Sohla El-Waylly

Sohla El-Waylly is an American chef, restaurateur, and YouTube personality. She is an assistant food editor at Bon Appétit and is known for her appearances in videos produced for the magazine's YouTube channel.

Sohla El-Waylly
Born1984/1985 (age 35–36) [1][2]
Los Angeles
Spouse(s)Ham El-Waylly
Culinary career

Early life and education

El-Waylly was raised in Los Angeles in a Bengali-American family. The family owned a Baskin-Robbins store. El-Waylly continued in the restaurant industry by working for Outback Steakhouse. Beginning in 2008, El-Waylly attended The Culinary Institute of America (CIA).[3]

Career

After graduating, El-Waylly worked at restaurants in New York City such as Atera, which has two Michelin stars, and Del Posto, owned by Joe Bastianich.[4]

In March 2016, El-Waylly and her husband opened a diner called Hail Mary in Brooklyn, which attracted favorable reviews.[5][6][7] However, it closed after 11 months, which El-Waylly attributes in part to opening Hail Mary without other investors, and in part to the expectations of white customers.[8][4] In a 2017 interview with GQ, El-Waylly explained that customers often entered Hail Mary expecting "foreign or exotic ingredients" because of the owners' cultural backgrounds; she stated "There would have been more leeway allowed in the food shrouded by illusion of ‘authenticity’...There are white chefs that can pull from different cultures without explanation, but us making white food always needs a thesis behind it."[9] El-Waylly worked at Serious Eats as a culinary editor through most of 2018 and joined Bon Appétit magazine in August 2019. At Bon Appétit, she works as an assistant food editor and appeared regularly on the magazine's popular YouTube channel.[10][11]

In June 2020, a photo of Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport in brownface resurfaced online and sparked widespread criticism.[12] During an emergency company-wide Zoom meeting, El-Waylly called for Rapoport to step down.[2] She then publicly accused the magazine of discriminating towards employees of color, claiming they were subject to lesser pay than their non-minority counterparts. Rapoport resigned the same day.[13][14]

In August 2020, El-Waylly announced on her Instagram that she would no longer appear in videos on the magazine's YouTube channel, though she would continue to contribute recipes and articles.[15]

Personal life

El-Waylly lives in New York City with her husband, fellow chef Ham El-Waylly. They met while they were both attending the Culinary Institute of America.[16]

References
  1. Burke, Caroline (June 8, 2020). "Sohla El-Waylly: Bon Appetit Editor Speaks Out About Alleged Racism & Discrimination". Heavy.com. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  2. Baer, Stephanie. "The Editor Of Bon Appétit Is Resigning After A Photo Of Him In Brownface Resurfaced". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  3. Costantino, D.J. (January 2017). "Rising Star Chef Ham & Sohla El-Waylly of Hail Mary - Biography". StarChefs. Archived from the original on January 5, 2020.
  4. Shah, Khushbu (April 25, 2017). "What Happens When a Brown Chef Cooks White Food?". GQ. New York City: GQ. Archived from the original on May 22, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  5. "The Feed: An 'Un-Serious' Diner in Brooklyn". Wall Street Journal. May 17, 2016. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  6. Nell, Casey (February 14, 2017). "Ambitious Gourmet 'Diner' Hail Mary Closes In Greenpoint". Gothamist. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  7. El-Waylly, Ham. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ham-el-waylly-62058144/. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. Shah, Khushbu (April 25, 2017). "What Happens When a Brown Chef Cooks White Food?". GQ. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  9. Shah, Khushbu (April 25, 2017). "What Happens When a Brown Chef Cooks White Food?". GQ. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  10. VanDerWerff, Emily (April 21, 2020). "How Bon Appétit's wildly popular YouTube channel is making videos in quarantine". Vox. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  11. Beggs, Alex (August 3, 2019). "What My Dream Grocery Store Looks Like". Bon Appétit. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  12. "Instagram post by Adam Rapoport • Jun 8, 2020 at 11:21pm UTC". Instagram. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  13. Alexandra Steigrad (June 8, 2020). "Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport called to resign over brownface photo". New York Post. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  14. Severson, Kim (June 8, 2020). "Bon Appétit Editor Adam Rapoport Resigns". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  15. Premack, Rachel. "3 of Bon Appétit's Test Kitchen stars of color are departing the video channel after failed contract negotiations". Business Insider. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  16. Kennedy, Alicia (February 10, 2017). "The Couple Behind Greenpoint Diner Hail Mary Draws Zero Lines Between Home and Work". Edible Brooklyn. Archived from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
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