In light of the recent upsetting misrepresentation of Soup Joumou at bon appetit—i thought I might share a little experience of my own to shed some light on how this could even happen in the first place.

you would think, given everything that has happened this summer, it would be pretty obvious to find and elevate the voice of a Haitian chef for a Haitian dish. right?

earlier this year, my colleague and I wrote a piece to honor, celebrate & hype up Black-owned businesses in Crown Heights and Bed Stuy. when the piece went live on the 1st day of Black history month...well you all know what happened—the brand got dragged, & rightfully so.

Even though the piece was written with love & care by two Black journalists (us), it must have been incredibly frustrating to see the headline: HOW TO SPEND A BIG BLACK WEEKEND IN BROOKLYN, coming from a whiter than white publication.

immediately after the tweets flooded in, I called a meeting with senior staffers to explain this to them and figure out how we should respond. Following that meeting, I spent the rest of the work day ghostwriting this newsletter for the then-EIC. https://www.bonappetit.com/story/path-to-inclusivity

During the final round of edits, I noticed a crucial word was missing from my initial notes, misrepresentation. I told the EIC that it would be very important for the brand to acknowledge that it not only under-represents Black voices, but also misrepresents them.He didn't agree.

You'll find that key word missing in the newsletter.

From that moment on, it became evident that the folks at the top don't care about *how* Black stories are told. They just care that they have *enough* Black stories to showcase when the shit hits the fan (see this summer).

I want to share a comment I read on instagram from j_nayomi, sis hit all the notes and I want to echo everything she said.

It is disrespectful and in the service of white supremacy to write a revisionist history in one paragraph. It's lazy journalism. A standard that I never stood for—and was one of the many reasons why I left.

The misrepresentation of Soup Joumou was not simply an error in judgement—but rather a confirmation that absolutely nothing has changed.

I found the last line of current EIC’s response to j_nayomi’s comment and request for action now ironic considering how controversial the word misrepresenting was in the past ...

Clearly no *real* change has happened since this summer, BUT i am inspired by the audience showing up LOUD in the comment sections and putting the pressure on Bon Appetit and Conde to not only listen to their employees who’ve been asking for change for years—

but also to take the necessary steps to establish and maintain an inclusive environment where all voices are heard and celebrated.

Since we all know this is not the case—it’s important we continue to keep the pressure on in hopes of creating a better future for all the Black foodie folks to come.