Chicago food blogger stunned by 'heinous' online antisemitism

Chicago food blogger Chris Campbell, known online as Chris CARESNONE or the “Babka King,” wanted to bring the world together through cuisine — but now he’s speaking out against hate. 

On April 9, Campbell posted a video discussing the antisemitic comments he had seen on content featuring Jewish food. In the video, he shows that someone commented accusing him of taking money from various Israeli lobbyists and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which he mocked.

“The antisemitism that I have noticed, and I have personally felt — I have gotten death threats… it is real and you can see it,” Campbell said in the video posted to his Instagram page. Campbell, who is known for tasting food from around the world, noted that he has tried cuisine from India, Italy, Greece, Mexico and Russia, among others, but none of them received as much “hate” as videos featuring Jewish food.

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When speaking to Fox News Digital, Campbell emphasized that it wasn’t as though the comment sections of his Jewish content were full of hate and antisemitism, but rather that it’s the kind of content that gets the most negative attention. However, he did talk about the death threats that he said were full of “the most heinous things I’ve ever heard.”

“The facts are I have received death threats when I’ve tried babka, which is wild,” Campbell told Fox News Digital.

After posting the video in which he called out the antisemitic comments, Campbell shared another video of himself tasting a Palestinian dish called knafeh. However, he said that while he “got some interesting comments” on the video, it “still pales in comparison to what I’ve gotten for the Jewish culture.”

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Campbell admitted to Fox News Digital that the comments initially made him wonder if trying Jewish food was putting his life in jeopardy. However, after giving it some thought, he decided to use his platform to spread more love and ultimately doubled down on his Jewish food tastings. 

“[There are] people literally in my DMs saying how much they’re, like, scared,” Campbell said. “And what kind of person would I be if I have a platform and I see what I see and I don’t say nothing?”

Campbell’s journey to becoming the “Babka King” started with a package from Half Moon Rondout Café in Kingston, New York. 

“I had never even heard of babka, I didn’t even know they were sending me anything,” Campbell told Fox News Digital. “I opened the box and I got this waft of, like, cinnamon and sugar, and it hit me in the face. I’m like, this is crazy.”

Half Moon Rondout Café owner J.T. Pinna — whose background is in human rights — told Fox News Digital that Campbell “has a PhD in babka” now that he has tried so many. Pinna said he liked Campbell’s content and decided to send the content creator a babka to see what would happen, and it turned into a sensation.

He told Fox News Digital that the first babka tasting led to a flood of packages of Jewish food. Since then, Campbell has tried several babkas as well as other Jewish treats, like hamantaschen and pastrami sandwiches.

Campbell is not one for picking sides — not even when it comes to cinnamon versus chocolate babka. Rather, he aims to entice others to expand their palates and learn about different cultures through food.