: the post has already been shared over 4,000 times, and has inspired dozens of comments such as “It seems someone at Disney decided that today was a good day to die,” “CHICKEN STOCK???” and “My cat died today, but this is worse.” Hilbun even created a T-shirt for folks to express their outrage permanently.
Has Disney learned their lesson on this one, or are we about to see more ill-advised “healthy” character-inspired recipes? Maybe Belle’s Gluten-Free Croissants? Jasmine’s Heat-Free Curry? We sure hope not. Leave regional recipes to the pros, Disney, and keep up the good work of creating actual film entertainment.
(Via the New Orleans Times-Picayune)
