Priya Krishna, a former star of Bon Appétit's Test Kitchen series of cooking videos, left the popular show in early August, citing an underlying issue of inequality at the Condé Nast-owned production.
"A number of my colleagues and I found out that there are extreme disparities between what certain groups of people were being paid and what other groups were being paid," she told Cheddar. "So, essentially we asked leadership to close that gap, to the very least pay us what our white colleagues were being paid, to give us the same number of appearances that they were being promised, to give us some sort of guarantee that they were interested in investing in us as talent."
Krishna said that the contract that Condé Nast offered didn't contain those commitments, leading to a back-and-forth negotiation that ended without an acceptable agreement for many of the people on staff. The unsatisfactory response led to the departure of multiple Bon Appétit video personalities, including Krishna.
"I didn't want to be told to be grateful for scraps when I knew what my colleagues were making," she explained.
The food writer and cookbook author also alleged that during her time at Bon Appétit she was tokenized as an expert on Indian cuisine (something she emphasized she was not). For example, she was asked to participate in videos starring the channel's white hosts when they were making Indian dishes.
"It just felt as though a lot of the people of color were not allowed to be multidimensional characters in this video space whereas our white colleagues could cook whatever they want, do whatever they want, flit between different worlds and cuisines," Krishna added.
She went on to describe how BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) cooks across the food media industry, not just at Condé Nast Entertainment, are often limited to producing dishes from their particular heritages.
Stepping outside of this box, Krishna said her cookbook, Indian-Ish: Recipes and Antics from a Modern American Family, explores the cuisine of her childhood, which doesn't fit neatly into a single category.
"I wanted to show people that the food that I grew up with, which is this hybridized cuisine that's rooted in Indian flavors but draws inspiration from across the country and across the world, was just as American as your hot dogs, as your roast chicken," she said. "I want us to sort of expand the definition of what American food means."
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
