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In honor of Black History Month, the NBC cafeteria served fried chicken, collard greens, and jalapeno cornbread today for lunch. The picture below was snapped by Questlove, the drummer for the Roots--Jimmy Fallon's house band. He was also the musician that pointed out via Twitter that Conan spent half a million dollars on a walk-out song for Tom Hanks during his last episode.

Someone tweeting under the name @nbcu (which, as of now, only has 8 followers) is claiming to and be NBC's VP of Communications, Kevin Goldman. The first and only tweet says: "The sign in the NBCU cafeteria has been removed. We apologize for anyone who was offended by it."'

UPDATE: Questlove just tweeted: "i think i need a twitter break. i done started something. and now i must put out fire." Apparently, NBC is not thrilled with this attention.

UPDATE II: NBC has removed the sign from the cafeteria and apologized if it offended anyone.

The chef, Leslie Calhoun -- who is black -- said she has been trying to institute a special Black History Month menu for years and was allowed to do so for the first time this year. She said doesn't understand the controversy.

"I don't understand at all," she told NBC partner site TheGrio. "It's not trying to offend anybody and it's not trying to suggest that that's all that African-Americans eat. It's just a good meal. I thought it would go over well."

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Comments

[lindasha]

I'm a white and southern and I think NBC is damn lucky to be getting what's considered Sunday Dinner (in black and white homes) on a Monday.

[mad world]

Making a mountain out of a molehill here. I see nothing wrong about this menu, besides the fact I'm not eating the food listed there :(

[kareemachan]

Ditto. Now I'm hungry....

[dramaglama]

So celebrating the culinary customs of the deep south in honor of Black history month is a controversy?

Hmmmmm....riveting....

[pabstskater]

Yawn...maybe NBC should serve this during Chanukah so not to offend anybody.

[bobo5]

The menu sounds yummy.

[Swami Salami]

I don't see any problem with the menu... have you ever been in a black soul food restaurant? you can see the same kind of food on their menu. what's the deal???

[Skyhawk]

I'd ask what is up with NBC management, but it apparent there isn't any. This is a stupid reaction.

[StupidPeopleSuck]

I don't understand the controversy either. I would love to have been invited and these are all common menu items on the average southern families table regardless of race. As it happens, many Black Americans came to the colonies through the southern states therefore we still enjoy these southern staples. If it were Latino history month, there would be dishes common to Latino culture included on the menu. People need to calm the heck down.

[exsongbird]

i'm from the deep south (MS), and i've eaten fried chicken, and greens my entire life. there's nothing "black or white" about this menu. this is the way we eat down south. it's called soul food for a reason.....
i'm a white male, and i absolutely love watermelon too.
it amazes me how far some people will go to find something, heck anything, to be offended about.
all the problems we face in this country, and somebody wants to make a big deal out of a damn lunch menu.......give me a break.......

[OldeTymeLiberalDude]

Agreed.....during my teen years and to this day, a good friend of mine's (an African American) mother would cook a huge meal on his birthday. Guess what it was? That's right fried chicken, collard greens, and potato salad. Best fried chicken ever! It was her (her words), "soul food" meal.

[kareemachan]

Sigh. I've never been able to make fried chicken as wonderful as my kid's pre-school teacher. She was from the South, and made a menu like this that was to die for.

[Try the truth]

My only issue with this is she left out the mac and cheese! How can she serve that meal without Mac & Cheese!?

This was the Sunday dinner my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and I still make! We switch up the chicken with pork roast, or ham. But basically the same meal. The same way some of my friends & their relatives make pasta & sauce every Sunday.

I have a feeling the band member from the Roots was looking for a controversy. Shame on him! He needs to apologize to the chef!

[StrayTalk]

Oops....scratch the corned beef, cabbage and Guiness for St Patricks Day!

[LyssaBarnes]

Nooo!

[elizlucinda]

I just visited a soul food recipe and these items were on the menu. sorry..I think the chef was trying to do a "good thing".....

[raker]

Me too. This menu sort of seems mocking and seems maybe potentially racist, like the word niggardly seems offensive, until you go deeper than the shallowest surfaces and look at the meanings. But that's not The American Way.

[mamapower]

I don't see anything wrong with the menu but is the chef brain d3ad?

[LyssaBarnes]

How is that brain d3ad? This was done last year with no complaints. This year it became an issue because it offended one person who is a new employee and did nor bother to ask the chef why this was done.

And, this is not directed at you so don't take offense. Would people learn the facts and stop referring to this menu as slave food? Black history did not begin with slavery. Considering that this style of cooking is shared by many countries I find categorizing it as slave food extremely offensive.

[Elbrando]

Who's running NBC, a bunch of palinites. It's like they want NBC to go in the toilet.

[nlc3]

Pot roast with potato's, corn, squash and pumpkin pie?

Yeah, OK.

[Hontas Farmer]

What's wrong with that? My family spent the 1800's living in Missouri and Kansas. I'd go out and shoot me a buffalo if there were any left.

[endway]

I feel the same Hontas though I watched the first video on
http://vidboo.com/?sea=NBC+black+history+month+menu