Longtime New Orleans resident and writer and film director and general production guy Jim Gabour has been writing for the British site Open Democracy for a few years, usually about life in his hometown post-Katrina.

His most-recent post is a gem of a report from the set of an Uncle Ben’s Rice commercial filmed by a British director for European consumers. Gabour was working in production for the shoot, overseeing the lighting and sound and so on. The series of commercials they’re filming, he reports, is of course one huge stereotype machine—of African Americans, of the south, of the States, of New Orleans—and all of it conjured to give the illusion of authenticity, to make Uncle Ben’s products seem like real-thing original-item wholesome Creole cooking!

“This commercial would only air in Europe. The account executives were already auditioning females back at the hotel, looking for the proper accent. Something cruder was needed, they thought. Rougher. Something unrefined. Like America. Like New Orleans…”