Oh, Goya: This Isn't Just Cancel Culture

Disclaimer: certain recipe work that was curated and created on my blog prior to this incident may feature certain Goya-branded items. For my own personal reasons and beliefs, I felt like this needed to be disclosed with you for transparency in regards to this specific post and its content. You can find more details here.

On July 9th, Goya Foods’ CEO, Robert Unanue openly praised 45 by saying that the United States is "blessed” to have a leader like him in the White House. And when I first saw this pop up on Twitter, I honestly stared at my phone for a solid minute. There’s no way, right? That the face of America’s largest Latin-owned food brand would be giving a speech next to 45 in support of his current administration.

The same administration that has repeatedly shown its hatred, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia against the Latinx community. The same administration who wants us to go back where we come from. The same administration that wants to build the wall. The same administration who wants to deport hard-working, tax-paying immigrants. The same administration playing Russian roulette with DACA recipients. The same administration that has fellow members of my community locked in cages at the Mexican border.

But Goya’s CEO says we’re blessed. Blessed to have an incompetent “leader” who has absolutely endangered this country and its citizens during an unprecedented global pandemic with its disbelief of basic scientific data and public health? The guy who told Americans to inject themselves with household disinfectants? The same one who goes on late-night Twitter rants spewing lies that can easily be debunked by a simple Google search? The same one who called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries? The same manchild who threw paper towels at my people and showed a complete lack of urgency to help Puerto Rico after the island was devastated by one of the most dangerous hurricanes in recent history? That same guy? Oh, okay.

Let’s make this clear: I stand with my Latinx community. I stand with immigrants. I stand with Indigenous lives, Black lives, and LGBTQ+ lives. I stand with womxn. I stand against hate, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia. So, when the face of Goya stands next to 45 at a White House meeting and calls him a blessing, he (and the brand that he represents) supports everything that 45 and his administration stands for.

A company founded by Spanish immigrants who moved to Puerto Rico (that’s a whole different discussion of the scope of colonization to unpack at another time), Goya grew to be the largest and most well-recognized food brands of the Latin American community. Any store you went to, you saw Goya. So, to learn about what recently happened felt like a punch to the gut. How could a company that has shaped its brand to be for us feel this way?

Granted, capitalism and greed has obviously taken precedent over the consumers here, but still, this one hurts. And I don’t feel like this is going to be a cancel culture moment for Goya. This isn’t going to be a flashy show of what’s trending on Twitter and who to cancel up next; I feel like this boycott is going to impact them tremendously. And I hope it does. Between the valid fears of this country’s pandemic crisis (and its racial inequity impact on Black and brown communities) and being constantly bombarded with white supremacy in every facet of our lives, we are fed up.

It feels like 2020 just won’t let us have anything anymore. We can’t go to work, we can’t safely go outside, and now we can’t even have any damn beans. This isn’t something that a tone deaf Instagram post can fix, especially when they have been deleting comments being left by Goya boycotters and buckling down on their stance. This isn’t something that is going to go away. Goya has completely alienated and dismissed its core demographic and consumer base that has wholeheartedly supported them and turned them into the conglomerate brand that they are today.

They have been in our collective pantries for years, often due to nostalgia and necessity while being spread out all over the world. No matter where my family moved, if we found an aisle with Goya cans in the grocery store, we knew we had a little community of fellow Latinx people nearby. Finding that blue label was like hitting the lotto here in Charleston when we moved to South Carolina in the 90s (and still was up until July 9th).

As I grew older and branched out with my cooking habits, I discovered other Latin-food brands (particularly ones that I never heard of until we visited family in Florida and in Puerto Rico). But with Goya, the bottom line has always been about accessibility. They had the reach, right? Have there always been other and better brands than Goya? Sure. That were healthier? Of course. But were we actually able to find them outside of heavily Latinx-populated areas? No.

We have to remember that being able to boycott Goya is a privilege. A privilege based on food accessibility, finances, and location. Food deserts, and more specifically, food apartheid are real systemic issues that disproportionately impact Black and brown communities. So, when we’re learning about how our favorite brands and companies truly feel about us, don’t shame those who are still using them or who weren’t aware of what was really going on. People are going to do what they’re able to do within their means. Has Goya been problematic for a while? Yes. But what were we able to do about it if we didn’t have access to anything else to substitute foods for our own cuisines?

