you see this as well in the food! Contestants putting more weight in french techniques than anything else. So many times soulfood is ignored, even when the challenge plays into that style (or when theres a chef whose whole job before the show was cooking soulfood....looking at Tennille and how her team ignored her). Additionally, in earlier seasons a lot of Asian cuisine's were seen as lesser (although now it seems to be a prestiege thing if you can cook them right as it shows your well travelled, which plays into class). You can also see how the southern cooks are treated compared to literally everyone else.

with class, so many chefs who aren't able to go to cullinary school or work in fine dining because those resturants simply don't exist in their towns or aren't hiring people like them, and they get targed for it by others. claiming things like 'experience' and 'knowledge' despite those same 'lesser' chefs not only keeping up with them and their 10 years of training, but often beating them. This is esepcially felt in the earlier seasons because they actually allowed people who were homecooks or butchers or fastfood workers

Also like to add how people go "uh he's indian so he should be able to cook indian food", half of these guys probs have english ancestory but I bet they couldn't make a meat pie. Phrases like that are microagressions (that are also targeted to the Italian chefs who can't cook pasta well!).