Discriminating Palates: Evaluation and Ethnoracial Inequality in American Fine Dining

• In Event: 2231 - Cultural Distinction, Taste, and Intergroup Relations among Elites

Abstract

In cultural sociology, the study of cuisine has been primarily focused on theories of taste and consumption. This paper brings the literature on fields of cultural production into conversation with that about ethnoracial hierarchy to examine how ethnoracial categories assigned to cultural products affect how producers understand their products’ value in the field. I analyze 120 in-depth interviews with Michelin-recognized chefs and 1380 restaurant reviews to uncover the system of insidious bias organizing processes of evaluation in the American fine dining field. I show how a system of categorization based on ethnoracial inequality informs the enactment of three logics of evaluation—of technique, creativity, and authenticity—in the differential evaluation of distinct ethnoracial categories of cuisine. In so doing, I illuminate the mechanisms of material and symbolic devaluation of “Ethnic” cuisine and the reproduction of inequality in cultural fields.

Author

• Gillian Gualtieri, New York University