Category: People

Today’s food media character is… @deardara

Let us start with a screenshot:

And that’s how the entire thing got started

And from there it just kept going, until someone with a good deal of sense came through:

Continue reading Today’s food media character is… @deardara

Corrupt courts deserve the guillotine

What they have encountered is very different. Twenty-one women told The New York Times that they have been sexually harassed, manipulated or assaulted by male master sommeliers. They, and other current and former members of the court, say the abuse is a continuing problem of which its leadership has long been aware.

Source: The Court of Master Sommeliers Has a Sexual Harassment Problem – The New York Times

This is truly horrifying to read. I have met lady sommeliers who have forgotten more about wine than I will ever learn; to read how their career prospects and personal goals are limited by the usual cabal of old white men shows how deep the toxicity of our industry has reached. These are people who will never experience any hindrances in life in their quest for booze and sex and the vast majority of them need to suffer both civil consequences and for those who have commited assaults, criminal charges.

I’ve read stories of rock stars who have been more respectful even at the nadir of their personal lives— and they are people who sing about sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll.

Those who control the Court of Master Sommeliers all need to quit or be forced out, new leadership brought in and new rules implemented to prevent people in power from forcing situations and relationships on those who just want to learn more.

This sadly feels like just another stop in the #MeToo journey but here is hoping it will bring about lasting change.

Fodder: Scab Salt

Source: Salt Bae’s Meat Empire Is Rife With Labor Problems – VICE

Apparently this is something Salt Bae has dragged along with him from before he even his the meme big leagues in addition to accusations of sexism, racism, willfully ignoring health violations, etc etc etc. That’s before the most substantial accusation of them all: That his food is just bad.

The industry is already notorious for intensely disliking union and those that would push a union agenda in a restaurant and what unionizing would do to a business, whether the fears that are real or imagined. There are multiple pros and cons for each and we are not going to go into those in this post.

The choice quote of the Vice article:

Kucur talked about Gökçe’s obsession with Scarface: “He was so influenced by the movie. He thinks he is like Tony Montana. He said to me, ‘What’s the name on the restaurant? Nusr-Et. What’s my name? Nusret. What I say, goes.'”

We should all be so fortunate if the fireworks are even a smidgen like in the finale of the movie.

A lot of jobs are like that. A lot of *life* is like that.

They get hired and they come in with stars in their eyes. Everything they know about “being a chef” they learned from TV. And the instructors at the community college sure aren’t going to say anything to break the news to them. So they come in on their first day ready to help the chef plan out the next menu together. And the sous sends them into a corner to chop 5 gallons of onions. Every day is more scut work, and people yelling and cursing, and there are no breaks and they can’t work fast enough and no one will tell them where anything is. Before long, you can see the bitter disillusionment set in.

Then they think, it must just be this kitchen; I landed in a terrible kitchen, that’s all. I just need to find a normal kitchen where they will appreciate me for being me team task management. So they start looking around and asking around, and discover they had completely unrealistic expectations about cooking as a career, and that they made a huge mistake. Maybe they should move back home before their bedroom gets turned into an office…

This was written over at Reddit a couple of weeks ago.

Thrilling if you can afford it

New York restaurants merge the low-margin world of food businesses like grocery stores with taste-predicting industries like Hollywood browse around here.

Source: The Thrill of Losing Money by Investing in a Manhattan Restaurant – The New Yorker

The money quote:

The two decent young men who opened the restaurant remained decent throughout, if numbed by how hard it has been to support their families with a business that has grossed, consistently, two million dollars per year.

This was written by someone who had the money as opposed to the cooks and waitstaff who worked there. Where is their interview? While I’m sure they’ll find to survive in the city the fact remains that they will have to find ways to temporarily cope with their reduced incomes.

As an outsider to the entire scene in NYC, it’s easy to say that if you’re looking to do more than feed elitist economical minorities you need to leave the big cities and head elsewhere.

Came back out of retirement to post this. I still have one or two more things to say, I guess.

More skin for more shifts? No thanks

Should you have to dress sexy to keep your job? Many women working at some of Canada’s popular restaurant chains say they do, which some experts argue is discriminatory.

Source: <a href="http://www Recommended Site.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-gender-specific-dress-codes-1.3474289″>Restaurant dress codes: Sexy outfits for female staff may be discriminatory – Business – CBC News

Well, what do you know

http://shitfoodbloggerssay.tumblr team management app.com/post/133889460193/part-2-food52-responds-to-diversity-inquiry

Funny how it works, right? One would stand to reason that most foodie internet publications are made by caucasian people who have finished college and have surrounded themselves with people like them.

Silicon Valley demographics applied to food.