Some consumers aren’t able to actively research and vet brands that they spend money on. Some consumers can’t afford heathy, organic, or high-quality foods. Some consumers can’t grow their own herbs, fruits, and vegetables because they don’t have the land to do so. Some consumers don’t have access to the internet to learn how to make homemade spice blends and they aren’t able to shop online. Some consumers don’t have a variety of brands to choose from when they go shopping and are limited to a tiny column of Goya cans next to prepackaged Tex-Mex taco seasonings. Because hey, in the United States, all foods that are “Latin” are Mexican, right? Sitting on the sidelines while judging people who aren’t as “woke” or actionable as you are when there are no truly perfect options doesn’t help us get to the end goal.

So many different factors play into food culture and there is so much nuance and intersection. As a community, we have to be mindful about how we navigate boycotting Goya, especially in this current climate and landscape. What about the employees of Goya and the communities that all depend on those distribution centers and factories for work? What happens to them? What about those who can’t boycott because they need to feed their families with the resources and accessibility that they’re limited to? How do they put food on their tables? How can we collectively cancel an entire conglomerate without negatively impacting those in the community that it was supposed to represent? These are all questions that need to be addressed, and frankly, I don’t even know where to start.

This is so much bigger than a can of beans. This is so much bigger than a CEO believing what they want to believe and having his company buckle down on being on the wrong side of history. And this is so much bigger than cancel culture. As a collective, we have to find a way to make this boycott happen without hurting our own communities in the process. Where do we start? How do we start?

The bottom line is that if we’re able to do so, we’re going to have to wean ourselves away from Goya to find other brands that better suit our cooking wants and needs while aligning with our moral compasses, myself included. Considering that Goya has been so engrained in our culture and cuisine for many years, particularly Puerto Rican life, it’s going to take some unlearning and unpacking. It’s going to take some time, but that time is now. It’s time to start supporting small businesses that are run by us. It’s time to put money back into our own community. It’s time to get to work, familia.

Food Brands and Creators to Support

Note that this is an ongoing list, so if any links no longer work, please let me know and I’ll update and/or remove them as needed.

Pantry Items: Iberia Foods, Arroz Rico, La Flor Spices, Conchita, Badia Spices, Carmela, La Fe, La Costeña, Bounty and Full, The Spice Suite, Pisqueya, A Dozen Cousins, Fillo’s Americas Made, Spice Tribe, Jumex, Malta India, Rovira Export Sodas, Coco Lopez, Filler, La Preferida, Herdez, El Sembrador, Coco Rico

Online Food Shops: Brands of Puerto Rico, El Colmado, Hecho en PR (thanks to @Edithdrod for sharing these)

Homemade Sazón Recipes: The Sofrito Project, La Comida de Jeremie, Eat Loisa, Chef Eric Rivera of Addo

Homemade Adobo Recipes: La Comida de Jeremie, Eat Loisa, Chef Eric Rivera of Addo

Homemade Sofrito Recipes: The Sofrito Project, Sweet Tea and Thyme, Plant Based and Broke, Chef Zee Cooks, La Comida de Jeremie, It's Zoe Kelly,

Chefs, Creators, and Food Writers: Chef Eric Rivera, Chef César Ramón, Chef Zoe Kelly, Chef Xenia Zee, Chef Jonathan Luis Jimenez Romero, Chef Paola Velez, Chef Paxx Caraballo Moll, Chef Sam Zitro, Chef Digby Stridiron, La Mafia PR, Jessica van Dop DeJesus of The Dining Traveler, Lola of Hungry Traveling Mama, Adrianna Guevara Adarme of A Cozy Kitchen, Joseph Cuevas, Jeremie Serrano of La Comida de Jeremie, Christian Vazquez, Eat Yo Destiny, Eat Gorda Eat, Alicia Kennedy, Carlos Hernandez

I will update this list of resources with more brands and people as they become available. Know of anything or anyone that I’m missing? Shoot me an email and I’ll make sure to update it.

Disclaimer: Certain recipe work that was curated and created on my blog prior to this incident may feature certain Goya-branded items. For my own personal reasons and beliefs, I felt like this needed to be disclosed with you for transparency in regards to this specific post and its content. You can find more details here.