Toronto Dining Scene Rocked by Sexual Harassment; Lady Chefs Fight Back with #KitchenBitches
The Toronto Star broke the news this morning that Kate Burnham, a former pastry chef at King Street West restaurant Weslodge, endured a year and a half of physical and verbal sexual abuse by two sous chefs Dan Lidbury and Colin Mercer, and the “modern day saloon’s” chef de cuisine, Kanida Chey.
Burnham’s application alleges that day sous chef Dan Lidbury called her names, such as “angry dyke,” bombarded her with lewd questions, grabbed her breasts and, when she wouldn’t allow his advances, warned that her “attitude” put her on “thin f—king ice.”
Chef du cuisine Kanida Chey regularly harassed Burnham, even grabbing her crotch, according to the application, and he and Lidbury told her she was “harassed,” because she “was hot” and “that kind of attention is flattering.” The application also alleges that night sous chef Colin Mercer made repeated jokes about Burnham’s sexual orientation and “smacked” her rear with a metal flipper “so hard she could not sit down.”
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According to the application, Mercer would talk about his girlfriend’s pubic hair, asking Burnham whether she was “clean and shaven down there.”
The application also alleges Chey, now a chef at another popular Toronto restaurant, showed her a picture on his cellphone of his penis.
He would also lick Burnham’s face, grab her breasts and, on a weekly basis, the application alleges, “reach through her legs to grab her crotch and hold it while humping her from behind, in front of coworkers.”
Once, Chey asked Burnham for her hand, then “held it over his penis,” the application alleges. Burnham told the Star she had been expecting her boss to place an ingredient in her palm.
Burnham could take it no longer, filed charges with Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal seeking financial damages, a formal apology, and required sensitivity training for the chefs. Meanwhile Burnham’s left the dining scene all together, and now works as a women’s shelter. Meanwhile Mercer and Chey refuse to comment on the allegations, and Lidbury has denied them outright through his attorney.
The whole story’s worth a read but some chefs in Toronto are doing more than that this morning, including Jen Agg of The Black Hoof, who coined the hashtag #KitchenBitches and is organizing a possible series of events to combat workplace sexual harassment.
Toronto is going to be first Kitchen Bitches: Smashing the Patriarchy One Plate at a Time If it goes as planned. TAKING IT ON THE ROAD
— Jen Agg (@TheBlackHoof) June 15, 2015
Follow the #KitchenBitches hashtag here for more details on Agg’s event as it develops.
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