Row over ‘racist chocolate cakes’

A ROW has broken out over allegedly ‘racist cakes’ made by a pâtissier from Grasse.

The shop La Belle Epoque, in the Alpes-Maritimes, infuriated anti-racism body Cran after displaying cakes in its window that Cran says are “obscene and insulting – inspired by the old traditions of colonial racism”.

Alerted by a member of the public, Cran has demanded the cakes be withdrawn and has asked that the mayor intervene and that the town's authorities consider removing the pâtissier as president of the local children’s football club, for setting a bad example to the young people of the club which includes people “of all origins”. It may consider a prosecution for "inciting racial hatred", it says.

The cakes, named Dieu and Déesse (God and Goddess), are covered in dark chocolate and depict an obese man and woman, with outsized attributes.

Cran (Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires) said the insult goes far beyond the traditional tête de nègre cakes (chocolate-coated marshmallow), now more commonly renamed tête au choco.

Its president, Louis-Georges Tin says in a statement: “These cakes are inspired by colonial fantasies about blacks – wide-eyed expressions, over-sized mouths, obligatory nudity, protuberant sex organs. Worse still, considering their name, they ridicule African religions, presenting their divinities in a grotesque way, only good enough to be munched up.”

He added: "It's reminiscent of Tintin in the Congo, but with added obscenity."

Pâtissier Yannick Tavolaro has refused to remove the cakes, saying he cannot understand the controversy; that he has been making the cakes for 15 years and they are on sale in his three different shops in Grasse.

He told Le Parisien: “If they were racist, people wouldn’t order them – the only thing people are offended by is the fact they’re black – if they were white nobody would mind. But black chocolate is easier to work with.

“People don’t know me – I’m being judged on these cakes. I’m not racist and nor are my customers.”

He also told Nice-Matin he would not give in to pressure, “otherwise where will it stop – I’ll have to stop making religieuses and pets de nonne (‘nuns’ and ‘nun’s farts’ – traditional French desserts) and who knows what else.”

A petition by Cran against the cakes has attracted 3,067 signatures, while a Facebook page “soutien à Yannick Tavolaro” (support for Yannick Tavolaro) has 4,212 likes.

A gathering of supporters was being organised outside the shop this morning. Meanwhile they have started their own petition which claims Cran’s action is “destroying French culinary heritage”.

Cran’s complaint follows a previous one against chocolate specialities from Auxerre called Le Négro and Bamboula, showing black children in old-fashioned colonial-style depictions on the packaging. The shop removed them from sale despite protesting that they had made them since 1919 when they were introduced as a homage to Senegalese people wounded in the First World War.

Photo: Cran