Australian Couple’s Racist Rant Over ‘Butter Chicken’ Smell Sparks Debate Online

A social media post that is trending reflects the situation that an Australian homeowner might encounter after purchasing a home that smells of lingering foods. The couple bought the house from “two men from South Asia,” and the house smells like typical South Asian dishes, the couple said.

She described it as lingering scent of “butter chicken with a side of saffron rice and garlic naan, lamb rogan josh, and beef vindaloo,” which the homeowners couldn’t get rid of. It persisted even after multiple cleaning, airing, and diffusing overnight. In this case, they were suspicious that the smell must have penetrated the walls; so, they bought an ozone generator to get rid of the smell. “The house doesn’t need to be repainted, but I’m convinced the smell is in the walls,” they shared. Surprisingly, the kitchen—the expected source of the scent—was reportedly not the culprit.

The post evoked a lot of responses online with more than 4 million views. Some felt sympathetic to it, coming up with ideas such as steam cleaning the carpets, scrubbing walls with either vinegar or baking soda, and even putting activated charcoal to absorb odors. One user shared, “I had the same problem. Once I got the keys to my apartment, I had to stay 15 days at the neighbour’s house because the smell was terrible. We washed the walls and the floor, repainted everything even though it wasn’t necessary, burned some coffee, and left some coal around.”

Others, however, called out the tone of the post for being culturally insensitive. “It is stereotyping,” an Indian user commented, pointing out the fact that the description was too specifically tying the odours to South Asian cuisine. “Some of the comments under this post are messed up,” the user added.

Though the odour from the house is a legitimate concern of the home owners, the discussion has opened a much bigger can of worms related to cultural sensitivity and the implications of labeling some traits with ethnic backgrounds.