While pondering whether we will ever realize how good we had it when riches and plenty were such that the Washington Post could freak out about "gender barriers" in bartending (...let that sink in a moment...) I note the extent to which the Food section is raw agit prop.

From midway down the lead story by M. Carrie Allan, "Get Everyone in the Mix: The craft cocktail has helped some women rise as bartenders, but old biases die hard":

... But it’s made me wonder: When a subculture identifies deeply with a historical heyday in which women and minorities had little place, does some of that baggage seep into modern iterations, disguised as simple aesthetics?

In other words, catch The Thin Man -- all those "simple aesthetics," charming husband, gorgeous wife and men (white men) behind the bar --- while you can.

You'd almost think this was a majority-white-country.

The Post:

In “A Proper Drink,” his new history of the craft cocktail renaissance, Robert Simonson devotes extensive copy to Audrey Saunders and Julie Reiner, two pioneers who opened groundbreaking bars Pegu Club and the Flatiron Lounge and trained a cadre of New York bartenders who went on to become major influencers. 

But he’s quick to acknowledge that in his years writing about cocktails for the New York Times, “I spend a lot of my time interviewing white men.”

Horrors.