‘Pressure Cooker:’ A Look at Marginalization in the Industry

The Journey to Bread and Butter When Netflix advertised Pressure Cooker to me, I thought they were just goading my reality cooking competition interests out. “Sure, I’ll give in to a little hot sauce on my Friday afternoon,” I ignorantly thought to myself. I assumed this will be a culinary competition like usual. I occasionally disagree with the judges, I hear a bit of drama from competitors, I get some inspiration for my own dishes, and call it a day. Pressure Cooker showed me the world behind the reality cooking competition I thought always existed but was edited out for family friendly viewers. I’ve been telling every Black person I know to watch Pressure Cooker whether they are into reality competition cooking shows or not. The kitchen, where taste buds and technique reign supreme, falls into anti-Blackness and complicity as if by magic. Pressure Cooker is a brilliant format for a reality cooking show because it showcases the industry’s problem by taking out the middle man. It lets the environment create itself. It shapes the barricades and within minutes marginalization peaks its head. What could be resolved in more diverse casting, becomes a clear lesson of what we experience regularly.

Pressure Rising I started Pressure Cooker with my partner one Saturday evening over dinner, expecting the regular. We root for everybody Black, and I judge people’s culinary decisions under pressure. The first competition required the contestants to make a dish for everyone within 90 …