The (hopeful) reshaping of travel and food media
The food and travel media are having a reckoning. Finally.
Hi there,
It’s been sad, infuriating, inspiring, and hopeful to watch events unfold in the U.S. over the past two weeks. The travel and food industries, especially media, have long enabled racism and perpetuated inequality. How do you decide which restaurants to visit when traveling? Often through food magazines, which as we saw this week have *a lot* of issues. How do you decide where to travel? Travel magazines mostly feature destinations that appeal to white travelers, showcase white-owned hotels and other businesses, and perpetuate stereotypes through the words they use and generalizations they make about places and cultures. Black travel writers are invited on press trips far less often than white writers (I’ve gone on dozens of press trips over the last five years, and have met one Black writer through them), and published far less often too. Very few publications have Black staff writers, much less editors. Black sommeliers and writers are not treated the same way as white sommeliers and writers, as Julia Coney pointed out in this must-watch Instagram Live video. And destination marketing mostly features white travelers. These are just a few of many, many issues.
It seems things are shifting. Bon Appetit had a reckoning this week, and editors at Refinery29, the New York Times, Variety, Philadelphia Enquirer, and more have all resigned. Publications have pledged to feature more Black voices and hire more Black editors. It’s a start, but we’ll see if they follow through. The protests have also achieved major, ultimately more important, changes outside of travel and food.
Of course, I’ve written for many of these publications, have not outwardly questioned the lack of diversity on press trips, have framed stories through my very white lens, among other things. We all have a lot of thinking and changing to do. I know many of you want things to go back to “normal.” I know, because you’ve told me in response to this newsletter and on Instagram that politics should stay out of travel content. You don’t like hearing about coronavirus, or Black Lives Matter, or elections. But travel and food are extremely political, and “normal” was pretty bad. Unlike coronavirus, racism and the current protests are not a moment in time we need to get through. They’re long-term, systemic issues which will require long-term, daily work. Don’t let the momentum fade. Keep the conversations going. Keep learning. Keep speaking out. Spread the wealth, literally, harass your representatives at all levels of government, and of course, get ready to vote. Let’s make sure the new normal is nothing like the past.
Follow:
Read:
Jasmine Mitchell put together this incredibly comprehensive Anti-Racist Packet. If you only want to read one thing, make it this. You should also probably Venmo her a few dollars for her work.
Also, these books.
Download:
The End of Policing (The ebook version is currently FREE)
Do:
Sign this petition to increase diversity in the U.S. travel industry and media
Other Links
James Baldwin: Letter From a Region In My Mind
A Juneteenth of Joy and Resistance
2020 Is the Year of the Road Trip. Unless You’re Black.
Being Black In the White World of Wine
Lists of Black-Owned Restaurants Are a Start, But Not Enough
A Jamaican Michelle Obama (Read to see plenty of examples of how *not* to talk to your server, or anyone)
Violence In Blue (This is from 2016, but with an updated intro and very interesting)
Trapped In While Dining Out: When White People Make Me Part of Their Show.
Your Hands Are Your Greatest Kitchen Utensil
The Oppressive Whiteness of the Food World
Why Did the White Men Get to Have All the Fun? The Road to Diverse Travel Writing.
Michael Hobbes: “S**thole Countries” Have Handled the Coronavirus Better Than the U.S.
How to Stay Safe From Coronavirus While Protesting
What’s a Journalist Supposed to Be Now–an Activist? You’re Asking the Wrong Question.
America’s Patchwork Pandemic Is Fraying Even Further (The U.S. cannot solve the coronavirus pandemic without addressing racism and inequality)
Hasan Minhaj on Why You Should Care About Local News
Calling Young Journalists
It’s a very weird time to be entering journalism, especially if you just graduated college and your internship has been cancelled due to coronavirus. Or, if you couldn’t do an internship in the first place because too many of them are unpaid (part of the reason media is so white and upper middle class). The Information is running a FREE news summer school via Zoom. It looks really great!
Thanks for reading.
–Rebecca