![]() To use a sports analogy to convey Onwuachi’s talent in the kitchen, the kid is a natural. (Jennifer Chase/The New York Times) Photos by Jennifer Chase / New York Times Now he’s drawing attention with a new book and approach. Onwuachi vaulted from troubled youth to overnight success to failure with a fancy restaurant in Washington, D.C. From left: Richard Williams, Chef Kwame Onwuachi and Martel Stone consult during lunch service at Kith and Kin in Washington, April 1, 2019. ![]() In my eyes, Kwame Onwuachi is the most important chef in America. Following our meeting, I was able to quantify something else - Onwuachi’s place in the pantheon of the world’s culinary stars. “It’s familiarity,” Onwuachi, 29, told me the day we met. When I sat down with Onwuachi, I felt something. In the restaurant world, this is a byproduct of the way the fame ladder is structured: The higher the rung, the more rare melanin becomes, a fact that can be applied to both kitchen talent and media. As a food writer, I flip from discussing the mechanics of a $300 tasting menu to loudly debating hip-hop with my brothers while on a crowded BART train to Oakland. People of color all over the country have to code-switch, alternating between speaking styles and identities in a business setting where most of the power - financial, social, cultural - is held by white people. This isn’t a situation unique to just me. As such, I spend my working days navigating a world devoid of cultural familiarity. ![]() My job as a food writer requires I often cover multimillion-dollar, Michelin-starred restaurants and the chefs who run them. Īlright now, my mom added melodically, a small grin spreading across her face. He’s black, my dad said, with a hint of charmed surprise in his voice. Still, there was something about the sound of Kwame’s name that gave them pause. So Kwame’s name didn’t ring familiar to them like, say, Anthony Bourdain, whom they enjoyed, or Gordon Ramsay, whom they tolerate. Every now and then they’ll watch an episode of “Hell’s Kitchen” or “Chopped,” especially if a person of color is competing. They don’t spend every waking moment monitoring the ebb and flow of the food world (as my job requires) nor should they. My parents aren’t restaurant industry people. I’m interviewing a celebrity chef in the morning, I told my parents. As far as I know, I’m the only full-time black staff food writer at any of the country’s larger newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. The conversation eventually turned to my job as a food writer with The San Francisco Chronicle. The trek from baggage claim to their hotel in Union Square took about 35 minutes, which was plenty of time for them to catch me up on what was happening back home in Louisiana - who in the family was doing what, where and why. The night before I interviewed Kwame Onwuachi at a book festival in Berkeley, I was in a car picking my parents up from San Francisco International Airport. (Jennifer Chase/The New York Times) Jennifer Chase / New York Times Show More Show Less (Jennifer Chase/The New York Times) Jennifer Chase / New York Times Show More Show Less 4 of4 Kwame Onwuachi in his restaurant Kith and Kin in Washington, April 1, 2019. Chef Kwame Onwuachi vaulted from troubled youth to overnight success to failure with a fancy restaurant in Washington, D.C. (Jennifer Chase/The New York Times) Jennifer Chase / New York Times Show More Show Less 3 of4 Crab Jollof Rice with Rouget at Kith and Kin in Washington, April 1, 2019. 1 of4 Kwame Onwuachi Rey Lopez / Show More Show Less 2 of4 Kwame Onwuachi in the kitchen of Kith and Kin in Washington, April 1, 2019. ![]()
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