“If you don’t look at the clock, time goes by faster,” I say to the chef de partie I’m working with in the kitchen at Lazy Bear, the Michelin-starred restaurant in the Mission where I’ve been a commis chef for the past seven months, prepping ingredients and plating food.

“You should say that in an African accent,” says a white chef who is standing nearby.

I stop picking the herbs we need for garnish and look at this chef, unable