How Food Media Flattens Ethnicity Into Identity | Eater
"A highly visible editorial test kitchen whose video strategy elevated staff personalities into personal brands, driven by leadership choices from the top. The video approach produced breakout stars who were allowed to cultivate quirky, generalist personas (e.g., Brad Leone, Claire Saffitz), while nonwhite staff were routinely pigeonholed as cultural specialists and compensated as outside experts — examples include Rick Martinez being labeled the “resident taco maestro,” Gaby Melian’s lone solo video of an empanada recipe, and Sohla El-Waylly’s early confinement to family dishes despite later producing widely praised, genre-crossing recipes. Reporting and staff testimony revealed pay disparities and a racist corporate culture, prompting leadership changes and an internal boycott of content by white staff until equitable pay was addressed. The controversy exposes how personality-driven food media can both manufacture stars and perpetuate systemic marginalization of BIPOC creators by limiting their agency, assignments, and career mobility." - Mallika Khanna
