New Report Details Pervasive Culture of Racism at Bon Appétit | Eater

"After a resurfaced Halloween photo of the editor-in-chief and his wife triggered his resignation, numerous current and former staffers came forward describing a longstanding, systemic culture of racial inequity and exclusion at the magazine. Allegations include treating people of color as second-class—denying equal opportunities, excluding them from informal networks and the famed test kitchen, tokenizing BIPOC staff in videos without pay or on-air contracts, and pigeonholing contributors into narrow cultural roles. Specific accounts cite Ryan Walker-Hartshorn being given personal errands (including cleaning golf clubs), receiving a stagnant low base salary and being dismissed when requesting a raise; Sohla El-Waylly being asked to appear on camera as a diversity signal without proper compensation until she publicly pushed back (after which an addendum was offered); and contributors describing appropriation and misrepresentation of non-American cuisines. In response, the masthead issued an apology acknowledging a white-centric viewpoint and tokenization, and pledged measures such as prioritizing people of color for leadership hires, anti-racism training, pay-equity reviews, hiring more freelancers of color, and structural changes to how content and recipes are developed." - Jenny G. Zhang