IKEA remove jerk chicken and “rice and peas” dish from menu after image goes viral

Twitter users have criticised the Swedish company for serving jerk chicken with white rice and green peas and the dish has now been removed from their menu

CONTROVERSY: IKEA's Jerk chicken with rice and peas has now been removed from their menu

IKEA UNVEILED a new dish at their restaurants earlier this week, serving jerk chicken with rice and peas – but not the rice and peas you’d expect.

The Swedish company known for their homeware, furniture and in-store restaurants – which offers a selection of Swedish meatballs to coffee and cakes – faced criticism after an image went viral displaying their take on jerk chicken with white rice, green peas and lime for the price of £6.95.

Taking to Twitter on Monday (Sept 9) one user tweeted an image of the dish, which he captioned: “This is IKEA’s jerk chicken and rice and peas and no I’m not eating it.”

An image of a billboard featuring the meal was then shared on Twitter by journalist Lorraine King. She wrote: “Jerk chicken with white rice and green peas? Can people stop bastardising traditional dishes please?”.

The tweets, which gained over 168 likes and 400 retweets, led many to share their thoughts on IKEA’s attempt on the traditional dish, revealing their disappointment.

One user wrote: “@IKEAUK PLEASE get a Caribbean chef next time. Or at least do a flipping google search. This is food violence.”

Another tweeted: “This is annoying. They love our food, music, culture but then try and deport our elders in #windrush.”

Speaking to The Voice, Lorena Lourido, Country Food Manager for IKEA UK and Ireland said as of today (Sept 13) the dish has been removed.

“IKEA is a Swedish home furnishing company with a much-loved food offer. We take inspiration from many countries around the world and have always worked to combine different flavours and ingredients to offer delicious, healthy and affordable dishes,” said Lourido.

“We’re aware that our new jerk chicken, served with rice and peas has created some conversation and in some cases offence. Our intention was to create a dish for many people to enjoy but we appreciate that we may have got it wrong. We apologise and we are now re-looking at the dish.”

See more reactions to IKEA’s jerk chicken and “rice and peas” below:

Comments Form

12 Comments

  1. | Stephen

    Damm maybe i should do some meat balls Caribbean style and call them Swedish, You got to laugh really, Not?

    Reply

  2. | Charam Singh

    Did you morons try it before you criticize?

    Reply

    • | C. A. Ward

      Hey bud… before you go calling people “morons” first find out what was identified that made it CULTURAL incorrectness… why would I try what is clearly not what I know is not what I ordered. It probably tastes great however it is not that which is the Jamaican dish everyone love and (btw the Italians called they want back the pizza!)

      Reply

    • | K Gerld

      I suppose you must like the currants in your authentic Indian curry?
      “Peas” in the dish is NOT green garden peas! The moron who decided this should have done the research, as so should you have!

      Reply

  3. | Bernard Weston

    Try a little diplomacy and advice and the benefits would be mutual.

    Reply

  4. | AB

    Stop trying to rape us of another cultural tradition and make it another white man’s discovery or invention. This is what happens all the time, just like the disfiguration of the Eygptian faces where you lot removed the distinguished promenent black features because it could never be a black nation who created they culture, beauty of what you call
    hi-story but really I–story!

    Reply

  5. | Claudeth Stanley MD

    Perhaps if you hired a person of Jamaican heritage or anyone that can cook traditional Jamaican food correctly you would of understand why everyone is annoyed, “did Jamie Oliver give you the recipe”? Tsk

    Reply

  6. | Bruh

    We have bigger issues to worry about. They were trying to diversify their food options and although didn’t succeed they shouldn’t be criticised but praised for their efforts.

    Reply

  7. | Tula

    Why would Ikea want to do that? Just like Jamie Oliver they thought they could get away with it. Bad,bad move Ikea.

    Reply

  8. | Nubian Tracy

    hey ikea,

    did you get the recipe from sweden? jerk chicken does not go with green peas, the rice is good but not green peas!

    stick with the English menu instead.

    There’s plenty of caribbean restaurants and take-aways in the UK that people can access if they want the traditional jerk chicken and rice & red peas.

    Reply

  9. | Tracy

    hey ikea,

    did you get the recipe from sweden? jerk chicken does not go with green peas, the rice is good but not green peas!

    stick with the English menu instead.

    There’s plenty of caribbean restaurants and take-aways in the UK that people can access if they want the traditional jerk chicken and rice & red peas.

    Reply

  10. | Matthew

    Hi all,
    I’m really sorry if this seems a stupid question, but I always just assumed that rice and peas was exactly that – rice with peas. Now I realise I’ve been mistaken for basically my whole adult life, so please can someone tell me what kind of peas are meant to be used and is it a different type of rice as well? And where would I get that type of peas and rice if I wanted to try making this myself? I know I could Google but I’d rather get the genuine answer rather than something written by an English chef who has even less of an idea than I have. I would have had no idea without Ikea making this error so at least it’s taught me something I’d never know otherwise.

    Reply

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