Alison Roman Says She Hasn't Been Cooking Since Chrissy Teigen Comments Led to Her Job 'Shake-Up'

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Alison Roman is earnestly looking to learn from the "huge shake-up" she recently endured both personally and professionally.

The food writer was recently put on a "temporary leave" from The New York Times after facing backlash for some comments she made about Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo to The New Consumer. In the interview, she said Teigen's business empire "horrifies" her, and that Kondo has "capitalized" on her fame. She later apologized for her remarks.

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On Tuesday, Roman shared with her followers that she's "still processing" her quick fall from grace, and admitted that she hasn't been in the kitchen too much during this time. 

"I haven't been cooking and won't pretend I have, so here's a bowl of compost, which- a metaphor in there somewhere, I think!" she captioned a photo of a bowl of food scraps.

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HI! I want to thank everyone who's reached out and taken the time to write to me over the last few weeks. I am still working my way through each email (of which there are...a lot!), so if I haven't gotten back to you yet, please know I will. The kindness, empathy, tough love, vulnerability and, honesty demonstrated by everyone who wrote in sharing experiences, book recommendations, anecdotes, and thoughtful advice has been overwhelming in the best way. I'm genuinely excited to turn this moment into positive, actionable change and so insanely grateful for even having that opportunity. This was a huge shake-up for me both personally and professionally, and I'm still processing so much, but know that I'm working on it and thinking about it 24/7. The issues brought to light by this whole thing won't be fixed overnight, and the healing process for many will be long, but I'm committed to doing the work to make it better. As for the other kind of work, for the foreseeable future, you can find me in that newsletter I started 3 years ago and never sent out lol. There will be recipes, reader emails, recommendations, and discussions about things that I hope you will like or find helpful. In lieu of the comments section or DMs, I encourage you to submit questions/comments/concerns to qcc@alisoneroman.com, the idea being to share some of them in the newsletter (I am learning "the comments section" is not the best place for public discourse). Anyway! I haven't been cooking and won't pretend I have, so here's a bowl of compost, which- a metaphor in there somewhere, I think! Link to subscribe to the untitled newsletter in the bio.

A post shared by Alison Roman (@alisoneroman) on

Roman also offered her fans an update on what she plans to do next. "I'm genuinely excited to turn this moment into positive, actionable change and so insanely grateful for even having that opportunity. This was a huge shake-up for me both personally and professionally, and I'm still processing so much, but know that I'm working on it and thinking about it 24/7," she wrote. "The issues brought to light by this whole thing won't be fixed overnight, and the healing process for many will be long, but I'm committed to doing the work to make it better."

She added of her professional life, "As for the other kind of work, for the foreseeable future, you can find me in that newsletter I started three years ago and never sent out, lol. There will be recipes, reader emails, recommendations, and discussions about things that I hope you will like or find helpful."

In the lengthy Instagram message, Roman was quick to thank those who have reached out during this time. "The kindness, empathy, tough love, vulnerability and, honesty demonstrated by everyone who wrote in sharing experiences, book recommendations, anecdotes, and thoughtful advice has been overwhelming in the best way," she said. 

One person that has been very kind to Roman during this time is Teigen. In response to a fan asking about their so-called beef, the cookbook author tweeted, "I'm not happy with the NYT leave so she def can't laugh about it yet. It just sucks in every way."

"I very publicly forgave Alison and that was real. When I said I don't believe in being cancelled for your honest opinion, that was very real," Teigen added in response to a separate tweet. "I don't agree with what the NYT has done, I am not them. I didn't call them, I didn't write, and most of all, I'd like her back."

However, upon first seeing the interview with Roman's quotes about her, Teigen did tweet to her followers that she was mostly "bummed" because she looked up to the 34-year-old food writer. Roman then issued a lengthy apology for the "stupid, careless and insensitive" remarks she made.

"I'm not the victim here, and my insecurities don't excuse this behavior," Roman wrote in part. "I'm a white woman who has and will continue to benefit from white privilege and I realize that makes what I said even more inexcusable and hurtful. The fact that it didn't occur to me that I had singled out two Asian women is one hundred percent a function of my privilege (being blind to racial insensitivities is a discriminatory luxury)."

"I know that our culture frequently goes after women, especially women of color, and I'm ashamed to have contributed to that," she continued. "I want to lift up women and support women of color, my actions indicated the opposite."

Teigen responded to her apology, tweeting, "Thank u for this, @alisoneroman."

Meanwhile, Kondo has yet to comment on the controversy. 

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