The Abuses Reported at Noma are Absolutely Relevant to You

The thing about breaking news is the news always be breaking! We’re skipping the poll and spotlight this week to make room for the workout I just finished on this piece, walking through, feeling through the constant disappointment that is the system of restaurants and hospitality.

Some of you know that I’ve been working on a book about dining culture for a few years. Back in my early efforts, I was stuck on how to begin it because it’s such a huge subject spanning centuries. But when I was finally able to admit to myself that abuse is at the foundation of hospitality (read: at the root of capitalism), and that I couldn’t say what I wanted to say without making sure readers had that framing, I understood what book I was trying to write.

This week’s issue is not the book, but it speaks to several themes, namely the interconnectedness and spider webby-ness of the restaurant, media, and publishing worlds, among others.

Quick art thing—I redacted the faces of strangers in the lead image because they were very clearly identifiable and it looked weirder when I tried to “artfully” blur them out. Normalize not putting strangers on blast even when they’re in public spaces!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, in last week’s poll on whether you’re using Meta Ray-Ban’s you proudly embraced your inner Luddite. I probably should have asked what you would do if and when you encounter someone wearing the surveillance shades (it seems some wearers are deactivating the indicator line that lets you know the glasses are recording).

Semi-related, I am slowly working on a piece about romantic relationships and how New York seems to be the capital of married people who date. May you be where you’re supposed to be, doing what you said you were gonna do!

I knew something major was coming when I saw an Instagram post from Noma chef René Redzepi three days ago. Here’s a tip I’ve learned from my years in journalism: any time a chef makes a seemingly random statement of accountability, he is about to be exposed in the media. He has been advised by (likely) a group of white women publicists about what to say about the incoming missive, preemptively. This results in vague messaging that might be about one’s sobriety journey, to talking about their mom, or when rumors (re)surface about their love life, they make sure you see that they’re booed up with a very hawt gworl, and maybe even throwing in there that they’re a GIRL DAD. Sometimes it’s just an attempt at an apology.

Across four slides Redzepi referenced wanting to “address past stories” about his leadership. I knew it was going to be a profoundly neutered address once I read, “Although I don’t recognize all the details in these stories, I can see enough of my past behavior reflected in them to understand that my actions were harmful to people who worked with me.” (Italics are mine.) Ah! If only a lack of recognition protected literally any of us. So many things I do not wish to recognize in the world!

He goes on to present a brief recitation of his experiences coming up, where he claims to have experienced “shouting, humiliation, and fear.” In the New York Times missive that detailed 35 accounts of abuse, he is said to have routinely punched cooks in the chest (including a woman), stabbed cooks in the legs with a barbecue fork during service so diners couldn't see, led bullying and humiliation rituals that other staff was forced to participate in, among other sickening behaviors and systemic patterns.

It was “simply part of the culture,” Redzepi writes, of his past training. In the post he acknowledges regret and his determination to try to get better, including “therapy, deep reflection” and no longer heading up the daily service of the restaurant. But still, apparently, running point on the international pop-ups Noma is famous for, like the one scheduled in Los Angeles on Wednesday that just lost American Express support (parent company of Resy/Tock).

Let’s start at my beginning: My past association with Chris Ying, writer, former editor-in-chief of disgraced Lucky Peach magazine (in short, there was abuse), and current right-hand/content sidekick to Dave Chang, is how I entered Redzepi’s extended orbit.