A court in southern France has ordered a local baker to remove “racist” chocolate cakes depicting oversized genitalia from a shop after they were deemed an "affront to human dignity." Their maker has denied the accusation of inciting racial hatred.
The pastries had caused a controversy in early March, when the
Representative Council of Black Associations (Cran), considered
them racist and had filed a petition for fundamental liberties
against the city of Grasse, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of
southeast France.
Cran learned about the cakes from one customer and had also seen
in the sweet pastries, which are in the form of obese characters
covered in dark chocolate and boasting oversized genitalia,
"obscene and offensive slave trade caricatures which revive
the old tradition of colonial racism."
The Nice administrative court has ordered the city of Grasse to
prohibit "In Grasse delights" bakery to showcase the cakes called
"Gods" and "Goddesses" in order "to maintain public
order," Le Parisien reported.
Grasse : le boulanger devra retirer ses pâtisseries polémiques >>http://t.co/LR3SmYtVPppic.twitter.com/4UAlPvcLOM
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) March 26, 2015
The anti-racism group said in a statement that "these treats
are inspired by colonial fantasies about the blacks and make fun
of African religions presenting these deities in a grotesque way
just good to be chewed."
Yannick Tavolaro, the baker behind the controversial cakes, has
denied the allegations of racism. "I do not understand why
and how this controversy has emerged. [The cakes are] nothing
new. I've been making these pastries for the last 15 years and
they are sold in my three shops," he told the newspaper.
But Louis-George Tin, Cran's president, said: “It’s pure and
simple racism.”
“We are in a country where the word equality is part of the
constitution, which means it doesn’t allow for racism. Does he
think these treats adhere to the values of the French
Republic?” he told The Local prior to the court ruling.
“We must fight this kind of racism. I cannot imagine what
would be said (rightly) if an African baker decided to represent
Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary in a similar way,” Tin said.
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Tavolaro said the allegations were just somebody's sick
interpretation: "If there were any racist connotations, I
would not receive any orders for these cakes.
The only thing that people complain of is that they are covered
in dark chocolate. If they were covered in white, nobody would be
upset. But dark chocolate is easier to work with and sticks
better, that's all," he told Le Parisien earlier this month.
"No one knows my story and people judge me on these pastries.
I'm not racist," he said, adding, "not more than my
clients."
It's not the first time a French bakery has come under fire for
alleged racist confectionery. A pastry shop in Auxerre, the
fourth largest city in Burgundy, was forced to change the name of
its biscuits named "Bamboula" and "Negro" after complaints from
anti-racism groups in September.