Non-Fiction review: Behind the Kitchen Door by Saru Jayaraman
Saru Jayaraman's book Behind the Kitchen Door should be required reading for anyone who eats at restaurants-- which is almost everyone. In this call-to-arms to end restaurant industry abuses, Jayaraman asks a fairly simple, yet perplexing, question: If Americans love to eat out and care about where their food comes from (Is it local? Is it organic or sustainable?), why are we oblivious to who prepares and serves the food in restaurants? Jayaraman reports that there is a great deal of inequality in the restaurant world, and those inequalities get greater the farther back in the restaurant (and kitchen) one goes.
The plight of fast food workers with low wages and minimal, if any, benefits isn't a new story. But what might surprise many people is that workers in some of America's more glamorous restaurants don't fare much better. Jayaraman founded ROC, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a group whose purpose is to get livable wages and fair treatment for restaurant industry workers. In the book, the author details several instances of worker abuses at both large national chain restaurants as well as upscale fine dining establishments, and how ROC was able to work with management to treat workers more humanely.
Just as importantly, Jayaraman highlights a number of studies ROC has done with restaurant workers across the country. The numbers do not tell a happy tale. The author shows how pressure from restaurant lobbyists has kept the tipped minimum wage at just over $2 an hour in many states, an amount that is wiped out on paychecks by taxes. Workers then earn only the money from tips, and even then that money can be siphoned away by management. Additionally, gender and racial discrimination is prevelant throughout the restaurant industry, keeping women off the cooking line in fine dining establishments and darker skinned employees in the lowest-paying, out-of-sight jobs in the kitchen.
Behind the Kitchen Door is a call to arms for the restaurant industry, and it is an essential and overdue work. Reading it, I couldn't help but question how many times I'd eaten at a restaurant that participated in the unsavory practices described here. Much like Upton Sinclair's exposure of the meat-packing industry in The Jungle, Behind the Kitchen Door is an alarming, gut-wrenching work that will hopefully force needed change in an industry we all need-- but clearly don't want too much about. This book made me, a foodie, question my love of restaurants. More importantly, it made me angry at the injustices restaurant owners can perpetuate on their workers. But thanks to Jayaraman's work, I know I can do something about it... and so can you.
The plight of fast food workers with low wages and minimal, if any, benefits isn't a new story. But what might surprise many people is that workers in some of America's more glamorous restaurants don't fare much better. Jayaraman founded ROC, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a group whose purpose is to get livable wages and fair treatment for restaurant industry workers. In the book, the author details several instances of worker abuses at both large national chain restaurants as well as upscale fine dining establishments, and how ROC was able to work with management to treat workers more humanely.
Just as importantly, Jayaraman highlights a number of studies ROC has done with restaurant workers across the country. The numbers do not tell a happy tale. The author shows how pressure from restaurant lobbyists has kept the tipped minimum wage at just over $2 an hour in many states, an amount that is wiped out on paychecks by taxes. Workers then earn only the money from tips, and even then that money can be siphoned away by management. Additionally, gender and racial discrimination is prevelant throughout the restaurant industry, keeping women off the cooking line in fine dining establishments and darker skinned employees in the lowest-paying, out-of-sight jobs in the kitchen.
Behind the Kitchen Door is a call to arms for the restaurant industry, and it is an essential and overdue work. Reading it, I couldn't help but question how many times I'd eaten at a restaurant that participated in the unsavory practices described here. Much like Upton Sinclair's exposure of the meat-packing industry in The Jungle, Behind the Kitchen Door is an alarming, gut-wrenching work that will hopefully force needed change in an industry we all need-- but clearly don't want too much about. This book made me, a foodie, question my love of restaurants. More importantly, it made me angry at the injustices restaurant owners can perpetuate on their workers. But thanks to Jayaraman's work, I know I can do something about it... and so can you.
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