This was such a good read, thank you! Your intro in particular really hit home for me: "When chefs/recipe developers are demanded to volunteer substitutions on their work so it can be made more “accessible” to a mainstream (code: white, affluent, suburban) audience...It’s about coddling a certain demographic to which “Shaoxing” feels too alien and off-putting to use, too unnecessary and worthless to buy...'I want diversity and culture, but only if it’s easy and palatable to me.'" I was a recipe developer at Milk Street for 4 years, and this sums up the company to a T. It's exactly how we were instructed to treat recipes, with management always hiding behind, "Well, we never claimed to be authentic!"
This was such a good read, thank you! Your intro in particular really hit home for me: "When chefs/recipe developers are demanded to volunteer substitutions on their work so it can be made more “accessible” to a mainstream (code: white, affluent, suburban) audience...It’s about coddling a certain demographic to which “Shaoxing” feels too alien and off-putting to use, too unnecessary and worthless to buy...'I want diversity and culture, but only if it’s easy and palatable to me.'" I was a recipe developer at Milk Street for 4 years, and this sums up the company to a T. It's exactly how we were instructed to treat recipes, with management always hiding behind, "Well, we never claimed to be authentic!"