My Pen Is Mighty
Black Female Chefs Are Breaking Up the Cooking Show Boys Club
The sista-with-an-attitude storyline is tired and old. Welcome to the new school of centering Black women in TV food competitions.
I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I almost high-fived the television set during Dominique Leach’s introduction on a recent episode of Food Network’s Chopped.
The Chicago-based chef and owner of Lexington Betty Smokehouse appeared on the “Playing With Fire: Hog Heaven” barbecue-focused episode in mid-August, and she had this to say: “A lot of Black female chefs are being ignored in the industry. I just put my head down and opened three restaurants in 10 months. There are lines out the door. I said, ‘You know what? You’re ignoring me? Watch me do better than you.’”
Her sentiments may be a little too raw for some, but she’s not the only one who feels this way. Competing in the real world with other chefs and restaurateurs is hard enough, but competing under the microscope on a reality television cooking competition — where there are all sorts of bizarre twists and turns — is on an entirely different level.
“A lot of Black female chefs are being ignored in the…
