February 7, 2013

Quick Reads: “Behind the Kitchen Door” By Saru Jayaraman


book cover

Behind the Kitchen Door

By Saru Jayaraman

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

In a memorable Portlandia episode, a pretentious couple prods a server for absurd details about the locally sourced chicken on the menu. With all our passion for food sustainability, asks Saru Jayaraman, shouldn’t we consider the cooks, runners, and servers who prep our pampered poultry? Jayaraman shows us the dark side of the food industry, which hosts 7 out of the 10 lowest-paid jobs in America, where the federal minimum wage for tipped employees has stood frozen for decades at $2.13 an hour—even as employers pilfer tips, deprive workers of benefits, and allow workplace harassment and prejudice.

 

This review originally appeared in our January/February issue of Mother Jones.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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