Sohla El-Waylly

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Sohla El-Waylly
Born
Sohla Muzib

1984/1985 (age 36–37) [1][2]
Los Angeles
Spouse(s)Hisham "Ham" El-Waylly
Culinary career
Previous restaurant(s)
Television show(s)
Websitewww.hellosohla.com

Sohla El-Waylly (née Muzib, Bengali: সোহলা মুজিব[3][4]) is an American chef, restaurateur, and YouTube personality. She was an assistant food editor at Bon Appétit, where she appeared in videos produced for the magazine's YouTube channel, and also produced videos with Andrew Rea on the Babish Culinary Universe YouTube channel. She currently hosts a food column and video series on other platforms.

Early life and education[]

El-Waylly was raised in Los Angeles in a Bengali-American family. The family owned a Baskin-Robbins store. El-Waylly continued in the restaurant industry by working for Outback Steakhouse.

El-Waylly went to UC Irvine, where she studied economics and worked at a Cheesecake Factory on the side.[5]

Beginning in 2008, El-Waylly attended The Culinary Institute of America (CIA).[3] She says that while at CIA, she was sexually harassed by a dean, and when she spoke up a female dean told her, "That's what happens in the real world. You better get used to it."[5]

Career[]

After graduating, El-Waylly worked at restaurants in New York City such as Atera, which has two Michelin stars, and Del Posto, owned by Joe Bastianich.[6]

In March 2016, El-Waylly and her husband opened a diner called Hail Mary in Brooklyn, which attracted favorable reviews.[7][8] However, it closed after 11 months, which El-Waylly attributes in part to opening Hail Mary without other investors, and in part to the expectations of white customers.[9][6] In a 2017 interview with GQ, El-Waylly explained that customers often entered Hail Mary expecting "foreign or exotic ingredients" because of the owners' cultural backgrounds; she stated "There would have been more leeway allowed in the food shrouded by illusion of ‘authenticity’...There are white chefs that can pull from different cultures without explanation, but us making white food always needs a thesis behind it."[9] El-Waylly worked at Serious Eats as a culinary editor through most of 2018 and joined Bon Appétit magazine in August 2019. At Bon Appétit, she worked as an assistant food editor and appeared regularly on the magazine's popular YouTube channel.[10][11]

In June 2020, a photo of Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport in brownface resurfaced online and sparked widespread criticism.[12] During an emergency company-wide Zoom meeting, El-Waylly called for Rapoport to step down.[2] She then publicly accused the magazine of discriminating towards employees of color, claiming they were subject to lesser pay than their non-minority counterparts. Rapoport resigned the same day.[13][14] In August 2020, El-Waylly announced on her Instagram that she would no longer appear in videos on the magazine's YouTube channel due to continued lack of progress by Condé Nast Entertainment in resolving the issues that had arisen, though she would continue to contribute recipes and articles to the magazine and website. Soon after, she announced she had completely severed ties with Bon Appétit.[15]

On September 23, 2020, a new series titled Stump Sohla was announced, which would be hosted on Andrew Rea's Babish Culinary Universe YouTube channel. The show premiered the next day.[16] El-Waylly said she decided to work with Rea because she would have more creative control and direct cut of the video revenue. "I just really don't want to be a prop," she said in an interview with New York magazine.[5] Rea and El-Waylly ended their collaboration in early 2021. El-Waylly also began a weekly column with Food52 called "Off-Script with Sohla" and is writing a cookbook.[5]

El-Waylly hosts a web series for the American TV network History titled Ancient Recipes with Sohla.[17] She also hosts a show for the NYT Cooking YouTube channel titled Mystery Menu.[18]

Personal life[]

El-Waylly lives in New York City with her husband, fellow chef Hisham "Ham" El-Waylly.[3][19] They met while they were both attending the Culinary Institute of America.[20]

References[]

  1. ^ Burke, Caroline (June 8, 2020). "Sohla El-Waylly: Bon Appetit Editor Speaks Out About Alleged Racism & Discrimination". Heavy.com. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Baer, Stephanie. "The Editor Of Bon Appétit Is Resigning After A Photo Of Him In Brownface Resurfaced". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Costantino, D.J. (January 2017). "Rising Star Chef Ham & Sohla El-Waylly of Hail Mary - Biography". StarChefs. Archived from the original on January 5, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  4. ^ Racine, Patti (October 6, 2010). "'Veggies and Vino' a perfect pairing". recordonline.com. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Jung, E. Alex (October 14, 2020). "Sohla El-Waylly Goes Solo". Vulture.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Shah, Khushbu (April 25, 2017). "What Happens When a Brown Chef Cooks White Food?". GQ. New York City: GQ. Archived from the original on May 22, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  7. ^ "The Feed: An 'Un-Serious' Diner in Brooklyn". Wall Street Journal. May 17, 2016. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  8. ^ Nell, Casey (February 14, 2017). "Ambitious Gourmet 'Diner' Hail Mary Closes In Greenpoint". Gothamist. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Shah, Khushbu (April 25, 2017). "What Happens When a Brown Chef Cooks White Food?". GQ. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  10. ^ VanDerWerff, Emily (April 21, 2020). "How Bon Appétit's wildly popular YouTube channel is making videos in quarantine". Vox. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  11. ^ Beggs, Alex (August 3, 2019). "What My Dream Grocery Store Looks Like". Bon Appétit. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  12. ^ "Instagram post by Adam Rapoport • Jun 8, 2020 at 11:21pm UTC". Instagram. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  13. ^ Alexandra Steigrad (June 8, 2020). "Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport called to resign over brownface photo". New York Post. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  14. ^ Severson, Kim (June 8, 2020). "Bon Appétit Editor Adam Rapoport Resigns". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  15. ^ Premack, Rachel. "3 of Bon Appétit's Test Kitchen stars of color are departing the video channel after failed contract negotiations". Business Insider. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  16. ^ Hayes, Dade (September 23, 2020). "Sohla El-Waylly, Chef Known For Bon Appétit Video Cameos, Gets A Show Of Her Own On Binging With Babish". Deadline. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  17. ^ "Ancient Recipes with Sohla". History Channel.
  18. ^ Sifton, Sam. "What to Cook This Week". The New York Times.
  19. ^ "Greenpoint's Hail Mary is a Cheeky Multicultural Riff on the American Diner".
  20. ^ Kennedy, Alicia (February 10, 2017). "The Couple Behind Greenpoint Diner Hail Mary Draws Zero Lines Between Home and Work". Edible Brooklyn. Archived from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

External links[]

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