Tens of thousands of residents in and around Washington, D.C., have received surprises from Wisconsin in recent days: a spice blend themed around the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Penzeys, the Wauwatosa-based spice retailer, is well-known for taking public stances in support of liberal politics and against Trump. This latest move encourages residents of the deep-blue District to “resist” the incoming administration — by cooking with a blend of salt, paprika and four kinds of pepper.
The company said on social media that more than 37,000 households will receive the dark blue boxes, featuring an image of a bleeding heart that reads “Resist!”
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Inside are 27 0.6-oz. spice blend sachets with a message.
“Love America. Love the hope America brings to all the people of the world. Kitchen’s gonna get hot. Smokey, too,” they read. “You can stand it. Keep America alive!”
“It was a cool gift, it just was unexpected,” said Brian Gray, one of the Washington residents who was surprised earlier this week to receive a package he hadn’t ordered. He said he cooked chicken with one packet — “It definitely made me sweat” — and plans to give a few away.
Sharing is part of the purpose of the packages, according to a letter that Bill Penzey, the company’s owner, included in the box.
“We chose your home for this box because your backyard is where America’s fate is to be determined,” the letter reads in part. “Please find a place to pop this open and share with people in need of a tasty seasoning to brighten their day.”
Penzey did not respond to WPR’s requests for comment. But it’s far from the first time his company has mixed liberal politics with business. According to the New Yorker, Penzey penned liberal op-eds to go in his mail-order catalog — long before his company had dozens of brick-and-mortar retail locations.
And the messaging became more pointed after Trump’s first election, when Penzey harshly criticized the incoming administration in an email newsletter that went out to his customers.
The company has marketed around anti-Trump sentiments before. It timed coupons for its “Justice” spice blend (shallots, garlic, onion, green peppercorns, chives, green onion) around Trump’s legal woes. When the Republican National Convention came to Milwaukee, it offered deals on spices that started with C for “crooked.”
That outspokenness hasn’t gone unnoticed by conservatives, who have criticized the brand for disparaging them. According to the Washington Post, Penzeys lost thousands of email subscribers in 2022 for describing Republicans as “racist” — an outcome the company then marketed around.
And some conservative patrons posted negative reviews of the company online after then-presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Penzeys location in Pittsburgh in September.
But the company has only leaned into its rhetoric. The company’s official website has a page “About Republicans,” which accuses the party of embracing “cruelty, racism, COVID lies, climate change denial and threats to democracy.”
“Given the choice between saving America and planet Earth or saving the feelings of Republican voters, we are choosing to side with saving our country and our world,” the page reads.
Brittany Prime is a political consultant and former lifelong Republican who supported Harris’ campaign. She said she’s been a Penzeys customer for years, but only recently became aware of the company’s political predilections.
“I don’t do newsletters, so I wasn’t aware of the activism, really,” she said. “I am definitely not a fan of the blanket assertions about half the country.”
But, she added, that hasn’t stopped her from ordering from the company.
“I’m not one of those people who is going to boycott a company because they have either different political views or maybe they’re more to the left of me or more to the right to me,” she said.
In fact, her Resist! parcel was delivered at the same time as an order she had already placed. That timing left her confused — as did the overall purpose of the package.
“I’m not about to go protest the inauguration down the street from me or anything like that,” she said. “I will cook with some spices. I’ll share them with my lovely neighbors, and I guess we’ll go from there.”
In advance of the return of Trump to the White House on Jan. 20, the company’s Washington customer stunt is partly aimed at federal workers, according to its post on social media.
Some of the locals who received one of the packages aren’t so sure it’ll have the intended effect. Prime pointed out that Washington residents don’t have representation in Congress. And Gray said that daily life isn’t typically affected by who’s in the White House.
“A lot of what the administration does doesn’t affect long time D.C. residents, in my opinion,” he said. “The culture doesn’t really change.”
Still, he added, he has plans for the spices: mixing them into burgers. Maybe roasting an entire chicken.
“I’ve told my friends, if you all of a sudden see me sliding you a packet of seasoning across the table, it’s because I know you like hot, smokey, spicy seasonings,” he said. “And I have now tons of them.”
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