The Editor's Hospitality Blog

I'm fascinated by the Sunday Mirror's story about a kitchen porter's claims that he suffered racial harassment and discrimination, religious discrimination and victimisation at Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant in Chelsea.

The paper quoted a friend of Ramsay's as saying:

"Gordon employs more than 1,000 people of all nationalities. He spends a fortune sponsoring youngsters who want to be chefs through the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship Programme. It is a real hot-house in a kitchen and people shout and swear all the time - but he would never tolerate racism."

This is a fair comment. The commercial kitchen has to be the most testosterone-charged of workplaces, as well as one of the most racially diverse, and banter goes with the territory. As for Gordon himself, he has forged a hugely successful TV career out of being a foul-mouthed genius of the kitchen, but his abuse is blind to colour and creed - he'll tell anyone to f**k off out of his kitchen.

The question, then, is this: when does banter go too far? And can employers ever hope to keep it within the boundaries of acceptability?

Let me know what you think.

A few months ago I posted a story about a kitchen porter at Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant in Chelsea who claimed he had been a victim of racial harassment and religious victimisation.

The story set me thinking about how you can ensure healthy banter doesn's get out of hand in the commercial kitchen. Check out this response to the posting from a chef, who thinks there is still a place for a good bollocking in the kitchen from time to time:

The head chef's job is to make sure all foods go out the kitchen to his standard not his underlings'. If this does not happen the chef loses his rag - is this not acceptable?

Do you agree or disagree? let us know.