‼️ANNOUNCEMENT‼️
A reminder that r/kitchenconfidential is an open discussion sub. It is a place for industry workers to discuss whatever they’d like. (without being dicks about it)
If we all met at a bar after service you can bet ALL topics could come up - from long ass teaspoons to ICE.
Anyone that doesn’t like it can either suck it up or find another place to hang out.
Complain about it (eg. “wahh no politics”) and you will be shown the door…permanently. Same if you attack each other personally.
Thanks everyone! (Y’all are 99.999% lovely by the way!!)
Idk how you can stand here and scream “no politics” when it’s the brothers and sisters standing right next to us on the line that are being targeted. We go through the shit with these people every weekday and especially every weekend. Some of these people will only care when they are having to pick up extra prep/stations because old Alberto got rounded up and stuffed in an unmarked van to god knows where, and in that they only care about themselves.
It’s in bad faith. In too many places, issues that need to be brought up and seen are silenced under the veil of “no politics”. Usually because they are for profit and can’t afford to lose business…or maybe they’re a subreddit/channel afraid of losing subscribers.
We don’t really care about any of that so I say have at it!
I’m in the UK so fairly detached from the whole ICE situation but I’ve seen enough shit flung at Eastern European colleagues to know this isn’t a US specific problem.
Out of any industry, maybe other than construction, we have the biggest responsibility to fight this shit.
If we had a UK equivalent of ICE I’d have lost well over half of the people I’ve worked with/ employed. 9/10 included on that were the best people I’ve worked with, this shit is not on.
Brothers and sisters shoulder to shoulder on the line!
Where do you work cus my line consists of a 3 xanax addicts and a dishwasher who thinks I don’t notice him watching insta porn on his phone in a ziploc. These gremlins would steal my socks off my feet if I had a second to sit down. I have watched a grown man nod off and gently dip his hand into a steam table of clam chowder. That’s not my brother. That’s my burden.
Not that it has anything to do with immigration or ice. People are people regardless of how close they are to you.
“My coworkers are asshole so all coworkers must be assholes.”
They struggle with drugs just like I used to. Doesn’t mean that we aren’t all brothers and sisters of the earth. That those people aren’t deserving of their basic rights and humanity just like everyone else that isn’t a mass murderer, rapist, or serial killer or something extreme like that. I changed. All those people you mentioned have the capacity to change. And it seems like you’re telling me you would be ok to see them stuffed in an unmarked van with a hood over their head?
You may be able to use people’s struggles and life circumstances as a way to emotionally write them off, but I can’t.
I mean yeah on a day off I see them as humans and wish the best for them. And I would never want to see them stuffed in a van. But somehow every saturday night I picture them all being fed into a woodchipper legs first.
It must be lots of extra moderation work and I really appreciate every single one of you from moderator to regulars to lurkers in this sub for always remembering to not compromise away, nor shy from conflict, and stay firm and loud on the side of the little guys (all of us).
Thank you…it’s not as bad as you think. This sub has a disproportionate amount of decent humans (mods from other subs have confirmed). I appreciate this group of circus animals so much!
Appreciate this. I posted an open-ended question about bad experiences at fast food restaurants and got dragged because my example was from the perspective of a customer and not a cook. FFS, cooks can be customers too.
If it's an open discussion sub, people should be able to express if they dislike politics being represented. I don't think that means they should backseat moderate, but expressing the opinion should be okay
Complain about it (eg. “wahh no politics”) and you will be shown the door…permanently.
Is it ok to say that I much prefer /r/kitchenconfidential when it's talking about food service, and that if I wanted generic US flavour-of-the-week political astroturfing posts then I could go to almost any other subreddit?
Have you actually read the book? Bourdain wrote at length about how the US restaurant business was made on the backs of immigrants. It is a central theme of the book. Like there are whole chapters about immigrants. This is a meaningful part of this sub.
I’m doing what I feel is right - if you disagree that’s fine. But I’m going to go with my instincts along with the mod team and the overwhelming positive users response over yours.
Discussions of the national restaurant association, for instance, are political, but they've used servsafe profits to fund lobbyists in order to suppress workers' rights.
Tariffs increase food costs, driving prices up and profits down.
Ignoring constitutional rights means there is no guarantee of safety for anyone.
Illegally detaining and performing strip searches on foreign minors means tourism is down, which many restaurants rely on.
All of these subjects are restaurant related, just that most people don't think about why.
I mean this is clearly not an “anything goes” type of discussion community. There’s a hard and fast line that you have to stick to pretty thoroughly to not be absolutely lambasted. And it’s not just politics; it’s down to like how to cut shit and whatnot.
Definitely a big hivemind going on, and the accepted culture of just being a dick makes it nearly impossible to actually have a discussion unless everybody’s just agreeing that X is amazing or Y is the end of the world.
