Bill Penzey of Penzeys Spices is sending out fewer catalogs these days that insult his customer base. “We don’t print too many paper catalogs anymore. Maybe once a year,” the Penzeys website tells us.
But that doesn’t mean Penzey has stopped insulting his Republican customers. He’s just taken to social media.
“Through cooking we found our humanity, the kindness, empathy and compassion that the modern Republican Party is now at war with,” Penzey wrote in a Facebook post to remember the first anniversary of the 2016 election. “For the sake of our future, for the sake of our humanity, this is a conflict our country simply can’t afford to lose.”
“As this last election showed, we are still completely capable of throwing logic and clear thought aside when the shrieking of our fellow primates gets loud enough,” Penzy wrote.
Penzeys is an upscale spice seller. With stores in Cedarburg, Brookfield and Delafield, and similar locations around the country, many of his customers are probably people who voted for Republicans. But Penzey has chosen the unique business model of insulting those customers every chance he gets.
But he may be finally feeling the heat from the political fire.
“How it is that the Republican leadership, Fox News and the other propaganda media, and those in power in Russia have now arrived on the same page to be working to undermine all that has brought us to leadership in the world is something we may never fully understand,” Penzey wrote. “What I do know is that with your support we’ve been able to continue to stand up for the values of cooking and the values of America even through the calls of boycott against us that came with this stand.”
The rest of the Facebook post isn’t about the virtues of the spices, but about supporting Penzey. “If you are in the mood to continue that support,” Penzey wrote, before suggesting purchasing a “Love People box.” And he concludes, “Thanks for your support.”
So buying spices at Penzeys is now a cause rather than a flavoring choice. No wonder more Republicans are finding Penzeys Spices unpalatable.
