Community Reads - Forked by Saru Jayaraman
Support for Amesbury Eats Equality Now and our Community Read of Forked by Saru Jayaraman comes from Penguin Random House Foundation. Visit the library to browse additional books in our Amesbury Eats display on the first floor.
In addition to the discussion questions we've also compiled a list of some additional resources you might explore to extend the conversation and learn more about the issues raised in the book.
Questions for discussion:
- What is the primary message of this book? Do the issues raised by the author regarding the restaurant workforce feel personal to you or relevant to your life?
- The author raised several issues in this book regarding current conditions and equality in the restaurant industry. Did this book seem one sided to you?Did you feel the author addressed both sides of the issue? Do you feel you understand the challenges in moving toward “one fair wage.”
- What does the author argue is the relationship between tipping and sexual harassment?
- If your paycheck were dependent on the whims of consumers how would you react if your boss encouraged you to accept or allow behavior that made you feel uncomfortable or unsafe for the sake of tips?
- After reading this book will you change anything about the way in which you chose where you eat out?
- Do you feel you have more information to start a conversation either with restaurant workers or owners?
- Imagine what your job would be like if you worked primarily for tips. How would your work change? Would anything improve? What might be more challenging?
- The author acknowledges there are challenges for employers to “take the high road” What challenges seem particularly hard to tackle?
- The author cites that 90% of restaurant workers nationwide report having no paid sick days. What consequences does this have for the employee? What consequences does this have for the health of the community?
- On page 13 the author cites a CDC statistic related to the spread of viruses. Did this statistic surprise you?
Further Reading and Resources
Further Reading:
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/books/tracie-mcmillan-writes-the-american-way-of-eating.html
https://www.restaurant.org/Home
https://www.marketplace.org/2016/04/22/world/ugly-history-tipping-america
https://blog.mass.gov/masslawlib/misc/no-tipping-policies/
Podcasts:
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/should-tipping-be-banned-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/danny-meyer/
https://www.marketplace.org/2016/07/05/restaurant-economics/