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From the new york times, I'm sabrina tavern! You scene- and this is the daily the when the me too movement swept through the country exposing abuses at the highest levels of power. The restaurant industry was the chief offender, but the food world's main kingmaker, the James beard foundation only recently began to reckon with that today. Food writer, Brett anderson, explains how those attempts to hold the industry to account prompted an entirely new firestorm it's tuesday june thirteenth super at last week. The James beer towards were handed out, and I know that

words, James beard, and I know they have something to do with food, but that's about the extent of it so before we get into the changes at the awards, let's or with the basics. What exactly are james beer towards will the James bitter words are commonly likened to the authors of the food world and I think that's a pretty out description when you went to James beard a word, you become basically forever known professionally as a beard winner. It's something that attaches to your name, that anyone in the industry knows- is recognition of some sort of accomplishment. It's something that can lead to IRAN, opening opportunities that can lead to partnerships with hotels and casinos, it can lead to book contracts, so it can transform your life, it can transform your career okay. So these awards are a big deal who votes on them like? What's the system.

Well since the awards have been established. The voting body has always included food journalists, and I myself was a voter for many years and also for a long time included past winners. If you want a beard award, it meant you could vote on future beard awards. It was sort of part of the perk of winning it that changed in recent years and the last two award seasons. Twenty twenty two and the one that just completed have involved a different voting process than that in the past in what is different about this time? Well, historically, the beard words have been men to recognise culinary excellence period and in recent years, the foundation the genes beard foundation, which is the nonprofit new york, did administers. The awards, has created new criteria. That is beyond culinary excellence and recognizes. Personal behaviour is well personal behaviour. Ok, so not just cooking and Jeffery, but actual behaviour like how the chef themselves.

Act here. I think the James beard foundation is trying to address this behaviour and abuse in the industry that its end, just like a lot of other entities, are throughout our culture, as happens in the restaurant industry. That's a really big job. There isn't a regulatory body overseeing any of that. How do you even begin to do that? Maybe, let's start with this James beard foundation? What is it Why is it tried to police different world? So James beard was a famous cookbook author and sort of a food personality back before there was such a thing he's known as the dean of american, cookery and in the fifties and in the sixties he was influential in sort of educating americans about their own cuisine. At a time when people thought of culinary excellence as being sort of the exclusive province of to the french and italian he celebrated the food of americans

and the food of regional america, and he had a lot of influence on people who his contemporaries, including Julia child, who considered him some of a mentor and someone she really looked up to and after he died, those people got together and they bought his small town house in greenwich village, and nineteen eighty six, they started the James beard foundation in their town house, and the mission at the time was to come. Centre for culinary arts and- as a very I think, small enterprise that was reflected by the smallness of the town house. If you ve ever been there. Okay, so small group of food is together at this little town house. How does that end up becoming this giant thing? That's a kingmaker in the food world While two things happen in ninety. Ninety one, the beard foundation creates the James beard awards

the thing that we know today as the authors of the food world and that turned out to be a really good timing, because right around the same time, next on food network, you get the creation of the food network. The food network? But today we are going to be making some breakfast see how things are fighting this notice. My angle on going got just down, I'm going, started out doing shows that we're really similar to what you would see. I'm public television was instructional and we're talking about it in cooking and our love for such and then started change is starting to be less cooking instruction and more about the shut themselves, How do you like your jovi's, you want to do it cross good? You start to have real personalities like emeril lagasse. Oh, can you imagine being stuffed to me like this stuff right in there like that and stuffed with just a few restaurants in the world

and became known all over the country back for young ban on his shirt and you just bobby's- lay all these other people. My name is lobby flay, my mission to find the best of the best sort of turn instruction shows into these sporting events and it ukraine, celebrity around restaurants. The just did not exist before just exploding the restaurant in the chef culture out into the broader culture right that that suddenly everybody was talking about it. Everybody knew It absolutely- and you know, by the time you get in the early two thousands you had these celebrity shafts, who I think we're rightly likened the rock stars. And the genes beer towards right there in the middle of it becoming more and more relevant, because chef culture was becoming more and more relevant, I mean, have a little bit a reflection of how drastic the chain, was in my own professional experience. I I started as a restaurant.

