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- Six Master Sommeliers May Lose Their Titles After Sexual Misconduct Investigation
- The Country’s First Federally Recognized Fast-Food Union Has Reached a Tentative Agreement
- Eater at Home for the Holidays
- Seriously, Why Is Everyone Drinking Collagen?
- How a Kashmiri Chef Is Keeping the Art of Mutton Harissa Alive in Srinagar
- This Beautiful, Bountiful Kale Salad Makes the Case for Thanksgiving Salad
| Six Master Sommeliers May Lose Their Titles After Sexual Misconduct Investigation Posted: 17 Nov 2021 03:12 PM PST  The Court of Master Sommeliers has moved to expel six men from its ranks, though they have 30 days to appeal Last November, the New York Times published a report in which 21 women reported experiencing sexual harassment and abuse by male members of the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas, a prestigious non-profit which confers the career-making title of master sommelier on American wine experts. In response, the court suspended seven of its members, including co-founder Fred Dame, amid an external investigation to the claims. And today, the court has announced it will move to expel six of its members from the group, and strip them of their master sommelier titles. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the six men — Bob Bath, Fred Dame, Fred Dexheimer, Drew Hendricks, Joseph Linder, and Matt Stamp — will have 30 days to appeal the decision, but if their membership is terminated, they will be forbidden from participating in any future activities with the court, and "will also be prohibited from using the title 'master sommelier,' a powerful honorific that grants enormous clout within the wine industry." The allegations had already led to some resignations from the court. Last year, Geoff Kruth, who along with Dame was featured in the Netflix documentary Somm, resigned after 11 women had told the Times that he "had tried to pressure them into sex, sometimes in exchange for professional favors." One week after the initial NYT piece published, then-chairman Devon Broglie also resigned after new allegations surfaced about his own conduct. In a statement posted to its site, the Court of Master Sommeliers writes that the results of the independent investigation were returned to the organization in September, and that it has been working with RALIANCE, an organization dedicated to ending sexual violence, for the past two months to review the findings. In addition to moving to terminate the memberships of the aforementioned men, "the board voted to prohibit Geoff Kruth... from ever applying for reinstatement." Aside from the six suspended, other members are also facing punishment, such as temporary suspension or training, according to the statement. "This reckoning in our industry and organization has been incredibly painful — most painful of all for the survivors who felt unsafe or compromised by those they trusted," Emily Wines, chair of the board of directors, said in the statement. "From this deep disappointment and betrayal, we will continue channeling the learned lessons into growth and positive change for our organization." The Court has pledged to provide "dedicated, individualized support" to the victims, and says it has implemented changes such as mandatory sexual harassment training and new mentorship guidelines — many of the accusations involved men abusing their status as mentors to women in the organization. There will also be 100 scholarships made available to women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ applicants. Previously, the court published an open letter to survivors of sexual misconduct and abuse, saying, "We acknowledge that we will never fully understand the pain, trauma, and negative impact that the actions of select members of our organization caused you; we also acknowledge that our organization did not have the proper safeguards in place to ensure a safe and equitable learning environment. For this, we are deeply, deeply sorry. Our commitment to you is that no other person will have to experience what you went through in our organization." At least one victim alleged that the court knew about these issues for years. "The only previous consequence the CMS levied against these Masters in light of accusations was for them not to be allowed to specifically examine these respective women," Liz Dowty Mitchell, one of the women who came forward in the NYT investigation, wrote in 2020. "This demonstrates that the CMS was WELL AWARE of these allegations and the extent of the problem, but chose never to address them in the appropriate manner. This neglect left us victims no choice BUT to come forward in this very public manner." The move to expel may not be enough to rebuild trust in the organization. But as Sabato Sagaria, master sommelier and co-chair of the board's diversity committee told the Chronicle, it's a step. "We know this isn't going to solve it. We've eroded a lot of trust. And that takes time." |
| The Country’s First Federally Recognized Fast-Food Union Has Reached a Tentative Agreement Posted: 17 Nov 2021 09:37 AM PST |
