As of this morning, it would appear that the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen is back, just as we thought almost everyone had called it quits.
In the wake of some rather severe allegations of racism and pay disparities at the magazine and parent company, Conde Nast, which was initially called out by Sohla El-Waylly - following an image that surfaced of Editor-in-Chief Adam Rapoport dressing up as a Puerto-Rican man for halloween and ultimately committing brown-face - many of our test kitchen favourites opted out of producing further video content for the infamous YouTube channel in solidarity with their POC colleagues taking a stand against the workplace racism that was hard to ignore. After months of fans gritting their teeth to find out whether or not Conde Nast's wrongs would be righted, many of the Test Kitchen stars bid their fans farewell, claiming that justice had sadly, not been done.
Is there any coming back from such a scandal? First, workplace racism and pay disparities between non-POC and POC staff are revealed, and then when the opportunity is presented to make reparations, such are not met? Please excuse us if we have a hard time understanding now, after everything, how a comeback is to be made. With this in mind, we are no fans of cancel culture. We are mere skeptics who won't necessarily be so quick to jump back onto the BA wagon after years of catharsis and joyfulness have been essentially soiled by the truth. It would seem, with a new trailer for the BA Test Kitchen (which sits on their revered YouTube channel), Conde Nast is trying its best regardless. With a couple of appearances from some of the original Test Kitchen stars, Brad Leone, Andy Baraghani, and Chris Morocco and some new, fresh faces.
The new additions to the Test Kitchen sphere include Chrissy Tracey, Rawlston Williams, Tiana Gee, Harold Villarosa, Melissa Miranda, Claudette Zepeda, DeVonn Francis, and Samantha Seneviratne. After EIC Adam Rapoprt's resignation, it would appear that Dawn Davis has been appointed the new Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appetit magazine, with Sonia Chopra as executive editor who both appear in the trailer alongside the new food editors.
Alongside the release of the trailer, Davis, Chopra, and new global adviser Marcus Samuelsson wrote, “We know it’s been a while since we’ve posted a video, and we are really excited to welcome you back and share the next chapter of BA with you,” it reads. “We are listening, learning, and building something together that showcases our best. We’re building a team that is empathetic, respectful, and open to being challenged; that is paid fairly for their contributions; and that represents the audience we hope to serve.”
We'll leave things at 'cautiously optimistic' for now, and hope that the sentiment expressed by the team rings true in the BA universe moving forward.
