• by June 12, 2020

Cooking magazine Bon Appétit this week issued an interesting apology after Adam Rapoport's resignation as editor in chief — and it's meaningful for every publisher. It's a remarkable documentcoming from a brand-safe magazine that mostly offers tips on making gourmet food and cocktails at home.

Rapoport quit Bon Appétit on Monday after a photo of him dressed for Halloween as a stereotypical Puerto Rican started to circulate on Twitter, leading staffers to publicly denounce him. In announcing his resignation, Rapoport said he planned "to reflect on the work that I need to do as a human being."

Bon Appétit's apology letter is a more comprehensive look at its entire organization, along with a pledge to show zero tolerance for racism, sexism, homophobia or workplace harassment.

"Our mastheads have been far too white for far too long," the apology reads. "As a result, the recipes, stories and people we’ve highlighted have too often come from a white-centric viewpoint. At times, we have treated non-white stories as 'not newsworthy' or 'trendy.' Other times we have appropriated, co-opted and Columbused them."

I confess I'd never seen the word "Columbus" used as a verb, and didn't realize it means "discovering something as if it were new," as NBC News explains. It's an interesting quandary for a cooking magazine that explores other cultures, while also trying to make recipe suggestions palatable to some preconceived idea of what readers want.

Those ideas deserve re-examination amid broader cultural shifts, especially among younger audiences. Generation Z, which is now reaching adulthood, is said to be the most multicultural demographic group in U.S. history. They have tended to show a heightened awareness of social issues — including racial inequality — and that was before the killing of George Floyd while in police custody ignited mass demonstrations and stronger calls to end racism.

The theme of "authenticity" has become so pronounced in recent years, it's almost become a cliché. Younger audiences are looking for experiences that don't feel completely packaged. In its apology, Bon Appétit's staff outlines several steps to address racial inequality, including "prioritizing people of color for the editor in chief candidate pool, implementing anti-racism training for our staff and resolving any pay inequities that are found across all departments."

These are practical internal steps, but the magazine isn't likely to quell criticism until its editorial product keeps pace with broader cultural shifts.