Crisis caring: chef foundations, branding, and responsibility in foodscapes

Abstract

Charitable foundations started by chefs and restaurant companies continue to grow and occupy space as prominent humanitarian leaders during times of crisis, and this paper utilizes research from New Orleans to examine these trends. Drawing on ethnographic data from chefs, donors, and community food activists, this paper examines: why some chefs have started foundations while others have not; the rationales of donors who give to chef foundations; the prevalence of ‘cause’sumerism to raise philanthropic funds; how some restaurant owners attempt to address the precarious labor practices of the industry within their own businesses; and how all these various forms of caring are raced, classed, and gendered. This paper begins and ends with the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic, highlighting how chefs and their philanthropic foundations reflect a precarious reliance on caring individuals and non-governmental entities to respond to on-going crises.