To continue on the grand tradition of me not knowing things that I probably should, I learned about queer influence on cooking. Specifically, how like three gay writers really helped shape the entire food culture of the states. Eighteenth verse same as the first, say it with me y’all, “It’s not anything I’ve ever really thought about.” I grew up in the Bible Belt in a town of 7000 people where the nearest movie theater was 45 minutes away: we didn’t really have openly queer people just roaming the streets, and certainly not running what I would be hesitant to call restaurants (Mcdonalds, Sonic, two or three mom and pop breakfast joints). There was pretty much about four queer kids in the high school that flocked to the Harry Potter club like tiny rainbow moths to a lamp, and none of them were particularly adept cooks.
My up-close experience with aspiring chefs comes entirely from the one time in High School I took a home economics class and it was like… 90% homemaker FFA girls and about 10% awkward kids that just needed something to fill their schedules (and then, about a week into the semester, I could see the light die behind their eyes. They made some mistakes.) As far as I know/remember, it was heterosexuals as far as they eye could see.
I do feel that about the whole ‘not wanting to be called a gay chef is like not wanting to be called a female author’. Cause like, I’m just an author. I just write things. But I also do things differently from male authors (based on experience with some… interesting classmates) in the way I structure things or how I choose and design my main character.
I don’t know, y’all. My brain’s halfway down the imaginary hole I’m digging in my backyard and I think this is just as good as it’s gonna get today.
Will Write for Food 