Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?

The “F-Word” by Firoozeh Dumas referenced the analogous “spice rack” multiple times throughout the piece. The spice rack is a new and less common way of thinking about America’s diversity. In this article written by Amoksala published by the University of Notre Dame compares and contrasts the “Melting Pot” and “Salad Bowl” analogies used to describe America’s diversity. They believe the homogenous ‘melting pot’ is most accurate, but they argue that “not in a positive sense and certainly not one of cultural acceptance and inclusion.” Furthering the analogy, they consider the “broth” of the melting pot to be all White Americans of European descent. They make up the base that everybody else was meant to complement or conform to (“If you wanted to fit in and be a full member of American culture, you hoped to become the broth.”). Then, Amoksala introduces “non-broth” items such as bones. They relate bones to Black Americans who were used as slaves (“They were bones perhaps, something that one did not want in the pot to begin with.”). The melting pot analogy requires those who want to assimilate to lose part of their identity in the process. The choice to join the pot means allowing your “flavor” to be leached out. Next, the heterogenous ‘salad bowl’ is supposed to be more inclusive analogy, but is arguably not as accurate. Although it promotes diversity by allowing each individual culture to shine through, it fails to consider historical context (“This concept, however, was more optimistic or idealistic.”). I personally like the idea of a ‘salad bowl’ or ‘spice rack’ America where each culture gets a moment in the spotlight and can hold onto their uniqueness.