An social justice warror historian created an outraged Twitterstorm after being triggered by an allegedly imperialist pie.
Louise Raw, a trade union expert and columnist for the communist Morning Star newspaper, flew into a fury when she found an “Empire Pie” ready meal in the aisles of a Marks and Spencer supermarket.
Raw posted a picture of the pie on her account, alongside a message accusing M&S of tacitly endorsing mass murder:
TERRIBLE idea, @marksandspencer. British Empire left nasty taste in millions of ppl's mouths- those it didn't kill pic.twitter.com/dvvKt0WgsI
— Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) September 13, 2016
Presumably dozens of ppl had to approve, & they all went 'Yeah that's cool'??!@SankofaMind @marksandspencer
— Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) September 13, 2016
An empire pie is a well-established, Indian-themed variant of shepherd’s pie, which includes spices and mango chutney instead of gravy.
The dish has been on sale for almost a year, but only attracted comment today after being discovered in the aisles by Raw. It is pictured here in action:
M&S empire pie is so yummy.
Basically curry shepherd's pieđź‘Ť pic.twitter.com/fJJByZemCx— Lottie (@SaucyCHC) September 27, 2015
After the initial discovery, several of Raw’s friends were quick to join the chorus of condemnation:
Wow is @marksandspencer really evoking #colonialism to market their products? Someone approved this? #poorjudgment https://t.co/IPxBK1sUDU
— Sarah Lesniewski (@sarahlesniewski) September 13, 2016
Including one who was upset that a lamb pie contains meat:
@LouiseRawAuthor @marksandspencer Sounds like it would taste disgusting too. And what about the poor little lambs?
— Rachel (@Diana_Fire_) September 13, 2016
Critics online hastened to identify other potentially imperialist foodstuffs Raw and her associates would do well to avoid:
@malcolmclarke82 @LouiseRawAuthor
What about these oppressive little blighters? pic.twitter.com/GMfoCKF2q5— DropTheBall (@Opensout) September 13, 2016
Triggered.@GodfreyElfwick @LouiseRawAuthor @marksandspencer pic.twitter.com/XSLRjun4d5
— Lee Martingale (@LeeMartingale) September 13, 2016
But Raw and others stuck to their guns, even in the face of widespread mockery:
Offensive *colonialism*. Look it up. @nwithey101
— Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) September 13, 2016
Outraged by the death of millions, @RangeGlue. And brave enough to say so in my actual name!
— Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) September 13, 2016
Heat Street also notes that empire pies are also available for purchase in the rather more downmarket Iceland – but for some reason have yet to be discovered there by left-leaning columnists.
A Marks and Spencer spokesman told Heat Street: “Our Gastropub Empire Pie is based on an old, traditional and delicious recipe – it’s basically a curried shepherd’s pie! We launched it last October and our customers love it.”
Featured image via jeffreyw/Flickr
