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June 07, 2009

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Kevin

Your blog was wonderful. I liked the comment regarding Hung "acquiring social skills before my eyes." You are so accurate in that Black chefs are expected to know how to cook soul food, without any sort of formal instruction, and I know that culinary schools don't even mention soul/creole food as a legitimate form of cuisine in any of their training. It's easy for Black chefs to be compartmentalized into only having one skill set, and people falsely accuse them of not having much formal training. Carla, whom is a classically trained French chef, at one point in the show, was seen as one who could only do desserts (apparently from her French Training), but was expected to cook "authentic" soul food out of thin air. She might have the palate for soul and southern regional cuisine, but was expected to get this training outside of the culinary academy. For instance, I know what a good peach cobbler tastes like, but I'll be damned if I can make it myself. As a point of reference, I've tasted it before, and know what (I think) it should taste like, but to assume that I can make it just because I've previously had it, is ludicrous. As you pointed out, white (European) chefs, can talk about nationhood and their own whiteness. It's praised, celebrated, and shared. Nikki from season 4 and Fabio and Leah from season 5 could all talk about being Italian. Scenes, at length, showed them rolling out pasta, and talking about how their grandmothers showed them how to cook. They could talk about what is familiar to them. Moreover, on an episode this past season, the contestants were asked to make a dish that identified or expressed themselves. Stefan made duck and spaetzal with red cabbage, a typical preparation and pairing in Sweden and Germany, whereas Carla made Scallops with risotto and gremolata. Albeit she is perhaps leaning upon her formal French training, why is that we didn't see any "Black Peoples" food? How would Black People's be situated, judged and critiqued against spetzal? It would be seen as peasant or pedestrian, rustic and unrefined. Ironically, spetzal is German comfort food, a dish that is prepared all throughout the region in homes everyday. This really underscores how unimportant Black people are to the culinary world of "haute cuisine" and in general.

Black Chefs are put on the show to be token, but are not expected to win. Nimma from season 4 is a prime example of this. Honory, she fit into the reality tv competition box of "i'm not here to make friends" and isolated herself from the first take, taking a page out of Omorasa from the season 1 of the "Apprentice." She got 15 minutes of air time for this, and was in the bottom of the first quickfire challenge (to make a Chicago style deep dish) and was the first to be eliminated, as she could not properly prepare a reinvented, refined and reinterpreted shrimp scampi. She lacked the basis of the dish, the garlic butter sauce, which scampi is known for, and tried to pair two oversalted U-12 shrimp with a cauliflower flan. The dish was disjunctive. The reach extended the grasp - her aspirations were too high, and her skill set could not match her imagination. She was quickly eliminated and soon forgotten. This instance is all too common for Black chefs on the show. They are token images of equal opportunity, but not serious contenders to actually win.

Another interesting note regarding Top Chef is that most of the Black contestants on the show are caterers and not working in kitchens. There is a way where taking ownership of your business, and not having to deal with unfair hiring practices and working for white people, is displayed on the show. It is reactionary to white racism, and also a quiet commentary on the food industry as well. Tre, Mia, Carla, for instance, all own their own catering companies, and take stock in being business owners. It is also interesting that aside from Carla, neither Tre nor Mia have any formal culinary training. They simply can cook their own food and be independent and in control of their creative motif.

K.I.M.

I'd love to see similar analysis on another Bravo favorite of mine (albeit a trashy favorite): Real Housewives of "City." That show perpetuates stereotypes to no end.
OC: Blondes with fake boobs and rich husbands.
NYC: Opinionated, strong, socialite women that play tennis and have houses in the Hamptons.
ATL: Entertainer wives who try desperately to show their wealth through material means. Lots of flash, very little substance.
NJ: Mafia wives.

Kyel

Would you say these regional stereotypes prepetuate racialization as well

David Gussin

Your article is more racist than what it proposes. As a professional chef
I can tell you from experience that African Americans are not in many professional upscale kitchens. It certainly isn't because
all chefs are racist. On the contrary Asian Americans and naturalized Asians are well spread in kitchens and are diligent and generally hard
workers. An odd observation I made recently was that in Los Angeles nearly all food and restaurant bloggers are from asian descent. Is it an anomoly or is it because they have a predisposed passion written in their DNA.

Ren

David, I don't watch "Top Chef," but I am thinking you either did not read Nopper's piece carefully or misunderstood the point of it. Nopper is not saying all chefs are racist (nor is she commenting on the work ethic of Asians in the kitchen or out of it). Indeed, what I really think she and her friend are doing is commenting more on the show's production, first and foremost, and then on some of the comments SOME people on the show have made. Her inclusion of Branford Marsalis' comment demonstrates she is not just picking on chefs.

I say she is commenting on the production first and foremost because one of the biggest issues I view her as having with the show is the lack of blacks accepted to appear on it, period (and, as another commenter wrote, when they do appear it's to serve as tokens who aren't expected to win). Since I don't watch the show, I can't be sure...but I'm thinking the producers of the show are not chefs.

I think you just wanted to find offense with this kind of piece.

K.I.M.--And I agree that you can analyze plenty of other shows for, particularly, for racial and sex/gender issues and increasingly for sexual orientation issues. People find racial disparities on "American Idol" seemingly every season. Analyzing "Real Housewives..." doesn't really seem to fit in with what Nopper has written about, though, so I'm not quite sure where that suggestion came from.

Nopper/Everyday Sociology--excellent stuff. Please be sure to include more of Nopper's pieces. She is simply brilliant!

JAQUANDA CLEMENTS

I DO WATCH TOP CHEF, AND HAVE ALWAYS LIKED THE SHOW, EVEN THOUGH I CAN'T REALLY COOK. I HAVE ALWAYS WONDERED WHY THERE AREN'T ANY BLACK PEOPLE ON THE SHOW AS JUDGES. LIKE YOU SAID THERE WERE A FEW CONTESTANTS, BUT NOT ONE BLACK JUDGE. I LIKE THE SHOW, BUT THE WHOLE THING IS A SCAM IF YOU ASK ME. HOW CAN A FEW PEOPLE JUDGE SOMEONE'S COOKING AND DECIDE WHO IS A TOP CHEF ANYWAY? EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT TASTE BUDS, SO I DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY SAY. IT'S REALLY SAD, BUT I DON'T EVEN EXPECT TO SEE MY PEOPLE ON CERTAIN REALITY SHOWS ANYMORE. THAT SAYS MORE ABOUT THE MEDIA THAN IT DOES MY RACE. ALSO, I FEEL LIKE ASIANS ARE JUST AS PREJUDICE TOWARDS BLACK PEOPLE AS WHITE PEOPLE ARE. SO RACISM IS EVERYWHERE WHETHER PEOPLE ACCEPT IT OR NOT.

Melissa

I have only watched this show a couple of times, but it does seem odd that their are no black judges. Although you are a professional chef David, and you say their are not many African American's in the business, there is no reason they cannot judge the contestants. This being said, the author of the article may just be thinking too much into it. I highly doubt it was the show's purpose to use mostly white contestants.

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