Welcome to the QFAB club

Hello and welcome…..

Thanks for stopping by for the first blog post ever on the Queers in Food and Beverage (QFAB) brand new spanking website.

The reason I have founded QFAB is because it’s something I have thought about A LOT. It’s something that I searched for, hoping it already existed, because I wanted to be a part of something that married two big parts of my identity: my work as a chef and being a queer woman. Since something like this didn’t yet exist in the UK and London more specifically, that inspired me to make it happen. So here I am starting something that I hope you might also want to exist, and something you might want to be a part of!

I have big ideas for what QFAB could be and I hope you, and everyone queer or LGBTQ+ in this industry, can help be a part of making this project work for us, and hopefully make a difference to our community and industry.

What has come into focus for me in the last few years is the importance of community. Personally, I have felt a void at times within my experience as a chef. I have been one of the only women, as well as the only queer person, in so many of my work places, especially as a younger less experienced chef. I began to long for somewhere where I could talk and share my stories with others, and hear about other people’s experiences and thoughts on the many issues queer people in all kinds of roles face in bars and bakeries, cafes and restaurants, and as food writers or producers or other kinds of professionals.

In the mainstream it is rare for to see those who look visibly queer in positions of prominence in this industry, especially in the UK. If they are queer it is not necessarily explicitly mentioned or discussed, but why is this? It is even rarer to see trans, non binary, or queer and trans people of colour in these positions. This simply needs to change and it is about time!

Luckily Instagram has helped to highlight just how many amazing queers exist in the food and beverage industry, but this took me many years to really unearth.

I hope QFAB will be able to showcase the passion and talent that I know already exists within our community and bring it to wider audience. We will aim to welcome everyone, but will strive to highlight the voices of marginalised communities within our network.

I hope you like it and please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any thoughts, criticism or compliments, I would really appreciate the feedback to be honest.

Lots of love,

Rachel x