Top Chef alum Stephanie Izard apologizes after being accused of 'culturally appropriating' a Korean dish

Top Chef alum Stephanie Izard is being accused by a fellow Chicago chef of cultural appropriation after she posted a recipe for 'bibimbap' earlier this week on social media.

Bibimbap is a Korean dish usually made with rice topped with sautéed vegetables, chili paste, and meat, sometimes including an egg.

A photo posted Thursday on Izard’s Instagram showed a bowl with beef and topped with cilantro and mint. The post was sponsored content created for New Zealand Beef & Lamb and has since been edited.

This is not the first time the owner of the Girl & The Goat restaurant in Chicago has been accused of cultural appropriation.

In 2016 critics made similar accusations against Izard regarding Duck Duck Goat, a restaurant self-described as “reasonably authentic Chinese food” and again in 2019 with Mexican cuisine she created for the United Center.

Korean-American Won Kim, chef at Kimski in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the South Side of the city, told Eater Chicago "The dish, full of green herbs, looked more like a Thai or Vietnamese dish; at best, it’s Pan Asian but it was not originally described as fusion — the post only called it 'bibimbap' without any cultural context or sign of the dish’s hallmarks like crispy, charred rice from a stone pot." Kimski previously served Korean-Polish food, inspired by the Marszewski family founders

Kim posted an essay on Facebook Friday morning in response to Izard’s post describing his experiences as a poor immigrant growing in West Rogers Park. He described the racism he encountered including taunts for bringing Korean food to school. "The embarrassment, frustration, shame I felt for something I grew up eating almost every day up to this point was something I felt shame for," Kim wrote. “I would struggle with this for a long time.”

Kim added in the post that white chefs have a history of mislabeling international foods, something that frustrates BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), like Kim, who grew up eating their favorite dishes almost in secrecy, trying to avoid racist bullying from classmates and other people who aren’t use to different ingredients and the smells that come with them. He also claims that BIPOC chefs don’t have the same opportunities to share their stories compared to well-known restaurateurs who have a platform and can share a dish without having a personal connection to it.

According to Eater Chicago, Kim’s post received many negative comments including Max Mora, who is well known in the food industry, who posted that Kim was "virtual signaling" and that "Koreans have assimilated. Take it or leave it but this is long-winded whining." Mora added: "Sorry you had it tough growing up. I’m Jewish they snickered at us too. Get over it."

Izard issued an update to the post on Instagram and apology Friday morning.

"This was a misstep on my part that spun out of control and I am sorry. When I was originally brainstorming recipe ideas for this project, I thought of Bibimbap as an inspiration and jotted the recipe idea down as that - from there the recipe went through many variations and channels and ended up very far from traditional [Bibimbap]. I should have made sure the name was changed before it went out to the public and I apologize that it wasn’t. It has since been changed to “Strip Steak Rice Bowl.” I am not a traditional chef and nearly all of my dishes are inspired by flavors from around the world that I love - this experience has helped me realize that I need to be very careful and thoughtful about how I refer to dishes and I will make sure to do so in the future."

Izzard also wrote on Instagram that "What’s also surprising and seems lost in the cultural discussion about the recipe is that it’s an ad for beef imported from the other side of the world. “Just what we look for when we’re sourcing from local farmers here in Chicago, and proud to support the farmers in New Zealand!" According to the Chicago Tribune, the chef has long been known to source from local farmers and ranchers, including Kilgus Farmstead in Illinois for goat meat.