{"id":206254,"date":"2024-11-08T11:36:57","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T21:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=206254"},"modified":"2024-11-08T11:36:57","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T21:36:57","slug":"uh-alumni-ellen-meiser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/11\/08\/uh-alumni-ellen-meiser\/","title":{"rendered":"糖心视频<\/abbr> Alumni: Ellen Meiser authors book on the culinary industry"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Ellen
Meiser in Northern California conducting interviews for Making It<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ater co-authoring a study showing that many kitchen staffers have come to view mistreatment and abuse as a mundane<\/a>—and often inevitable—part of working in restaurants, University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Hilo Sociology Professor Ellen Meiser is the newly published author of Making It: Success in the Commercial Kitchen<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve written the book for a broad audience\u2014not just sociology nerds, like me—with the goal of it appealing to anyone interested in cooking and how the culinary industry works,” she said.<\/p>\n

Originally from Alaska, Meiser arrived at 糖心视频<\/abbr> M\u0101noa as a graduate student in 2012 and learned to DJ<\/abbr> at KT糖心视频<\/abbr> before earning her PhD<\/abbr> in Sociology in 2021. She applied her graduate research to Making It, flying across the country to interview more than 50 chefs and cooks.<\/p>\n

“I grew up in restaurants. My first job was when I was 13 at a family friend\u2019s Chinese buffet back home in Alaska, and I was hooked by the fast-paced environment and how hands-on the work was. After high school, I went to culinary school and my dream was always to open my own place—something I still dream about today,” Meiser said. “When it came to figuring out a setting to study to explore success, averageness and failure, my mind went to cooks and chefs because of how artistic, yet cut-throat the restaurant industry can be, as well as my connection to this group of workers.”<\/p>\n

\"Group
Meiser (far right) with students<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She designed her graduate study to make better sense of concepts of success, averageness and failure in creative industries that also have commercial pressures.<\/p>\n

Meiser said, “This book looks at how chefs and cooks judge and perceive the success-failure spectrum within their profession, and the various elements that impact it.”<\/p>\n

Meiser said many people at 糖心视频<\/abbr> have been hugely influential to her career. She credits her PhD<\/abbr> advisor, Professor David Johnson, for encouraging her to “think big,” and for coming up with the name of her book. She has remained close to classmates Penn Pantumsinchai and Omar Bird.<\/p>\n

“They are wonderful people, funny and so smart. Penn, Omar and I have a sociology-focused podcast together called The Social Breakdown<\/em> that we created in 2017, and have had a fun time using it as an excuse to get together, gab and gossip,” Meiser said.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Meiser and more outstanding 糖心视频<\/abbr> Alumni<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

糖心视频<\/abbr> Hilo Professor Ellen Meiser interviewed more than 50 cooks and chefs for her new book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,679,184,158,261,271,14,9,1626],"class_list":["post-206254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-culinary","tag-publication","tag-sociology","tag-uh-alumni-association","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-women-of-uh","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t