"Grass-Fed Ghee Oil" Horrifies Indians On Twitter

Good old ghee needs no introduction. The clarified butter, which originated in India, is used liberally around the country in everything from food to traditional medicines. So when a Los Angeles-based company discovered this "superfood" and repackaged it into "grass-fed ghee oil", outrage against them wasn't all that surprising. A tweet going viral, which shows a pic of Fourth & Heart's ghee oil bottle, has gone viral online and collected a lot of backlash.

"This is what they have done to our ghee," wrote the Twitter user who posted the pic.

This is what they have done to our ghee pic.twitter.com/D1ZfuagHaz

— Angry Cussing Baba (@BabaGlocal) February 25, 2019

According to Fourth & Heart's website, their ghee oil combines the "great taste of ghee with the high smoke point of grapeseed oil", making it "ideal for everything from sauteeing and baking to frying and scrambling." To Indians who have actually used the product, however, it seemed nothing short of a travesty.

"I used this stupid ghee oil thing for 2 years thinking it was actual ghee. I realised last month only that it was just some random oils mixed together that somehow gave the ghee like texture," wrote one angry Twitter user.

I used this stupid ghee oil thing for 2 years thinking it was actual ghee. I realised last month only that it was just some random oils mixed together that somehow gave the ghee like texture. pic.twitter.com/bmABPHdQbF

— Prachi Bhardwaj (@ThatLegalEditor) February 25, 2019

Lending her voice to the popular anti-ghee oil movement was actress Swara Bhaskar, who denounced it in no uncertain terms while labelling herself a "Ghee Nationalist".

Literally WTF !!! im a #GheeNationalist https://t.co/nXYhL4xUGK

— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) February 25, 2019

Others on Twitter were equally displeased with what is being called the appropriation of ghee.

"White people are just SO GREAT at packaging/branding," wrote one person on Twitter, perhaps referring to the many other instances of when desi products were rebranded and sold at a high premium on international platforms.

White people are just SO GREAT at packaging/branding https://t.co/iZf4Las75N

— Artful Dodger (@RahulChels) February 26, 2019

When the label says pour, it means down the drain.

— Bhanupriya Rao (@bhanupriya_rao) February 25, 2019

Nahiiiii..... https://t.co/WwKPXfvJAX

— Rashmi Aich (@rashmiaich) February 26, 2019

Some compared ghee oil to 'chai tea'

Ghee oil is the new chai tea

— Resh (@thebooksatchel) February 26, 2019

Chai tea naan bread ghee oil when will this stop???

— Tanzila Anis. (@aaliznat) February 26, 2019

Like chai latte

— Mahesh (@maheshkmurthy) February 26, 2019

Recently, coconut shells being sold on Amazon for over Rs 1,200 caused similar outrage on the Internet. Here are seven other instances of desi products being sold with videsi names.