This Incredible Editorial: Race in America.

At the start of 2009, we joined the rest of the country in guarded optimism about America's racial progress. This has been our issue since the late nineteen-fifties, when we were the first national publication to describe Sidney Poiter as "handsome." We were also the first to print James Baldwin's recollections of growing up black and gay, though we made a small editorial goof in asking him to recast several characters as precocious talking pigs. Still, no one can deny this is a cause close to our hearts.

Which is why were so saddened by what happened last night.



What does it say when a prominent African-American attempts to speak truth to power and is literally jeered offstage by an angry mob? What does it say when his proximity to a Southern belle who could have escaped intact from the pages of Margaret Mitchell is enough to have him physically evicted from American TV?

It says that we have not come as far as we would like.

We must admit that Kanye West has not been on our radar until now. From the evidence we've (briefly) reviewed, he seems a courageous young man who has managed a successful recording career despite the disability of having to sing through a mechanical larynx. We've also found very few photos of Mr. West in which he is not wearing dark glasses - indicating he is perhaps a sightless man who may have been unaware he was on-camera, or even on-stage, when he voiced his protest.

No matter; these are just excuses for an act that ultimately needs none. Mr. West did what courageous members of his race have done since Rosa Parks - stand up and be counted. He "saw" - if he can indeed see - an injustice, and he acted to right it. Boy, did he. We owe him great thanks for the national conversation that his lonely heroism will no doubt spark.

In the coming days, we hope that Barack Obama - a president whose election we helped bring about - will join with These Incredible Times in speaking up on West's behalf. If not ... well, I think we have a pretty good idea of whose name we'll be writing in come 2012.

The Editor(s)

Voices From The Future: A Rising Star Speaks.

Delegates to the National Association of Radio & Television Chefs were dazzled today by a speech from a man many of them had probably never heard of. Largely unknown outside of Missouri cable access, Kevin Rodbin - the charismatic 36-year-old host of "In the Kitchen with K-Rod" - has been dubbed "the Barack Obama of TV chefs."

His speech today showed why.

Fellow delegates:

We meet at an auspicious time for our industry. But it also a time fraught with uncertainty. For though Americans are consuming more food than ever and watching more shows about it, they are growing more and more dissatisfied.

When the average American takes his or her family out to eat these days, what do they find? They find an overabundance of mozzarella sticks. They find perfectly good potatoes drowned in bacon and chives. They find "rare" and "well-done" no longer mean what they used to in this country. They find appetizers at odds with the main course.

And when they look to us in the culinary broadcasting arts, what do they see? All too often, it's division, infighting and jockeying for position.

Sadly, it seems that many of my colleagues would rather be Top Chef than create a topping that is both tasty and nutritious.

(APPLAUSE)

Now - now is the time to put aside our petty differences and come together - not to compete but to advance a common agenda; not to bash each others roast turkey, but to baste with renewed vigor.

It is time to throw away the failed recipes of the past and start anew.

(APPLAUSE)

It is time to move the gravy-boat of change across the table-cloth of destiny until the whole American family has enjoyed a second helping!

(STANDING OVATION)

All of us chefs should know the importance of uniting for the public good. It may sometimes take only one person to prepare a meal, and only one to enjoy it, but it takes a group of us working together to make it a special dining experience. And it takes an entire digestive system to process that meal and flush it out, so that the customer can come back and eventually become a regular.

If we need inspiration as we move forward along our path, we need only remember the courage of those that came before us. Paul Prudhomme and Justin Wilson taught us not to be afraid of spices. "The Frugal Gourmet" showed us how to cook within our means, and though he lived an imperfect life, his example still shines. And of course, there was Julia Child.

(APPLAUSE; TEARS FORM IN EYES OF BOBBY FLAY)

I want to share a note that Julia wrote me over fifteen years ago, when I was just a student struggling through culinary school. It has not been read publicly until now:

"Kevin:

Your chicken-and-dumplings sound delicious! But perhaps more paprika?"

(STANDING OVATION; OUTRIGHT SOBBING FROM RACHEL RAY, GORDON RAMSEY, EMERIL LAGASSE & OTHER DIGNITARIES)

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the American palate!

(Video later)