Thomas Straker. Oh boy. Where do you know that name from? Pop quiz: is he a) the viral Instagram chef who fiddles with butter, b) the owner of an eponymous celeb-magnet restaurant, or c) a former pariah of the restaurant world, who in 2023 upset the internet’s collective apple cart by posting a celebratory picture of his all-male, all-white chef brigade?
Full marks if you chose d) all three. After picking up millions of followers for his cookery vids, leveraging them into smash-hit restaurant Straker’s, he almost lost it all thanks to the photo. The internet broiled with accusations of sexism and white privilege. Where were the women? Why wasn’t it more diverse? The Standard reported it keenly.