| Eater at Home for the Holidays Posted: 17 Nov 2021 07:09 AM PST  All the recipes, tips, and tricks to make this season merry and bright Last year's holiday season was even more of a blur than it typically is, a whirlwind of constantly shifting expectations and scaling back and figuring out how, exactly, to approximate the usual approaches to holiday cheer in a world where nothing was usual. But this year, as we inch toward whatever the new normal might be, there's a growing feeling that doing whatever brings you joy should be the new "tradition": Yes, make enough mashed potatoes for 12 (whether or not you have 11 guests to serve them to). Tackle that elaborately cheffy roast turkey recipe, and if it doesn't work out, say screw it and just order takeout. Throw a dinner party with nothing but side dishes and Champagne. Whatever! The idea of celebration should be all about what makes you feel comforted or accomplished, and allows you to relax or go whole hog as needed. With that in mind, this year's Eater at Home for the Holidays is all about bringing joy to the dinner table — no matter what form that takes. |
| Seriously, Why Is Everyone Drinking Collagen? Posted: 17 Nov 2021 06:25 AM PST  Adding collagen powder to your drinks is the latest trend in self- (and skin!) improvement — but science doesn't exactly back the claims Even though it's the season for pumpkin spice lattes, the hottest internet coffee trend doesn't actually make the drink taste any better. Instead, skincare obsessives are paying upward of $8 for lattes infused with collagen, a flavorless protein that purports to improve skin and slow down the aging process. If you spend any amount of time on #skintok, the side of TikTok that's totally devoted to beauty and skincare, it's likely that you've heard about collagen-spiked drinks. The app is replete with recipes for homemade matcha drinks infused with vegan collagen, and oat milk lattes or fruity teas with a scoop of powdered collagen whisked in at the end. The collagen is barely noticeable in the beverage, perhaps making the texture of your latte a little thicker but otherwise offering nothing in terms of flavor. But it promises a slew of health benefits that include making joints more flexible and fixing "dull, lackluster skin." In recent years, a simple cup of coffee in the morning has been transformed into a new opportunity to hack your body, whether that's by sipping "adaptogenic" mushrooms that promise better brain health, or literally whipping butter (or MCT oil) into a cup of coffee because it promises that it will help consumers stay more focused. As people have gotten into the idea of making their drinks do more for them, the "functional beverage" category, or drinks that promise a wide range of health benefits in addition to quenching thirst, has ballooned into a $39 billion market. With the collagen latte craze, the claims are pretty simple. Collagen is a protein that's hugely important to the human body, and is responsible for making skin look plump, young, and elastic. As we age, humans naturally produce less collagen each year. "Most people notice as they get older, their skin might get a little thinner or more wrinkled, a little more saggy, and part of that can be from decreased collagen," says Dr. Allison Darland, a professor of dermatology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. "The collagen that you had is being degraded and not being replaced or repaired in the same way, and that can affect the appearance of your skin."
The idea is that adding back collagen in the form of supplements made from fish, chicken, or algae will improve skin firmness and, ultimately, make those who consume it look younger. (In addition to powdered collagen supplements, the purported power of collagen has also fueled the popularity of bone broth, which is both used in recipes and sipped like a mug of tea.) But does adding collagen to your latte actually improve the quality of your skin? Science isn't exactly sure yet — studies on the ingredient's efficacy are scant, and often funded by the companies that sell it — but the internet is full of both experts and average folks singing the praises of collagen lattes. There does at least seem to be some science behind how ingesting collagen might work to improve the appearance of skin, and it's not as simple as one might think. "I think a lot of scientists quickly dismiss collagen, but there is a plausible mechanism for how it could work," says Michelle Wong, the Australian chemist and science educator behind popular beauty blog Lab Muffin Beauty Science. "They think that it works because you eat the collagen and it gets absorbed by the body and reformed into collagen, but for about the last 10 years, that hasn't been the theory behind how collagen works for skin. The theory is actually that it has more of a signaling role, so it works more like a drug." Put simply, instead of the collagen molecules in the supplement attaching to your skin to make it firmer or plumper, they encourage the body to make more of its own natural collagen to achieve the same effect. Those collagen-skeptical scientists Wong mentioned aren't afraid to take to TikTok with their opinions, either. There are almost as many videos of experts debunking the efficacy of consuming collagen in food and drink. Some argue that there isn't enough research to indicate whether or not it can survive the highly acidic human stomach in order to be absorbed by the body, while others claim that there's no mechanism for collagen you eat (or drink) to end up back in your skin.
