Two white women who run a burrito shop in Portland, Oregon, were forced to close down the shop after Willamette Week ran a spotlight on their shop and they were accused of stealing their recipes from actual Mexican women.
Kali Wilgus and Liz “LC” Connelly admitted openly that they had gotten their ideas and recipes from the “tortilla ladies” of Puerto Nuevo, Mexico.
“I picked the brains of every tortilla lady there in the worst broken Spanish ever, and they showed me a little of what they did,” Connelly told the site. “They told us the basic ingredients, and we saw them moving and stretching the dough similar to how pizza makers do before rolling it out with rolling pins.”
— Whoopi Goldberg argues women wearing weave is cultural appropriation —
But what really made the cultural appropriation alarm bells go off was when they admitted to outright stealing the techniques that the women didn’t want to share willingly, with Connelly admitting that she and Wilgus “were peeking into the windows of every kitchen, totally fascinated by how easy they made it look.”
Immediately after the spotlight was published, the two women hit a huge wave of criticism for stealing the livelihood from these “tortilla ladies” and for culturally appropriating the food and techniques without permission.
“Because of Portland’s underlying racism, the people who rightly own these traditions and cultures that exist are already treated poorly. These appropriating businesses are erasing and exploiting their already marginalized identities for the purpose of profit and praise,” an article on Portland and Mercury claimed.
Now, the pop-up food cart has closed down.