32 Gay, Bi, & Lbian Chefs Who Competed on 'Top Chef'

Contents:

• IKEA’S “DG ROOM” FEATUR FIRST OPENLY GAY COUPLE COMMERCIAL
• ASIAN GAY UPLE HOMOSEXUAL OKG TOGETHER THE KCHEN PREPARE H VEGETABLE MAKE ANIC SALAD HEALTHY FOOD. ASIAN PEOPLE
• ASIAN GAY UPLE HOMOSEXUAL OKG TOGETHER THE KCHEN PREPARE H VEGETABLE MAKE ANIC SALAD HEALTHY FOOD. ASIAN PEOPLE

IKEA’S “DG ROOM” FEATUR FIRST OPENLY GAY COUPLE COMMERCIAL

Wrer John Birdsall (om left), photographer Nik Sharma, rtratr and chef Preeti Mistry talk about the ncept of the "queer kchen" wh Las Volger, the edor of Jarry, a gay men's food magaze.

The gatherg was anized by the New York-based gay men's food magaze, Jarry, a twice-yearly prt publitn lnched last fall.

The sensibili of this trifecta of closeted gay men had far-reachg fluence, changg the way Amerins oked and ate. As Birdsall has wrten, "It's food that tak pleasure serly, as an end self, an assertn of polics or a human birthright, the product of culture — this is the legacy of gay food wrers who shaped morn Amerin food. " It was this narrowly macho foc that led Birdsall to set the rerd not-so-straight wh Ameri, Your Food Is So Gay, his Lucky Peach say that won a Jam Beard Journalism Award 2014.

ASIAN GAY UPLE HOMOSEXUAL OKG TOGETHER THE KCHEN PREPARE H VEGETABLE MAKE ANIC SALAD HEALTHY FOOD. ASIAN PEOPLE

Birdsall, now 56, remembers he and a boyiend readg aloud om Olney's wrgs, feelg like they were gettg a glimpse of a secret gay world — one that was, by necsy, elive. Mistry, who origally wanted to be a filmmaker, was spired by the chefs' creativy and fearlsns, so much so that she left a job the "gay bubble" of Framele to start trag fe dg at Claridge's London. It wasn't jt that the women were out, at a time when rtrant kchens uld still be tough plac for women, gay or straight.

A py of Jarry, a gay men's food magaze, next to tote bags that read "Cheers Queers.

' " It was a clash of sensibili, his gay, hers queer. The youngt of the group, he says g out wasn't an issue, but fdg a gay social circle when he first started medil school wasn't easy.

ASIAN GAY UPLE HOMOSEXUAL OKG TOGETHER THE KCHEN PREPARE H VEGETABLE MAKE ANIC SALAD HEALTHY FOOD. ASIAN PEOPLE

A chat wh a gay profsor led to an vatn to the med school's "secret gay potluck" — secret not out of fear, but simply bee "they didn't want any straights to e, " said Sharma. Birdsall, who won a send Jam Beard Award for Straight Up Passg — an article about gay chefs Jarry's first issue — se queer okg as an act of anti-normative transgrsn and ristance. In fact, several high-profile, out chefs bristled at beg tegorized as "gay chefs, " much the way that many artists rist beg fed as "women wrers" or "female micians.

Or was jt that the chefs — whe and cisgenr, as Mistry pots out — still feared the repercsns of embracg a higher-profile gay inty, even the more equal tim? Whether was issu of racism gay clubs, gay youth issu, issu specifilly pertag to black, queer people, I’ve kept an active profile. Beg a gay culary figure is important to me bee ’s a legacy built on the shoulrs of Jam Beard, Craig Claiborne, Bill Neal, and many others.