A Shanda fur die Goya

It's a brand I've been aware of since I was a kid, a local company which ran some commercials with a distinctive, catchy slogan:





Furthermore, it's a brand I patronized... a family company run by Spanish emigrants to Puerto Rico which puts out a wide variety of comestibles de todo el mundo latino. It's also a brand I won't be buying anytime soon, after the CEO of this privately-held family company showed his ass by kissing Trump's ass:





It's one thing to support a political party or candidate, but this servility to an incompetent boob who has shown contempt and actual malevolence towards your primary customer base is beyond the pale. Goya Foods, as I noted before, has, for decades, been the leading producer of pan-latin products which have been staples in the kitchens of the Latin-Caribbean, Mexican/Central American, and South American diaspora. It was also the introduction to an array of latin cuisines for the entire spectrum of non-latin populations here in the 'States. You can get a sense of the feeling of betrayal in this thread of responses to a tweet by AOC, who to many Americans is the face of young, up-and-coming Americans of latin descent:

Oh look, it’s the sound of me Googling “how to make your own Adobo” https://t.co/YOScAcyAnC

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 10, 2020

My favorite thing about the thread is the interplay between Filipino respondents and Latin-Caribbean respondents concerning adobo, which means two very different things, both rooted in a history of Spanish colonization. I imagine there will be a fun, productive culinary exchange in this era of home cooking and gastronomic experimentation.

As for myself, a perusal of my shelves reveals several bags of dried beans bought during those bad early days of the pandemic when the supermarket shelves were being stripped bare. I also have a jar of chimichurri, which is easily made from scratch, and a chunk of piloncillo bought on sale to add an 'exotic' touch to the big jug of cold-brewed coffee I've been keeping in the fridge. I personally prefer La Morena brand chipotles, but the local store was sold out, so I have a can of Goya chipotles in the fridge at work. Personally, I think that one should make one's own sofrito/sofritto/mirepoix/trinity rather than using a commercial variety, but I'm un vero contadino at heart. Having worked in the South Bronx for fifteen years with many Puerto Rican and Dominican persons, I learned how to cook dishes such as pernil and arroz con gandules, which were accompaniments to all celebrations. I like malta as a chaser to whisky when it's not a big drinking occasion that calls for beer chasers, but I think I'll switch to Malta India, even if it's harder to find.

As I've indicated, I have Goya products in my home and in my workplace, and I have been a customer for decades, but, from a moral perspective, I can't support a company with a Trump-sycophant at the helm. I have had too many immigrant friends tell me that they were genuinely afraid of the current maladministration's policies, I've had conversations with friends in which we discussed the all-too-real possibility of having to hide friends in attics or spare rooms. I'm sure these immigrant friends of mine have bought Goya products, the brand is so ubiquitous in the Northeast that some supermarket aisles list 'Goya' on their directories. There are other brands of Latin American products out there, and numerous threads about making Latin-Caribbean staples from scratch. If you had asked me about Goya a week ago, I would have told you that, not only was I a customer, I actually looked up their stock symbol (they are privately held) back in March because I thought it would be a good purchase in these days of pantry staples with long shelf lives. Not now, though, not this white boy...

On a related note, I bet the chief marketing executive for Vitarroz has had an erection lasting for more than four hours.

Post title, in a most New York fashion, taken from a Yiddish aphorism, because a post incorporating only three languages just wasn't sufficient.