gift link
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Glad someone is covering it @eater lol
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āāWhile Mr. Redzepi and those who now work with him say the abuse is in the past, the former employees contend that he has never been held truly accountable.ā
I wonder what would be true accountability in this instance? It feels like he acknowledged these things in that former NYtimes article but Iām legitimately curious what the result people want out of this is?
Iām not sure actually but I had not heard all this about noma/rene previously and glad that itās being publicized.
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the times has reported it in the past! It was in a 2008 documentary! Thats whatās surprising to me about all this. Again, Iām biased. Have friends that work there and have after 2016 and the time that the majority of this reflects. But it probably wouldāve been smarter for them to say how they were going to be accountable to the people who were affected in the past rather than just being like we have changed
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His explanation/apology on IG
https://www.instagram.com/p/DVl7WAPFAez/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
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Iām not super plugged in but I feel like Iām relatively aware of food happenings and I had no idea until this past year, I dunno Iām glad that misbehavior is being publicized.
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Iām not mad about it being publicized (again) for the record. It reminds me of when david chang talked about his behavior in his book. But Iām more interested in what the accountability expectation is here beyond admission which had happened years ago. Even the jason white protest Iām likeā¦is there a list of demands?
But it also feels like the growth in 10+ years doesnāt matter given how this was an industry norm in the past that many havenāt even moved past.
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Still think itās unlikely that the anonymous reports were mostly true?
āJulia Moskin has been reporting on Noma and the worldās other top restaurants for 25 years. She interviewed more than 35 former Noma employees for this article.ā
And from the comments, a question to the author of the article:
āAfter I read that youāve been covering Noma for years, I was wondering why this story just came out. You somewhat address this in your comment but the argument seems weak to me.ā
Author:
āThatās a fair question. At the Times, we donāt just assert what we know: we need the voices of victims to prove it. Itās hard to overstate how powerful Redzepi is in the high-end culinary world, and how much people feared getting on his bad side by going on the record. Also, many people had mixed feelings, because Redzepi also helped them get ahead in their careers. Thereās not much upside for sources to go on the record; I had to wait until there was a critical mass of people who were both brave and angry.ā
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Maybe being held accountable is something a bit more abstract.
It has to be difficult to see the man who physically and psychologically abused you gain wealth and notoriety while your story goes untold.
It is possible that having your story told when his name is mentioned is just the start of what that accountability looks like.
But hey I donāt know anyone who works there. Iād be curious what your friends have to say about it.
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Rich people donāt care if he abuses his staff. Anyone who is going to noma is willingly ignoring the abuse, ok with it or just ignorant. Elon is a rich little sob who hired other people to run his company. Heās not a genius and neither is noma. I think noma hired a great pr person for his apology but he made it so he doesnāt care. He posted words rather than do any video because he couldnāt be bothered to respond beyond that.
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He should develop a fund to pay restitution, go to counseling en perpetuity, develop an oversight board to keep him accountable then whistle blow any other piece of shit who did or does the same.
or even just two of those things
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I supect that quite a few rich people are going to cancel their Noma reservations after this story.
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Anyone know what kind of visas Noma staff have that allow them to work when regular LA restaurants canāt get such visas for their employees?
Wouldnāt a J-1 visa suffice for short term stints?
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Could be also a P-visa (P-3) or under the O-visa umbrella- might be a question how they have structured the residency, e.g. sponsorship structure
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Agree a personal heartfelt video who have been more sincere than some crafted words from his HR team. Some accounts of that Times article was hard to read. Heās a psychopath.
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That totally makes sense.
Iām not sure itās possible for someone to give a genuine apology for punching his employees and stabbing them with kitchen implements, because (as you say) it takes a psychopath to behave like that.
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I donāt know that itās reasonable to diagnose psychopathy when sadism and torture were the norm in the business at the time.
I think it was just chefs putting ambition over everything else and being emotionally and socially stunted. Much like similar military and sports traditions, reducto ad absurdum of toxic masculinity.
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