For instance, this comment will likely get downvoted into oblivion just because it’s slightly critical of the discussions here. A lot of subs are waaaay more self-critical and self-reflective. This one has bred a distinct air of arrogance.
There’s no guarantee that you’ll get a positive reaction to what you contribute. All we’re saying is as long as it’s civil, it will be allowed. There’s a clear distinction there and I have a feeling you know it but want to rant anyway.
I didn’t really contradict anything you said. I’m just pointing out that despite what mods prefer or prioritize, the general culture of the sub ends up making most discussions pretty simplistic.
Feels like you sorta just proved my point though lol.
Am I not free to voice my opinion in this thread? Sorry to rustle up your jimmies or whatever but my comments here aren’t really that crazy of an indictment.
for the record i downvoted you because you pulled the "woe is me, i shall surely be downvoted for this" line and that shit is annoying when anyone does it.
I do see your point and I agree. I tried to phrase it less like “downvotes are actually proving my point” but frankly there’s not much else to be said when all controversial opinions are reliably met with zero discussion and moderately aggressive downvoting.
Just seems like the easiest way to point out that some subs actually enjoy controversial type discussions and the userbase promotes them. And that this doesn’t seem like one of them.
this is going to be downvoted because its wrong not because its a different viewpoint. Just because you say something doesn't make it intelligent or correct.
My point isn’t that I’m right and everyone else is wrong lol. It’s just that this is not actually a place to discuss things civilly and to pretend it is displays an embarrassing lack of self-awareness.
And my point is pretty well back up by you and the mod coming in to say “nuh uh downvote” instead of having any actual argument to the contrary.
Again you don’t have to engage in civil discussions you don’t want to, but it’s kinda weird to announce that that’s the point of the sub when it’s clearly not in practice.
That’s a fine opinion. But again my entire point is that you’re just saying I’m wrong without any reasoning as to why lol. You don’t have to engage obv but I already explained that my point wasn’t that I’m correct. My point is that this sub doesn’t engage with viewpoints it disagrees with except to say they’re wrong.
You and I are looking at the same information and coming to a different conclusion. I don't think there is anything that you are missing, however I think your conclusion is poor. would you like me to engage you in an uncivil manner and explain what I truly think?
the issue is you're a dumbass, there's no merit at all to your viewpoint and if you look at the ideas in this thread consistently you'll see that dissenting views are tolerated and then downvoted because they aren't good. Your ideas here weren't good and were downvoted because of that. You weren't told get out and you weren't banned, you were simply downvoted and told no there's nothing to your ideas. we're looking at all the same information and you're coming to the wrong conclusion.
What a disappointing, rude attitude. The comment was left by a Redditor of 12 years who posts a tonne of food content and is extremely polite and friendly. Look at their post history, look at this subreddit's front page, and try and work out what people would rather see when they visit /r/kitchenconfidential.
Why is this so hard? We have 1.5 MILLION people here. Things will be discussed that you might not be interested or want to see. Therefore, you can either ignore it/move on, or stop coming here. That’s all I’m saying.
If you’re asking us to stop allowing cherry picked topics, then that is an absolute no.
Generic politics sub #8067. I understand why but I also don't care for it. What makes subreddits good is their curated content that set them apart from others. Sad that once a subreddit hits a certain amount of "people" it turns into the same echo chamber as 90% of the rest of this site.
Not so much disappointed that people have their opinions and want to share them on flavor of the week politics but it gets abrasive when it's already the majority of posts on lots of subreddits. "Everything is politics" people used to be shunned irl because they were simply obnoxious.
Honestly I come here to laugh and blow off steam. My politics don’t align with most of the folks here, but I see the value in the sharing of thoughts and opinions on topics that impact the industry and our lives in general. The problems with ICE are just one ugly symptom of a political disease that stretches back decades. Politicians’ refusal to enact any significant changes to immigration law along with business owners’ addiction to cheap labor have been leading us down this path. I say close the borders and the ports and don’t open them again until we figure out what we want to be as a country and enact legislation that reflects these goals and ideals. Give the folks that are here and contributing to society a reason to come out of the shadows by giving them a clear path to legal status. Remove the criminals, the malingerers, and those intent on “gaming” the system.send them home, send them to prison, hell,put them on a boat to nowhere. The market will adjust to a new reality, the business owners will see profits return after a brief but painful interval, and we’ll all get to go back to having fun and dealing with the impairments that led us to this industry. And then the next time a politician puts their personal gain and comfort over doing what right for this country, we take them out to the streets and tar and feather them. Or at least make them clean some of the dank fryers I’ve seen in this sub.
So "this is an open discussion sub" "That people can discuss whatever they like" and then threaten to permanently ban someone because you don't like what they are saying.
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u/PurpleHerder Jun 11 '25
Sorry sir this sub is almost exclusively for people who cannot control the irresistible urge to be a dick about anything and everything