How High-End Restaurants Have Failed Black Female Chefs

How High-End Restaurants Have Failed Black Female Chefs

Auzerais Bellamy at Blondery, her bakery in Brooklyn. Like many other Black female chefs, she left the fine- dining world after a frustrating attempt to advance.Credit...Stephanie Mei-Ling for The New York TimesSkip to contentSkip to site indexHow High-End Restaurants Have Failed Black Female ChefsTraining and advancement as a chef can be hard to find in American fine-dining restaurants, according to Black women who have tried.Auzerais Bellamy at Blondery, her bakery in Brooklyn. Like many other Black female chefs, she left the fine- dining world after a frustrating attempt to advance.Credit...Stephanie Mei-Ling for The New York TimesBy Korsha WilsonJan. 11, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETLire en françaisEight years ago, Auzerais Bellamy landed what she thought was a big break: a stint as a stagiaire, or apprentice, at the French Laundry, Thomas Keller's world-renowned restaurant in the Napa Valley. She wasn't paid for her two days trailing the pastry team, but she saw it as an ideal training ground where, if asked to stay, she could learn from some of the best cooks in the business, sharpening her skills.“If you want to be a great player you have to be coached well, and I felt like I could be coached well there,” she