During a food writer in the mid nineties in Washington DC and at the time I was working for a paper that had never covered food before and that it wasn't a job that people, particularly envied and by the end of that time, at that job, I left that job in two thousand you know I started going to cocktail parties people, were asking me about my work. All of a sudden for reasons that went beyond wanting to know where to get good vietnamese food, they wanted to know if I'd met. These people interested when I moved to new orleans in two thousand to take a job at the daily newspaper here. Emma legacy, had a show that was about to debut you sitcom, remember emerald, just yourself. Ok, so What are the same? People? The created? Designing women on NBC Don't know what we're gonna do is add. Some essence fan. Now, I'm digging

That would be a real right. That was the that was when network television was the biggest platform for mass market, and he was on the same network is seinfeld was on so food really had become culture absolutely in the neck. You're sort of expanded- and you have the arrival of importantly anthony boarding and his book kitchen confidential, which came out in two thousand, and I think established- should have this punk attitude in celebrity chef culture. There was head of a reaction to the you know: the arena rock bombast of what you saw in the food network. Right small shows an kind of gritty dirtier and less polished yeah the restaurant, where The boarding captured was one that was populated by bandits who didn't play by the rules. They worked in environments.

In his view, not everyone can hack and they didn't go chasing after celebrity. They didn't look presentable for cameras, they had knives, they worked around blood, they are cutting upon. Animal is right. I mean this was a very different look at the restaurant world, then we had been accustomed to on the food not and enough for the faint of heart. It wasn't for the fate of heart and I think the movement and anthony bourdain helped create where you have this pirate version of the chef, the James bitter words honoured all these days to honour the celebrity shafts. They entered the pirate version, the chefs they honoured restaurants with white tablecloths and without table cloth and through the two thousands and into the twenty tens. You saw this expanding audience for this expand the idea of what a shame can be and what a restaurant can deliver the foundation benefited by in the foremost entity to validated

once among all these different architects? So is food becomes a bigger and bigger part of culture, and the chefs profiles rise, the words themselves become more prominent and suddenly the awards had become arbiters of culture exactly and this ecosystem seems to be working for just about all involved until something really big happens now to those allegations of sexual misconduct rocking the food industry, early on in the me to movement, the subjects of some of the most explosive investigations into the behaviour- People included people like mario but highly the times, reports that in march a woman told investigators that battalion drugged and sexually assaulted her in january, two thousand for, is new york city restaurant, one of the most famous ass in restaurants in america, appeared winner winner himself tell I gave this statement to the post saying I apologize profoundly to the people. I've mistreated in hurt the all of a sudden and these people that we were.

idolizing and celebrating start to be looked at with scrutiny. And we start asking questions- is a culture about how the people who are employees of these restaurants, who dont really benefit from that celebrity how there being treated and if their being treated fairly and what we should think about that industry in that part of culture. Based on what we discover where I live in new orleans. Shifting John bash was subjected investigation that I did and he was far and away the most famous food figure in a town that is basically defined by its corner reputation. There was comments about what we are wearing, how we worked in the office, but then also, I found that this prominent restaurant company had what we would now call the toxic culture, and then he asked me if I would come back to his hotel room with them, and I told him: no, formed out of the bar. There were no written women in particular felt that they were so the second class citizens in that port

One of them was tolerated and maybe even in some instances encouraged- and I told him you and I both know. The reason that were here goes back to when I wouldn't have sex with john, and that is why I am being fire Now both the morrow battalion John best stories, I think, really opened the floodgates in the restaurant industry and in my own personal experience in the aftermath of the besh investigation I conducted over a hundred interviews in the months after that came out here in new orleans when I was working at the local newspaper and that's a lot of people coming forward in saying, I've got a story of abuse that I experienced in a restaurant, Think you need to hear about, and I remember feeling I really owe it to these folks to hear them out that I need to be part of this reckon in the business and I am here the genes beard foundation felt something similar that they needed

something to fix this culture that they have benefited from and maybe even help to foster. Hmm Hmm well, be right. Back, this package to supported by better help the You know all of us gets sometimes so any need help getting unstuck, better help. matthew with a therapist who can help you get back on track. Your mental health is too important to ignore listeners of his podcast get ten percent off their first month of therapy at better eighty lp dot com flesh new york times Hey it's anna immortal from the new york times, and I m here to tell you about something new something for new york:

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slash audio so brett after me, too. What is the James beard foundation decide to do. Well. As far as we know, they don't do anything substantive to the awards program in the immediate aftermath, but in two thousand and twenty, the foundation abruptly cancelled the the which is something they never done before. Why there's two reasons that we know about the foundation's leaders discovered that there was no black winners in the awards that year in any of their major categories, and that happened. While there is racial justice protests unfolding all over the country. In the aftermath of the george floyd murder, also there is accusations that the number the finalists were guilty of. Some of them is behaviour that we saw revealed in the meat to movement, and so what they did is they ended up cancelling, not just the twenty twenty awards, but the twenty twenty one awards

and they use that time to really try to overhaul their award system. What exactly did you? Well? It did three big things. The first was that it changed its voting body so that now the voting body is made up entirely of judges that are hand picked by the foundation. Stone. Others or control over the book more control, and they created a deliberately a more diverse voting body. They also created a code of ethics that they require all candidates for awards, follow So if you are going to be eligible for James beard award, you vow to the foundation that you follow it's code of ethics and what within the code, what did they? What do they want you to follow? While the code basically says that you know you're not allowed to treat people poorly you're not allowed to treat people unfairly and you're not allowed to commit felonies, and that code of ethics is important and it leads to the third big thing they did, which is the foundation created a tip line.

so the people can call into the foundation and inform them if they believe any of their candidates have violated this code of ethics, and then they created a process to investigate those tips. So suddenly the james beard foundation, which started as this kind of tiny dinner club, is turning itself into a de facto investigative body which is quite different and its doing that in an industry which, as we all know post me too, is filled with some pretty difficult figures. It is, and this process is inherently difficult when the beard foundation gets these tips this tipp line? They have an ethics committee which is made up of volunteers that looks into the allegations and they herman, whether or not their worth opening an investigation and if they do determine that the accusations are worth looking into. They hire outside investigators to do that work so there's essentially outsourcing an investigation into what is probably some pretty sensitive allegations. They really are, and in the lead up to the words this year

redesigned awards programme really came into public view for the first time a shifting, Timothy, handsome who is based in Birmingham alabama. was a nominee for best. Chef south was disqualified and he spoke publicly about it to reporters because he felt he was being treated unfairly. He says that he receives phone calls from private investigators that were working for the James beard, foundation, looking in the accusations that he yelled. Employees and customers at a restaurant so bright, you reported as you looked into it. What did you find? I talk to some people. Both customers impasse employees. Who said that houses of behaviour was alarming, but when I interviewed answers, he told me that It doesn't deny any of these accusations. He just says everything is accused of, is not a severe as the accusers are telling beard foundation and that none of them rise to the level of him having violated.

of ethics. He said that his problem really was with the process itself. He believes it wasn't fair. He believes you didn't get due process. He, for example, doesn't know who they talk to, and you know usually in a situation like this, you get to face your accuser. You get to hear what the accusation is and you get to defend yourself at every step of the way, but in the In case you only had one conversation with investigators, then they went away for weeks, and then they gets an email. One day thing has been disqualified rate is like a grand jury. Proceeding that you know happens behind closed doors in secret, except in this case at the end of it, there's a verdict and he's guilty effectively less the case, and it turns out that he wasn't even the only candidate that was under investigate by the foundation this year, the other shust name and sam for and she works and lexington Kentucky, and she was a fine list in the best chef southeast category.

sam has a restaurant called tiktok and it actually is not even a bricks and mortar restaurant. It's a pop up restaurant that sir So the southern cuisine inspired by the sri lankan food, that she grew up eating in a family of sri lankan immigrants in kentucky on the very day that HANS as went public with his own investigation in his issues with it, she received a call from private investigators herself four sided. The investigators we're looking into accusations that were made to the beard, foundations, tipp line, that she was bullying people and harassing them through her sulphur media first, she shared with me examples of a couple of the posts that she was asked about. One was a public service announcement that she had made as part of it actual violence awareness campaign that she did in her community. Others were posts that made accusations about people in her community, but that never named them, and this was something she said she was mystified by and she said that she asked

investigators look, we ve been talking now for ninety minutes. You can't even tell me who am targeting with his bullying. How can this be targeted? Harassment it costs bright and as a reminder for for the stakes are really high, a nomination could make a huge difference for a chef running a pop up restaurant. Exactly I mean four said that after she became a semifinalist for the beard awards this year, she hired a public relations firm for the first time in her life and her business up until quite recently included only one employee herself, so she isn't sorta heady territory here. Ultimately, sam found out that she wasn't disqualified as a result of this investigation, but in the end she felt like she'd, been really put through the ringer for what she says are really bizarre complaints brent. What is the James beard foundation say about all of this like? What's there,

spots, while their blanket response responses that they don't comment about any ethics investigations. They say they do this because they are committed to celebrating the industry and not shaming people and that they want to protect the identity of both the accusers and the accused. I did continue to talk to leaders over there about this commitment to confidentiality, which I think raises other problems that both haunts us and ford didn't even bring up themselves for instance, hans us even though, is publicly known to have been disqualified His name remained on the ballot until the close of the judging for this year's awards effectively. That meant that people could vote for hans us to win an award that he had been disqualified for publicly crazy, like that. Just a fundamental flaw in the process right like they didn't think it through more uneven

was further because I asked then well will his name appear on the program at the gala in chicago, and they said yes, that their commitment to confidentiality even extended to that which then puts the foundation in the position of having discovered that a candidate is actually not work.

