Half Baked Harvest Was Accused of Cultural Appropriation

Tieghan Gerard is the creator of her popular food blog, Half Baked Harvest. She has amassed a huge following for her wholesome recipes — over six million on Instagram and over 800,000 on TikTok.

But she has also been in hot water several times, mainly for appropriating Vietnamese culture in her recipes. If you want the full dish, here’s the Half Baked Harvest controversy explained.

One of the first times Tieghan drew criticism for her Asian recipes was in February 2021. She shared a noodle soup recipe with her followers called “Weeknight ginger pho ga (Vietnamese chicken soup).”

Tieghan's explanation that the dish could be made in an hour caused a stir among Asian and Vietnamese fans. People were upset because pho is an iconic Vietnamese dish that sometimes requires days for the flavors to develop.

Most pho recipes also typically include broth, noodles, beef, and garnish. Since Tighan’s take on the recipe called for caramelized chicken and a sweet sesame sauce, people believed that her recipe appropriated Vietnamese food. Others claimed that she copied recipes from other food bloggers.

“This is not pho. Please do not appropriate another cultures food and try to do better,” one commented.

“WTF is that. Distasteful to Viet folks. Don't ever call it Vietnamese Chicken Soup,” another wrote.

In response to the backlash, Tieghan renamed the recipe “Easy sesame chicken and noodles in spicy broth.” She also responded to criticism with the same response: “It was never my intention to offend or hurt anyone or the culture.”

Just two years later, Tieghan was under fire again, and this time, it was for a video and recipe for “25 Minute Ginger Sesame Banh Mi Rice Bowls.”

Banh mi is a Vietnamese dish typically consisting of a French baguette, pickled vegetables, cilantro, mayo, and protein (such as pork). People were upset that Tieghan called the recipe “banh mi” when there was no bread. They also accused her of mispronouncing banh mi (bun-me) as “bon-my” in her recipe video.

“Wtf is this? No real Vietnamese would be caught dead pronouncing banh mi 'bon-my' the way you pronounce it, let alone calling whatever the hell this dish is [a] banh mi rice bowl," a viewer commented.

Tieghan chose not to change the recipe’s name or remove it from her website.

Her reputation was further dampened by the 2023 New York Times profile about her, titled "The Star of Half Baked Harvest Inspires Loyalty — and Controversy."

She spoke out about the article in an interview with People.

"I think you really need to remember to trust your gut, because in that instance, I should have trusted myself," she said of the interview with The New York Times.

"From day one, something didn't feel good about it to me. I invited [the writer] here to Colorado into my home. It was more than a year-long process, and I was speaking with her and it was always seen in the light of positivity and highlighting the recipes and cookbooks I've written. It was really misleading," she said.

When it came to the accusations of cultural appropriation, she denied those claims.

"At the end of the day, you really got to remember I'm just a home cook like everybody else sharing recipes," she explained.

"That includes cuisines from around the world because I, like everyone else when they're cooking, can get a little bit bored," she continued. "I love exotic flavors. I'm not claiming to be an expert, and I never have claimed to be an expert."

She went on to call the claims of her copying recipes from other food bloggers “mind-boggling.”

"I fully believe I have never copied a recipe," she said.

"That's just insane. I've loved elements of recipes, absolutely. I didn't ever use salsa verde until I saw someone using it, and now I use salsa verde in so many recipes. But have I copied recipes? No. I actually try not to look at anybody else's recipes."