Bon Appétit Returns With Brad, Andy And Chris Joined By New Chefs

Bon Appétit is back in the kitchen. Condé Nast Entertainment announced Tuesday morning that the BA YouTube channel has relaunched with three returning chefs and several new faces. The channel, which currently has nearly 6 million subscribers, had been inactive since June 5, when pay disparities among cast members were revealed.

The first video, posted at 11 a.m. EDT, features Editor-in-Chief Dawn Davis, Executive Editor Sonia Chopra, and Global Brand Advisor Chef Marcus Samuelsson discussing how they’ll make Bon Appétit more accessible and diverse.

Returning chefs Brad Leone, Chris Morocco and Andy Baraghani will be joined by new cast members DeVonn Francis, Tiana Gee, Melissa Miranda, Samantha Seneviratne, Chrissy Tracey, Harold Villarosa, Rawlston Williams and Claudette Zepeda.

Just a couple of hours after the announcement, a second video was uploaded showing returning chef Chris Morocco making meatballs. The third, uploaded later Tuesday afternoon, introduces audiences to vegan chef Chrissy Tracey.

Diversity, inclusivity and, above all, equality became focal points over the summer. The former Test Kitchen staff has mostly departed due to issues of pay and racial inequality. In late spring, several employees took to social media to post about differences between the treatment of the people of color at Bon Appétit and their white colleagues.

A Business Insider article quoted several people of color at BA who said they weren’t treated as well as white colleagues and were subjected to microaggressions and discrimination often. Then, a photo of then-editor-in-chief Adam Rappaport dressed as a Puerto Rican man for Halloween led to him stepping down. Popular BA chef Sohla El-Waylly was openly disgusted with the photo and went on to publicly state that white chefs on the Bon Appétit YouTube channel were paid while BIPOC chefs were not. Condé Nast denied this claim to Variety.

Ultimately, negotiations between the cast and Condé Nast Entertainment fell through for most of the chefs. Claire Saffitz was the last chef to announce her departure. Priya Krishna, Sohla El-Waylly, and Rick Martinez left on Aug. 6 and Molly Baz and Gaby Melian followed. Carla Lalli Music also stepped down from video appearances less than a week later. Many of those staffers remain with Bon Appétit on the editorial side.

Chopra, who joined the team recently, said in a statement on Twitter that the video side is changing. “We have been listening, learning, and building something together that showcases our best, and we are relaunching on YouTube today,” the new executive editor wrote. “We are here to build a team that is empathetic, respectful, and open to being challenged; is paid fairly for their contributions; and that represents the audience we hope to serve. You're going to see new shows, new and familiar faces, and a whole lot of new recipes.”

The question now is will Bon Appétit’s audience return without some of their most popular personalities? Only time will tell, but views are already accumulating on the new recipes with Morocco’s meatball recipe pulling in over 55,000 views within two hours and newcomer Tracey’s mushroom recipe scoring over 10,000 views in the first half-hour.