Finding Your Mustard Oil

have you guys heard of mustard oil

chances are if you’re not south asian

the answer is no mustard oil is produced

from the seeds of the mustard plant

and it’s known for its strong flavor

pungent aroma

and its role as a staple ingredient in

bangladeshi cuisine

i’m saying that there are entire dishes

dedicated to cooking with it

that you won’t find in its neighboring

countries this is like tehari

which is an aromatic rice with beef

potatoes chilies and onions

that’s doused in mustard oil

or ilishmach the national fish of

bangladesh

a stir fry that’s covered in mustard

seeds and oil

now before the south asian history

police come for me

i know that it’s used in india and

pakistan as well

[Music]

but not to the same extent that is used

in bangladesh

bangladesh where i was born is a place

that

some of you at rutgers may have heard of

and most of the world

has not it’s a country that fought for

its language

and gained its independence in 1971.

shout out to baba who was a freedom

fighter in the war for liberation

shut but due to its history colonialism

and other factors it’s been ignored and

overlooked in the larger conversation

of the south asian diaspora shout out to

nepal sri lanka

we see you too but that’s why mustard

oil is so important to us

it’s a niche ingredient that makes us

different

it represents our history

and it is a metaphor for our cultural

pride

i’m an artist and entrepreneur that

moved from bangladesh to queens new york

city

i’m an immigrant kid that made rap money

and turned myself into a brand

the world has never seen someone like me

before

the same way you’ve never seen mustard

oil

my name is anik khan and i use music and

pop culture

to tell the stories of underrepresented

communities to make sure they don’t get

erased

all right so boom my story begins in the

most

magical place in the world queens new

york

queens holds the guinness world record

for being the most ethnically diverse

area

on the planet it’s also the most

linguistically diverse with at least 138

languages spoken throughout the entire

borough

as mad people and mad languages

i grew up around all these cultures

attending backyard west indian functions

trying sorrow for the first time eating

that epis after school with my

venezuelan homies

my friend circle literally looked like

the united nations

according to psychologists nancy

eisenberg claire hoffer

and julie vaughn kids with diverse

friends or

cross group friends as social

psychologists like to call it

have a higher level of social competence

increase self-esteem and resilience

and show more leadership potential i

didn’t know it then

but that diversity and friendship might

have been the most important part to my

growth as an artist and entrepreneur

it taught me the intricacies of

different cultures and why it’s

important not to paint with a broad

brush

something that pop culture does way too

often

when you think of the caribbean islands

high chance you’re thinking of jamaica

maybe jerk chicken but what about

countries like trinidad

barbados guyana they each have their own

mustard oil

that one ingredient a dish that sets

them apart

yet we rarely hear about them guyana has

pepper pot

trinidad has doubles places in the

middle east

and north africa like morocco and

philistine

are miles away from each other

yet they’re grouped as the same people

that’s dangerous

these intricacies and ingredients are

parallel to the intricacies within its

people

you can’t just act like they don’t exist

that’s why i’m here today that’s why i’m

on this stage

i make sure that these intricacies get

highlighted in mainstream culture

because if i don’t who will

as an artist people know me for blending

genres like dancehall

afrobeat panra ballet funk and more

you know that clave that

that’s been the most natural way for me

to pay homage to my upbringing and the

people that surrounded me

but as i’ve grown as an artist it’s

become just as important for me to

showcase these cultures through other

platforms

in 2018 i partnered with the largest

food festival in america

i put an egyptian halal truck a halal

thai restaurant

and a bengali street food stall next to

prominent names and food

like casa enrique shake shack and john

and vinnie’s

i needed to make sure that my borough

was represented in a real way

and that these local businesses were

exposed to platforms that

otherwise might have overlooked them

for my first line of merchandise i

partnered with another set of local

restaurants

as you can see i’m a big foodie

that i felt made the ingredients to my

music

trinidadian roti north african chicken

over rice

and chinese fast food i wanted to make

sure

that their menus and contact info

were on sustainable high-end fabrics for

my fans

to be exposed to underrepresented

communities through fashion

esquire magazine claimed and i quote

anik khan is making merchandise exciting

again

not to toot my own harm but

2-2 in 2019 right before the pandemic

i opened up the first bengali on chai

cafe goku to chai

with partners ani and ayan sanyo

we created a physical space for people

across multiple diasporas

to enjoy south asian chai made and sold

by south asian people

to think that chai was introduced to

america and mainstream culture

by non-south asian old companies like

starbucks

blows my mind still

that’s like if dominoes was your first

experience of italian neapolitan pizza

no shade the dominoes respectfully

but they’d be misrepresenting the

culture just like starbucks did

they took our chai and called it chai

tea which literally means

t t

we felt like it was our responsibility

to take the narrative back

and let you all know that is

just chai as you can see

i’m no stranger to the different

mustardos across the globe

but this is just the beginning and

there’s so many other

niches to learn about and support people

like bilkis abdul qadir

a black american hijabi basketball

player that played d1 basketball

where’s her nike commercial or dj uska

a sri lankan dj an activist

where’s her radio show or isl

slay a saudi rapper that was ordered

for an arrest for making a rap record

about her city

where’s her netflix documentary my

decision

to put my community first has not been

easy

i carved a space for myself and others

that to this point has been way too

convenient to ignore until now

i’ve risked my career as an artist to

build bridges

to increase the visibility of the people

and places that need it

the purpose of my art is to connect the

people who felt overlooked

with the people who felt seen we all

know that being exposed to diverse

cultures

is undeniably good for the human

experience

research shows that it leads to more

understanding cultural competence

leadership and empathy skills that are

critical to compete in the 21st century

but the upside of diversity is a recent

phenomenon

it has been politicized and polarized

for so long

that we haven’t had the chance to study

the affordances of its positive impact

more importantly we can’t rely on

research alone to propel

this movement i’m inspired to move these

cultures forward

because academia can’t do it alone and

that isn’t a knock on academia

but social movements don’t grow from a

citation

they grow from people witnessing

something that’s powerful and real

something relatable and what’s more

relatable than food music and pop

culture

but that’s just the beginning you have

to be open to the people around you

the friendships you make the communities

you build

and when i say people i don’t mean just

any people i mean the people of the

world doesn’t expect you to be around

but that’s a ted talk for another day

when you come from niche culture it’s

hard to see yourself as a part of the

larger conversation

it’s even harder to see yourself as a

part of pop culture

there’s an emphasis on eurasia and

assimilation

we have been designed to think

that we don’t have our own mustard oils

but

everyone has their own perspective and

identity

pop culture has been historically bland

i’ve rocks with salt and pepper but it’s

time to see things like cumin

turmeric and butter

so before i leave today i want to ask

you this

what are you bringing to the table

what’s your mustard oil

thank you

free philistine facilia free yemen

free the farmers out in punjab this has

been a foreign affair conversation