Seattle chef Rachel Yang speaks out about harassment in the industry — and the problematic James Beard Awards

When Rachel Yang agreed to host the James Beard Foundation’s Taste America dinner at her Revel restaurant, the date seemed – the 15th. The event was intended to be the Seattle edition of a “national initiative to bring chefs and diners together to help local restaurants rebuild a more sustainable and equitable industry.”

Then came allegations against the two most prominent winners of the James Beard Award in the Pacific Northwest. First, in late April, employees at the prestigious Willows Inn on Lummi Island alleged abuse in the workplace, including physical intimidation and use of racist, sexist, and homophobic abuse by Chef Blaine Wetzel, as well as sexual harassment by other employees, such as The. reports New York Times. Then, in June, a Seattle Times report documented allegations of 15 women of sexual misconduct or unsolicited touch by Seattle celebrity chef Edouardo Jordan. (In response to a Seattle Times request for comment at the time, the James Beard Foundation “denounced”[d] all forms of abusive behavior and misconduct in the workplace, “said the organization is” undergoing an audit to inform the processes and guidelines for the future, “the results of which will be shared” over the summer. “)

Yang – whose résumé spans New York’s gourmet bastions Per Se and Alain Ducasse at Essex House, and who has herself been nominated for the James Beard Awards so many times she can’t count – began to have concerns about the Taste America dinner . Following allegations against prominent restaurateurs such as Mario Batali in 2017, the James Beard Foundation published a statement condemning the harassment. Since then, awards have been canceled for both 2020 and 2021 amid COVID-19 prevailing and controversy surrounding nominees’ behavior and the lack of black winners. Now that grave industry misconduct allegations have been raised in the Pacific Northwest, Yang wondered: Why did the powers of James Beard keep public silence on this matter?

Here’s what she decided to do – and what happened.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Chef Rachel Yang on her reaction to the allegations against Blaine Wetzel and Edouardo Jordan in connection with the James Beard Awards:

Seattle has a double punch – that’s the underlying culture we’re all working away from. And especially in Seattle – we’re such a progressive city, we’re not New York City, we’re not LA or San Francisco, we have a higher minimum wage than everyone else. And everyone somehow got the idea of [working in] Restaurants Here in Seattle: You can actually live a balanced life and have this great dining scene, you can work and enjoy your life. So when I was reading these articles, it was really annoying and sad. And I think the most important thing was the fact that every single article we read about these two Washington chefs – they all had a common description at the beginning – it was “James Beard Award-winning chefs.”

And the organization – it is clearly the leading organization, the people [in the restaurant industry] Stir up too. It has become something of a destination and highlight for every chef and restaurant in the country – this honor from the James Beard Foundation. That’s when I thought that I really wished they’d said something. I wanted to make sure that people who are in this industry and look up to the chefs know that it’s not okay: you can’t just become this great chef and get all these awards and honors and then still have all these accusations and Have problems and be okay.

To request a change at the James Beard Foundation:

So I emailed them saying we were having this dinner here in Seattle, and we are so freshly wounded by this information we just learned. Is there a way to make a statement? [about] Your commitment to a safe place in restaurants for women and for gender and racial equality? How important is this here?

[And] I said that I would like to donate all of my proceeds to a gender and racial equality organization. And then I asked her: can you do the same? At least for this event in Seattle?

The foundation agreed to use the proceeds from the dinner for their own Leadership programs for women. And on her website, she added, “The James Beard Foundation condemns all forms of abuse or activity that intimidates or prevents anyone from thriving or having the same opportunities as anyone else in the industry.”

That’s on the website because of me added. However, there are many words on their website. It’s good that you are doing something, but I wish you could have done more.

I decided to host this event anyway. I don’t have a big platform, but we’re doing this one dinner because we want to talk about it again, to highlight it again. It may not change anything. But I want every cook, everyone in the industry, to feel, “Hey, there are still people who think about it and talk about it.” It could be a painfully slow change. But we’re going in that direction.

On the issue of serious allegations against previous James Beard Award winners:

The hard part is the story. And I think that speaks louder sometimes. Because in the future people will still think, “Okay, as long as I don’t get caught, will that be okay? Because there are no consequences? ”I don’t know. I think we learn every day that you can’t move forward without facing your story. It’s very easy to talk about the future and what we all strive for. But unfortunately, without facing the history of what was done wrong, it doesn’t carry the same weight.

The James Beard Foundation is doing a great job and setting very extensive values [in] what you look at when you look [for] great restaurants. But of course they have no enforcement powers. So it’s very much up to each restaurant. But the restaurants belonging to this inner circle of the James Beard Foundation must follow suit. I mean, if you are a celebrated restaurant that people love and that all chefs look up to, all you need to do is understand these basic human values.

There’s this ongoing discussion about how unique and different the restaurant industry is. But not in a way that we don’t obey the rules – not in a way that undermines people’s values.

Regarding the responsibility of the role of the cook:

I feel like I spent those years in New York City as someone who basically put on the blinders and just did my job. And what I am realizing now is that I am not as aware as I should be of what is happening. And as you get older, you realize that it really is a position of great responsibility. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and a lot of these cooks are their first jobs. I have 19 year olds in the kitchen; I have children who have just left cooking school. And there is an atmosphere like a cook Being someone you can’t say no to, Koch is someone you always have to listen to. And then a restaurant is such an intense environment. Then I see that children are really prone to not really knowing their rights [are], and to what things can they say no.

So I know that I have to do better – I know that I want to do better.

What chef / owner can do against abuse and harassment:

We had a back-of-house [kitchen staff] Meet in the same week [as the allegations against Edouardo Jordan came out]. We talked about what happened. We wanted to make sure that everyone understood: if someone feels uncomfortable situations, you can come to us, you can come to the manager or to a third party. we [restaurants] everyone has an employee handbook – but it needs to be clear, loud and clear and everyone needs to be reminded every day. So we talked about the importance of this [behaviors] are clearly condemned in this restaurant.

Is that enough? No. But if every single restaurant did that – it would make its own staff realize that it is not okay …

How it feels to express yourself:

These conversations made me feel kind of very – I don’t know if to say powerless, but it’s kind of daunting to see what it takes to make any change. I think, mostly because of my personal background of growing up a very calm Korean girl, I always thought that speaking was degraded – you just want to be in the middle. I always felt like I was always the follower. And I’m not doing a crazy splash here, but I just want to make a little wave. Just say something.

How many times it has been nominated for a James Beard Award – and what the “Oscars of the Restaurant Industry” could mean in the future:

Yes, I lost the overview. I always thought it was great to have this national endorsement. We definitely need a James Beard Foundation to celebrate food and honor people who did a great job and are really talented. But I think I can probably speak for a lot of chefs that that’s not why they do this. It’s not a race to win James Beard [Awards] – We all came to this industry because we love cooking. And then we serve customers and their memories and their happy faces – we get that every day.

I hope the James Beard Foundation gets its fame back. To win “Best Chef” – I’m not exactly sure what that means at this point.

Bethany Jean Clement
is a food writer for the Seattle Times: bclement@seattletimes.com; facebook.com/bethany.jean.clement; on Instagram @bethanyjeanclement; on Twitter @BJeanClement.