Award Winners for Volume 10
#MeToo on the Menu: Addressing Toxic Kitchen Culture
In October of 2017, the #MeToo movement erupted, giving visibility and voice to survivors of sexual assault. Since 2017, individuals and industries across the world have been called to account for their implication as enablers and predators. While the most vocal jobs sector within the movement has remained within the entertainment industry, specifically of that in Hollywood, little attention has been turned to other, more economically foundational areas like the restaurant and service industries. This feminist discourse analysis looks to uncover the characteristic features that make the restaurant industry both more dangerous through its broader organizational culture and its propensity for having the most vulnerable populations working for them. By looking at media coverage and academic literature surrounding the #MeToo movement in the restaurant industry, this article evaluates what efforts have been made to reform the toxic cultural norms underlying kitchen organizations as well as to what degree they have been successful.