King Arthur Baking Company recently launched a program to help tackle racial inequality in the baking industry. Predictably, conservatives had a collective meltdown.
You may have seen King Arthur brand flour in supermarkets. You may have even tossed a bag into your cart for holiday baking, or sought out their bread flour for your sourdough. However, King Arthur does more than manufacture flour. The company also teaches classes, publishes cookbooks, and leads baking programs around the U.S.
King Arthur’s latest program is Baking Pitchfest 2024, a competition designed to support people of color who own baking businesses. The description of the program has been removed from the company’s website—more on that in a second—but The Daily Dot quoted it before it was taken down:
“Half mentorship, half competition, Baking Pitchfest is an accelerator program designed to foster greater inclusivity and creativity in the baking world by providing equitable opportunities for People of Color entrepreneurs.”
Pretty harmless, right? After all, the culinary world suffers from the same racism and inequality as other industries. For example, in 2021, The New York Times reported on how Black women chefs are continually passed over for job opportunities and advancement at high-end restaurants.
However, conservative news outlets, along with the conservative denizens of X (formerly Twitter), quickly denounced the program as racist against white people. Chaya Raichik of the notorious hate account Libs of TikTok, for instance, wrote that “anti-white discrimination is the only type of hate that’s permitted,” and implored her followers to boycott King Arthur.
To be clear: King Arthur offers plenty of other programs and classes that are open to all bakers. Pitchfest is just one specific program designed to help a historically marginalized demographic. It’s also telling that if you scroll through the outrage parade on X, none of it seems to be coming from actual professional bakers. Is there a single business owner who desperately wanted to enter this competition, but was crushed to discover that they couldn’t? Anything’s possible, but if that person’s out there, they’re getting lost in the sea of MAGA moms and career trolls. (Also, sometimes you’re just not eligible to enter one specific competition. It happens to literally everybody.)
So why are conservatives so upset about one specific competition, for one specific demographic, within one specific industry? Because they’re white supremacists. Seriously, that’s the answer. It’s truly not any more complicated than that. The thought of leveling the playing field a little terrifies them.
As for Pitchfest itself, the website currently states that the company is “pausing online applications due to overwhelming response to the program.” However, the site provides an email address that potential applicants can use to apply.
(featured image: Ridofranz / Getty Images)
