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!"
Thank you for sharing, and I'm really sorry you had to shoulder all these microaggressions at work. I hope you're at a place now that fully appreciates what you do and treats your work with the respect it deserves!
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!"
Thank you for sharing, and I'm really sorry you had to shoulder all these microaggressions at work. I hope you're at a place now that fully appreciates what you do and treats your work with the respect it deserves!