In one viral TikTok, popular science educator Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki argues that collagen molecules are too large to be absorbed by mucosa, or cells responsible for processing nutrients, in the stomach. "There's no way a massive collagen peptide, made from a thousand amino acids, will fit," Kruszelnicki says. "The collagen you ingest is broken down into individual amino acids, and there's no way they will automatically regroup to form collagen and smooth out wrinkles." Darland views the issue similarly. "It doesn't make a lot of sense that such a large protein would be absorbed in the gut and then make its way back to the skin in any sort of functional capacity," she says. "There's no evidence to suggest that taking collagen by mouth actually benefits in any way in terms of improving collagen production." A big part of the problem, as Wong notes, is that much of the clinical research that's looking into the efficacy of collagen on skin is being conducted — or funded — by the companies that want to sell you collagen. "Most of the studies in peer-reviewed journals that are published on cosmetic science are usually funded by companies," Wong says. "There's always the issue of bias. Companies only really have an incentive to fund studies that will help their products." When it comes to things that might actually improve your skin, both Darland and Wong agree that the ingredient most proven to improve collagen production — and overall anti-aging — isn't something you can eat. Topical retinoid creams, like prescription-only tretinoin, are backed by countless studies attesting to their efficacy at reducing collagen degradation and improving the appearance of skin. Wearing sunscreen has also been shown to minimize collagen degradation and other signs of aging skin. It's unclear why exactly the morning cup of coffee, an essential part of life for so many people, has become a site of self-improvement. Maybe it's because we feel guilty about relying on that boost of caffeine to get the day started, or perhaps it's because we're looking to become better people in whatever way possible. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't look like adding a scoop of ground-up bovine hides to your morning beverage will make any of that happen. |
| How a Kashmiri Chef Is Keeping the Art of Mutton Harissa Alive in Srinagar Posted: 17 Nov 2021 06:01 AM PST  Muhmmad Ashraf Bhat is one of the few remaining chefs cooking the laborious yet comforting dish by hand In a small shop in Srinagar, Kashmir, chef Muhmmad Ashraf Bhat is up at four in the morning, finishing his mutton harissa, a traditional comfort food for the cold winter months. He's awake at this hour, pulling bones out of an underground oven, because one of the key elements to successfully making dish is putting in time. The mutton has been cooking since 8 p.m. the previous day. "Machines make mutton useless," he explains, as he laboriously chops mutton with a large knife, and pounds rice and herbs with a massive mallet. "You need patience." While most people now make the dish in a pressure cooker, Ashraf Bhat prepares everything by hand, and cooks it in several special underground wood-fired ovens over a 24-hour period. He's one of the few remaining Kashmiri chefs to use this method when preparing the dish of slow cooked and mashed meat, rice, coriander, fried shallots, fried garlic, and other spices. "I left my studies and joined this. I was a kid back then. My father and grandfather were into this. I dedicated my childhood to it," says Ashraf Bhat of his experience learning the nuances of making each part of the harissa from two other generations of chefs. "I have a 50 year degree in it." Check out the video to see more about the process, and how the Kashmiri dish comes together and is served |
| This Beautiful, Bountiful Kale Salad Makes the Case for Thanksgiving Salad Posted: 17 Nov 2021 06:00 AM PST  Anointed with a creamy tahini-avocado dressing, chef Francesca Chaney's salad is guaranteed to appeal to vegans and non-vegans alike Editor's note: Thanksgiving traces its origins to an uneasy, temporary alliance between 17th-century English settlers and members of the Wampanoag Confederacy. This year, Eater is choosing to acknowledge that history in our coverage of the holiday. As the holiday season approaches I'm thinking of tasty and filling plant-based dishes that can coexist on my family and friendsgiving tables. If your folks are anything like mine, there are a wide variety of dietary requests that will need to be accommodated. That's why my contribution to the table will be a colorful fall salad with a rich avocado-tahini dressing; it's a relatable and flavorful dish that I can guarantee will appeal to both my vegan and non-vegan guests. Its base is kale, massaged to create a silky, easy-to-chew texture. For crunch, there are shredded beets and carrots, along with sweet sliced Fuji apples and savory pumpkin seeds. Texture and flavor aside, my favorite part of the recipe is that most of the veggies in it are in season, which means that I get to support my local farmers market as I gather my ingredients. Although greens are not usually the main attraction at the holiday table, the brightly colored contents of this salad make an aesthetically pleasing case that they should be — at the very least, they deserve pride of place positioned between your granny's mac and cheese and your auntie's potato salad. Francesca Chaney's Fall Salad RecipeServes 4 to 6 Ingredients:1 large avocado, pitted Instructions:Step 1: Make the dressing: Combine ¾ of the avocado flesh, tahini, and lime juice in a blender or mini food processor. Add ⅓ to ½ cup water and blend until smooth. Season with salt to taste, cover, and set aside. Dice the remaining avocado, cover, and set aside. Step 2: Put the kale in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, onion powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, and pepper and massage the oil and seasonings into the leaves with your hands until well coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Step 3: Add the shredded carrots, beets, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries and toss gently to combine. Sprinkle the reserved avocado, apple, quinoa, and feta cheese over the salad. Serve with the dressing. Francesca Chaney, a 2019 Eater Young Gun, is the founder of Sol Sips in Bushwick and enjoys fresh garden vegetables, hot yoga and burdock root coffee. |
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