We have the award by their own standard, but is remaining a nominee in the eyes of the public. I mean that just doesn't make any sense. That's what I thought it does seem to be a flaw with this process and when I asked leaders there, they wouldn't come out and say that, and what I was left to believe is. They just never entertained a scenario in which someone would go public with their disqualification interesting and he may be bread. It just isn't all that surprising that in some ways, given that this is a food foundation, a tiny one and it's taken it upon itself to be a kind of version of the f b. I or the very least, you know some kind of professional hr department to effectively endeavor what really amounts to a very muscular investigation into personal behavior and potential abuse yeah. I do think that they did not anticipate

how adversarial such investigations could become. I do believe that they thought that the respect for the foundation was such that people in the chef community would just accept the decisions that were being made. My experience as a reporter, as well as the coauthor on the story- julia moskin, you know we both have done a lot of these sorts of investigations and even ones that don't lead to stories do end up with some pretty hard feelings on the part of who are being asked about this behaviour, and the foundation is primarily in the business of celebrating this industry and

You know it raises money based on having good relationships with people in the chef industry who cook for the foundation for the foundation so brett. When you look at the issues facing the food industry and the process beard, the James beard foundation put into place to address those issues, I'm really wondering is, is all of this really aimed at reforming chefs? I mean actually forcing change enforcing better behaviour, or is there a simpler and more self serving explanation, which is you know that there really just after protecting themselves protecting the James beard foundation, saving themselves from being embarrassed by bad publicity. To be honest, I think it's both. I think the second reason is in arguable, and I think it applies to all of the institutions that are

the food industry in the aftermath of me. To that sad, I think it's an open. As to whether or not a programme like this, an investigatory programme can have a real effect on a restaurant business were bad behaviour, continues to a persistent problem. I mean we know there is a flood of media reports. Follow me too, and in the years since me too, about bad behaviour in the restaurant industry. we know that that eliminate bad behaviour from the restaurant industry. It did not have that effect right. I think it probably reduce the number of people who feel like they are entitled to abuse their power, but it certainly didn't eradicate power abuse from the restaurant business and, to be honest, I am not sure what will

but bread is there also a scenario where this process is clumsy is it is my accidentally do something good? I think that it could and I in euro the process could improve. I find it hard to leave the that you can have an awards that routinely disqualifies people that won't routinely find itself in the midst of controversy. Bread thing Thank you. It's a pleasure beyond the shell, we'll be right back. Curious about how Joe Biden catholic faith influences is politics, or how pope francis is changing. The catholic church get a jesuit perspective from america magazine for over one hundred years, america magazine his bridge the gap between the catholic church and global issues from congress to the vatican get us.

refreshing catholic, take on the news subscribed today for only one dollar for your first month and gain access to the world's leading catholic magazine. Get this limited. At america magazine dot, org, slash daily, here's what you should know today. Silvio Berlusconi, italian media mobile, who became ITALY's most polarizing and prosecuted. Prime minister died on Monday. He was eighty six berlusconi transformed italian television, making it spectacular and tawdry and then, as a politician used it to influence through multiple stance in office, Berlusconi, revolutionized, italian politics, Bringing a brush populism and perfecting the practice of victimization. He was a committed ally of america, but also an apologist for Vladimir Putin in the end,

Even Berlusconi's many critics agree that he changed italy for leaving his stamp on a generation of italians who hungered for the wealth and confidence that he stood for and jp morgan she's reached a tentative settlement with sexual abuse, victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died in a new york jail before his trial. The settlement followed a series of embarrassing disclosures about the bank's longstanding relationship with Epstein one the lead lawyers for the victims said the bank was prepared to pay two hundred and ninety million dollars to resolve the lawsuit which was filed in manhattan last november. today's episode was produced by sidney harper Carlos creator and working at rescue. It was edited by devon taylor and Michael, been walk, contains

original music by Mary, unless I know and in power and was engineered by Chris. Would our thinking because by john brown, burke and Ben lands work of wonderingly that's for the daily I'm sabrina taverns, see tomorrow.