Jamie Oliver has dropped the term Kaffir Lime leaves

I’ve known of the connotations for years, because we have photos from my father’s S Africa childhood which have the word written on the back and it clearly wasn’t a polite one.

I had wondered about the name of the lime leaves in supermarkets but had kind of assumed that it maybe came from a different source.

Anyway, I’m sure we’ll still be able to buy them, whatever they’re called!

i'd assumed it was some kind of ?fermented milk drink.
the yoghurty stuff is kefir. I quite like it, but only the flavoured kind.

As for the leaves - I agree with the name being dropped, in the same way that the name for dark brown sewing thread was dropped when I was a child. Why keep using a pejorative term, even out of context?

PS apparently waitrose are going to call them "Makrut" so no shortage....you can even buy a plant and grow your own.

felice

Some African friends of mine were saying how funny this is and only 'the White man 'really cares.
What next???????

what they mean is that THEY don't care. I must admit that I knew "kaffir" as a perjorative word some 60 years ago because my Dad's company had Lesothan soldiers in it (use to be called Basuto. he was in charge of their repatriation after the war and did many troop ship trips. He also had experience of what South Africa was like for its black inhabitants. Too long a story for here.....as an adult I first saw the lime leaves and was quite surprised at the name.

Some African friends of mine were saying how funny this is and only 'the White man 'really cares.
What next???????

25Avalon

Similarly shouldn’t we stop using Kaffir Lily for the plant and call it Schizostylis instead even though it’s not so easy to write or say. Several years ago dh told me the K in K Lily was offensive but I didn’t really understand then. It comes from South Africa too.

We call those lilies schizophrenias which is probably as bad as calling them Kaffir lilies!

Gosh. This is not one I knew in relation to South Africa at all.
I was aware of the slur regarding non-believers but honestly thought that had no link to (what I thought was simply) a South-East Asian type of lime tree!

Here's some interesting info from the OED:

public.oed.com/blog/word-stories-kaffir/

The K……. Lime Leaves are widely used in Asian cookery, particularly Thai.

I hope this does not lead to a shortage of them in Waitrose!

i've never heard of either the lime leaves or the plant, but i think it's good to not use terms that have a negative connotation.
i'd assumed it was some kind of ?fermented milk drink.
lots of things on here that i don't understand.

Similarly shouldn’t we stop using Kaffir Lily for the plant and call it Schizostylis instead even though it’s not so easy to write or say. Several years ago dh told me the K in K Lily was offensive but I didn’t really understand then. It comes from South Africa too.