Calls to Re-brand the Popular Middle Eastern Snack With 'the Racist Name'

Thanks to Black Lives Matter protests that started in the US about two weeks ago before it spread to other countries around the world, the conversation over racist laws and other racially-charged practices is now taking place everywhere.

In the Middle East, and specifically in the Levant region, the name of a popular snack has for years been under fire for "racist connotations."

"Ras Al'abed," Arabic for "head of the slave" is a marshmallow chocolate-coated, decades-old snack that is popular in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. 

Translation: "Do you remember its name? If we pay close attention to things around us we'll see the racism we've been living with for years without ever addressing the issue."

Influenced by news of anti-racism protests starting from the US, social media users have launched a campaign to change the popular snack's name, calling on people to take part in a Facebook vote for the best next name.

Translation: "For many years now, I've been avoiding saying "Ras Al'abed." I grew up with the name unaware of its meaning until I replaced it with the word Tarboosh." Today, I feel disgusted with myself when I mistakenly use this term."

Responding to online calls, a Jordanian-based manufacturer of the snack announced their intentions to re-brand it with another name.

Translation: "Zeidan co. has announced renaming "Ras Al'abed" a few days after people spoke out against it and accused them of being racist. Do you think it will work?"

Yet, the campaign received criticism from users who argued that "using the name to refer to a popular loved snack isn't an indication of racism."

Some users referred to the similar names of European chocolate snacks, saying that it inspired the name widely-used in the Levant region, and that "it had no racial roots behind the names."

Translation: "The original name is European. In French, it literally means the head of the Negro. In Austria and Switzerland, it's called  Negerkopf. In other countries, it's called the Negro's kiss. In German, it's called the Arab's head and that's still its name."