White Couple’s Iowa Restaurant Causes Outrage Among Blacks and Asians

The racist themes found in a new eatery in Iowa are gaining a lot of negative publicity from social media. A West Des Moines restaurant called “Me So Hungry” is yet to open its doors to the public, but it’s already receiving some harsh criticism for alleged racist themes and cultural appropriation.

According to IowaInformer, the restaurant’s social media page has been swarmed with critical comments partly due to the managing couple, Ryan Greening and Sarah Cattoor, being Caucasian.

While both Greening and Cattoor intended the cafe to be a “really fun place” with “family friendly music”, some people aren’t seeing their establishment in a positive light. The cafe’s name, “Me So Hungry”, is supposedly a parodistic attempt at fusing the movie quote “Me so horny” from the film “Full Metal Jacket” along with a general hip-hop theme that allegedly appropriates Black culture.

Social media users didn’t find the restaurant name reference too amusing and took it as an offensive jab towards Asians, although it should be noted that there are a number of food trucks around the country with the same name.

Although the racist theme doesn’t stop there, the restaurant’s attempt at incorporating hip-hop culture has also offended certain Black communities as well.

One social media user bashed the restaurant’s official page after leaving a comment that states, “There are so many levels of racism here!” Another critic was disappointed after finding out about the cafe’s name, which is being deemed as “Asian insensitive.”

Others referred to the restaurant as “the monopoly on Hip-Hop by white folks” and “anti-blackness in general.” Despite the negative connotations that the cafe is receiving, the owners remain positive about its future.

“We welcome all varying views and in fact you will likely find our views run very counter to the racist views we are being claimed to have,” the couple explained. As for the allegedly racist theme of their restaurant, the couple tried to clarify the issue as well.

According to HuffingtonPost, the couple have been “fans of Hip-Hop music” for most of their lives. With that said, the cafe managers are pretty much open to discuss “any issue” through a “productive dialogue” with anyone willing to join them in the restaurant’s grand opening.

The cafe’s food on the other hand offers various multi-cultural dishes in their menu, ranging from Dutch pancakes to breakfast burritos and even some vegan dishes such as Tofu Scramble.

However, Cattoor and Greening’s controversy doesn’t end with their latest restaurant opening. Their company, Butterface LLC, currently faces a wrongful death lawsuit for over-serving a customer at another bar property they own, The Keg Stand, who drove down an interstate freeway and collided head on with a police transport, killing two police officers and a prisoner they were transporting.

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