Soleil Ho
Soleil Ho (born 1987 or 1988)[1] is an American chef, food writer, podcaster, and restaurant critic. Formerly co-host of the podcast The Racist Sandwich,[2] Ho became the food critic at the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019, replacing Michael Bauer.[1] Ho left the position in 2023, becoming a part of the Chronicle's opinion desk.[3] Ho was awarded the James Beard Award for Criticism in 2022, and was nominated for the same award in 2020 and 2023.[4]
Early life and education
Born into a Vietnamese-American family in rural Illinois, Ho was raised in New York City with their mother Francie, who worked in the fashion industry, and their sister.[5] They graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 2005.[6] Ho graduated from Grinnell College in 2009.[1]
Career
In 2019, they replaced Michael Bauer, who retired after 32 years as the restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle.[7] Ho has joked that Bauer, their predecessor at the newspaper, held the job since they were "not even a fetus".[1] In their first year, they produced a new methodology for the Chronicle's listicles, prioritizing diversity, affordability and localness, detailing ADA compliance and plant-based options, using public transportation, and eliminating starred reviews.[5]
Literary works
Ho is careful about the connotations of the words they select. A specific example is that they do not use the term "kaffir lime" because kaffir is a racial slur in South Africa. More generally, they do not think that "ethnic" food is a legitimate concept. Ho says "The imprecision of the word—and the assumption that it doesn’t apply equally to people and cuisines associated with Europe or white America—gives me such a headache."[8] They consider terms like "sustainable," "responsibly grown" and "farm-to-table" to be marketing buzzwords that are too often abused.[9] Ho is especially critical of gentrification in their writing, expressing concern that food writing can function as "the language of real estate marketing".[5] Ho mentions poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib, food critic Ruth Reichl and newspaper critic-at-large Wesley Morris as among their influences. Ho says that they want to write about restaurants that "tell a story" which may focus on "race, gender, class or the culture of the Bay Area".[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedJudkis - ↑ Hung, Melissa (December 14, 2017). "'Racist Sandwich': This podcast wants you to think critically about race and food". NBC News.
- ↑ Crowley, Chris (8 February 2023). "Why San Francisco's Top Restaurant Critic Is Resigning After Just Four Years". Grub Street. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
- ↑ "Awards Search | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Kirts, Leo (19 July 2024). "Meet the Nonbinary Food Writer Reimagining Restaurant Criticism". Them. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
- ↑ Barry, Dan (2005-06-25). "For This Class, 'Remember When' Mingles With 'Never Forget'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
- ↑ Carman, Tim (December 5, 2018). "San Francisco Chronicle hires writer and 'Racist Sandwich' podcast host Soleil Ho as its new restaurant critic". Washington Post. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
- ↑ Oatman, Maddie (March 23, 2019). "Stop Calling It "Ethnic Food"—and More Tips on How to Talk About Eating". Mother Jones. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
- ↑ Barmann, Jay (February 28, 2019). "New Chronicle Critic Soleil Ho Drops a Doozy of a Review of Chez Panisse, Calls It 'Stale'". SFist. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved May 12, 2019.