Just when you thought everyone had moved on from the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, here’s a trailer for new Test Kitchen programming with a few familiar faces. Brad Leone, Andy Baraghani, and Chris Morocco all look to be staying in the Test Kitchen — or, well, their home kitchens, for now — according to the 40-second clip. If you will recall, a wave of stars left the Test Kitchen in the wake of an ongoing reckoning with racism, pay disparity, and a toxic work culture at the magazine and parent company, Condé Nast. Spurred by photos of former editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport dressed as a Puerto Rican man, along with former Test Kitchen star Sohla El-Waylly’s revelation that she did not have a video contract and didn’t receive the same lucrative video pay as her co-stars, over half a dozen of BA’s familiar faces quit the channel. Some have said they’ll stay with Bon Appétit magazine as contributors or editors. El-Waylly, for one, just announced a new show on rival food YouTube channel Binging With Babish.
After Bon Appétit was criticized for a lack of representation of people of color, especially Black people, in the Test Kitchen, the trailer introduces some new faces that will be joining the BA cinematic universe. They include Chrissy Tracey, Rawlston Williams, Tiana Gee, Harold Villarosa, Melissa Miranda, Claudette Zepeda, DeVonn Francis, and Samantha Seneviratne. New editor-in-chief Dawn Davis, executive editor Sonia Chopra, and global adviser (slash Chopped judge) Marcus Samuelsson also make appearances. “We know it’s been a while since we’ve posted a video, and we are really excited to welcome you back and share the next chapter of BA with you,†Davis, Chopra, and Samuelsson wrote in a note with the video. “We are listening, learning, and building something together that showcases our best. We’re building a team that is empathetic, respectful, and open to being challenged; that is paid fairly for their contributions; and that represents the audience we hope to serve.â€