Bon Appetit Magazine Apologizes for Featuring a White Chef Cooking Pho

ashley.rae | September 9, 2016
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Apparently, cooking pho is offensive if you happen to be white.

Bon Appetit Magazine recently posted an apology for its article, “We’re in Love with This Pho,” because it featured a white chef making the traditionally Vietnamese dish.

The video, which has since been yanked off Facebook and set to private on YouTube, showed a chef preparing pho using his personally preferred method.

According to a report from NextShark, the video showed the “ignorant white guy” putting extra limes in his pho and calling it “the new ramen.”

While the original Facebook video where people took to vent their anger has since been removed, people have still been flooding Bon Appetit’s Facebook page with their opinions:

Disgruntled foodies have also taken to Yelp to give fake one-star reviews of the restaurant, with some even claiming the food made them sick and that they discovered bugs at the establishment.

In response to the backlash, Bon Appetit issued a statement at the top of the article and on its Facebook page:

In regards to a recent video we posted about making and eating pho, we want you to know that we hear you and we are listening. It is never our intention to offend our readers, which happened in this case. Thank you for calling us out.

We believe in celebrating food from all cultures -- we just want to eat and talk about food, all the time. Moreover, we care deeply about supporting local and international food communities.

At the same time, we never want to be a space that allows for harassing comments and threats toward chefs and restaurant owners. Ever. That's not what we're about. Which is why we have taken down this video.

Moving forward, we will continue to strive to get people to cook smarter and eat better. And we will always be mindful of the messages we share.

Many, however, are still unhappy with the apology:


The chef featured in the video, Tyler Akin of the Stock restaurant in Philadelphia, told the PhillyVoice, “My only comment is that I never intended to offend anybody and I think that's all I can say.”

 

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