Well, despite there being very little commercial incentive to do so, and every likelihood of pissing off their customer base, they just let everyone know what they think of the results of the election, and the people who contributed to that.
Bill at Penzeys is not EVEN fucking around.
Racism Update:
At Penzeys we believe it’s not the use of tools that set us on a different path from the rest of the animal world; what has set humanity in motion is cooking. In our nearly a million years gathered together around the fire, cooking shaped our bodies and transformed our minds. Cooking unlocked our potential and gave birth to reason, to religion, and to politics and government. The kindness of tens of thousands of generations of cooks created our humanity, but racism, sexism, and homophobia can all very quickly unravel all the goodness cooking puts out into the world. As the voice of cooks, we will never sit idly by while that happens.
You may have read Tuesday Night’s email. In it I said: "The open embrace of racism by the Republican Party in this election is now unleashing a wave of ugliness unseen in this country for decades. The American people are taking notice. Let’s commit to giving the people a better choice. Our kindness really is our strength.“
Since I ask you to read my emails, I feel it’s only right that I read each of your replies. In sifting through those replies it was clear that, though not intended, a good number of people seemed to sincerely believe that in my statement I was calling all Republicans racists. In the emails of those Republicans who voted for someone other than the party’s nominee, I sensed genuine pain at having the strength of character to not go along with what was happening, but nonetheless be grouped in with those who were. I apologize for writing something that caused you pain; that is not the person I want to be. You are your party’s future, and you deserve my admiration and respect, and your country’s as well.
For the rest of you, you just voted for an openly racist candidate for the presidency of the United States of America. In your defense, most of you did so without thinking of the consequences of your candidate’s racism, because for most of you the heartbreaking destruction racism causes has never been anything you or your loved ones have had to experience. But the thing is elections have their consequences. This is no longer sixty years ago. Whether any of us like it or not, for the next four years the 80% of this country who did not just vote for an openly racist candidate are going to treat you like you are the kind of person who would vote for an openly racist candidate.
You can get angry at everyone else for treating you like you just did the thing you just did, or you can take responsibility for your actions and begin to make amends. If you are lucky and younger family members are still coming over for Thanksgiving, before it’s too late, take a moment and honestly think about how your actions must look through their eyes. Simply saying “I never thought he’d win” might be enough. But if you have the means, leaving a receipt from a sizable donation to the ACLU or the SPLC accidentally laying around where you carve the turkey, might go over even better.
Or, just do what you do best and volunteer. Through our customers’ support, we’ve given away a lot of our Penzeys Pepper, the Pepper with heart. More often than not, those we meet cooking and serving food to feed those in need are Republicans. You really are a good bunch, but you just committed the biggest act of racism in American history since Wallace stood in the schoolhouse doorway 53 years ago. Make this right. Take ownership for what you have done and begin the pathway forward.
Just thought I’d let you know that Penzeys has great spices, great prices, and is willing to call out a large portion of their customer base on their shitty behavior.
I’m going to buy all my spices through them from now on. I hope you’ll consider becoming a Penzeys customer, too.
I also wanna add that Penzeys are SO GENEROUS with their free samples. Even on small orders. And on one large-for-me order, with like 5 jars, some of which were biggish or of expensive stuff? I got THREE small jars of free spices. GOOD stuff. Stuff that matched the other stuff I ordered in tone, so I would be more likely to like it. These are not tiny jars, they are the same size as their small jars, there is a lot of stuff inside, not just a couple meals’ worth but enough for several months. It’s like … they WANT you to have tasty spices to put on your tasty food. They care.
Shit, I ordered a big thing of cinnamon, a big thing of a flavor blend, and a small jar of another flavor blend, an order that wasn’t even $20. I got a small jar of another variety of cinnamon for free, and a small jar of Italian seasoning. Like an $8-ish value. WHAT.
They frequently have promotions for totally free spices - just pay shipping - and their regular deals are usually pretty amazing. Their salt-free section is BIG and also amazing, and they have a really good amount of blends without onion or garlic (two IBS triggers for me).
They also sell spice blend boxes that make FANTASTIC holiday gifts!
Seriously, become a Penzeys customer. They actually value the crap out of you. Not just as a customer, but as a human being.
Penzey’s is entirely not kidding around. Not at all. And this is a consistent platform for them. The CEO regularly uses the emails and the catalogs to call out injustice.
They truly believe in love people, cook them tasty food. They warn you when the price of something (like the vanilla recently) has to rise. The spices are high quality, the stores smell amazing, and I think I have a problem.
And that problem is that my spice cabinet is a literal cabinet.
