La Cuisinière

(mis)adventures in the world of professional cooking

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Can you name one African-American chef?


Besides this one?

There is a very interesting article in today's New York Times about the lack of black chefs in fine dining. (Registration is required) The author briefly mentions the derth of Latino chefs as well, and references the historic underrepresentation of women as well.

So where are all the non-white and women cooks and chefs? And, more importantly, WHY aren't we filling up the kitchens of haute cuisine? In the little multi-cultural kitchen I inhabit it becomes so easy to forget that having just one white guy out of six is unusual. So what can be done to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce in the best kitchens?