The Portland-based doughnut shop Voodoo Doughnuts has plans to open a store in the famous French Quarter neighborhood of New Orleans, though plans are currently being pushed due to backlash and an opening date is unknown. Local practitioners and admirers of the New Orleans voodoo community have expressed worries about the business appropriating the local culture. The thought of a doughnut chain opening in their spiritually historic city is offensive to some, given the name of the chain includes “Voodoo” a westernized version of the name Vodou, from a Fon word for “god” or “spirit,” which is a West African religion that has spread throughout the African Diaspora.
Leaders of the New Orleans Voodoo community also are worried that Voodoo Doughnuts will detract visitors away from local businesses in the Frech Quarter and continue a pop cultural trend of portraying the religion as gimmicky and unserious. Many of the doughnut concepts are based on cultural stereotypes about the heavily-misunderstood religion with imagery including pentagrams, even though the symbol is not inherently used in Vodu, yet due to the associations with “occultism” and “satanism” the pentagram and the religion alike are often assumed to be “evil” or “satanic.”
For context, in the 18th century, enslaved West Africans—the majority of them Bambara and Kongo—were brought to the French colony of Louisiana. Their traditional religions would eventually mix with the Roman Catholic beliefs of the French and later on the Spanish. During the 19th century, Haitian migrants who were fleeing during the Haitian Revolution brought with them the practice of Haitian Vodou. Enslaved peoples in the United States created their own irritations of the African diasporic religion⸺inculding Louisiana (New Orleans) Voodoo. The regionally-based religion is a syncretic mix of traditional religions of West Africa, the Roman Catholic, Indigenous religions, and Haitian Vodou. The religious practice was heavily restricted for people, particularly Black people, to openly practice the religion and as a result, many Black congregational spaces were under surveillance and penalized. Having to practice Vodu in secrecy and in culturally safe spaces still to this day is in many ways representative of the larger issue of anti-black and Indigenous racism contributing to the erasure and commodification of African and Indigenous cultures.
The proposed location of the New Orleans shop has also been a point of contention since City Council member Freddie King approved a proposal to allow the owner of the building at 823 Decatur St. to convert the historic Tujague’s restaurant sign, a historic restaurant and bar that opened in 1856 serving traditional Creole food, to be replaced with the Voodoo Doughnut name and brand if the plan moves forward. A decision on the matter has been pushed until August due to the backlash.
Divine Prince Ty Emmecca, known locally as the King of New Orleans Voodoo told NOLA Today, “We have already had to deal with the name being bastardized and appropriated by all kinds of businesses, sports teams, or whatever over the years, but I don’t think it’s ever been quite this disrespectful,” referring to the chain’s signature ‘mascot’ doughnut depicting a chocolate-covered ‘voodoo doll’ with googly eyes and a big red mouth with a pretzel stick stake through its’ heart outside had some draw parallels between the doughnut design and the historically racist imagery of blackface and Golliwog, a doll based on anti-black caricatures displayed in minstrel-shows that were popular in the United States.
Voodoo Donut was founded in 2003 by Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon III in the Chinatown neighborhood of Portland Oregon. Six years ago, the pair sold a large stake in the business to San Francisco private equity firm, Fundamental Capital, and the brand has since expanded rapidly with its newest CEO, Chris Schultz. Voodoo Doughnut has a total of 17 locations nationwide including California, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Washington, and Texas.
Its recognizable pink boxes contain a variety of 50 artisanal flavor options, including 25 vegan options, and are experimenting with over 100 doughnut flavors. The business has essentially become a cultural spot for Portland, with the city declaring Voodoo Doughnut’s Portland Creme as Portland’s “Official City Doughnut.”
Though not all NOLA residents are opposed to the idea of the doughnut shop, the news of its potential arrival has certainly been a point of discussion about the cultural implication this will have on the community.
