Stop Inviting Known Bad Men to Food Festivals | Eater

"An annual, sprawling Miami food mega-event often described as “spring break for chefs,” it showcases celebrity cooks and high-priced ticketed tastings and dinners (examples cited include $350 “Best of the Best,” $250 Spanish dinners, and $325 fried-chicken events) and attracts major media and corporate sponsors such as the Food Network, Cooking Channel, The New York Times, Goya, LaCroix, American Airlines, and Audi. While it promises fans access to famed chefs, exclusive dishes, and a buzzy weekend of eating and drinking, it has been criticized for a party atmosphere that can enable harassment and for repeatedly under-representing women on its talent rosters (reports cited figures around 11–15 percent). The festival’s invitation of controversial chefs—notably a chef whose restaurant group faced 2016 lawsuits alleging a sexually charged, hostile workplace that were later settled, and another chef arrested in 2016 on an alleged domestic-assault charge that was later dropped—has intensified calls to revoke invitations to alleged abusers, replace them with women when appropriate, cover costs to enable women’s participation, and use festival influence to demand accountability rather than simply celebrating fame." - Meghan McCarron