Granted, I am much older than these people, but I started working in food service in 1977. That was my first experience with openly gay people (mostly waiters, but some cooks). I never found any place I worked at to be homophobic. Quite the opposite. Some places (Like the Westin before the merger) were gay as the day is long, in every division - and in those days, hotels operated fine dining establishments with real chefs, and were very prominent on the culinary scene.

But it should be said that there was a real migration (or at least it seemed to me) of gay people from hospitality in the 90's, as we found jobs in the tech sector, and that was before the silly glamorizing of chefs that we saw (and continue to see). I left the business in 1997, so who knows how it's been for the last twenty years.

@1 I definitely wanted to delve into the whole "restaurant industry as a welcoming place for marginalized people" thing a bit more, but word count reigns supreme! IMO, fighting bigotry in the restaurant industry is extra important because it's historically been a place where people who would be discriminated against in more traditional industries can go and make a decent living. Interesting point that the glamorization of chefs coincided with a de-gayification of the industry. Probably what gave us that homophobic monster with the frosted tips and flame-emblazoned shirts (Guy Fieri, in case it wasn't obvious).

I didn't know that about Fieri, but I'm not surprised. His restaurants are crass and his recipes are stupid.

At supermarkets across the nation, customers waiting in line—mostly female—flip through magazines displayed at the checkout stand. Bình lọc nước cầm tay Brita
What we find on those magazine racks are countless images of food and, in particular, women: moms preparing lunch for the team, college roommates baking together, working women whipping up a meal in under an hour, dieters happy to find a lowfat ice cream that tastes great.