Bone Appétit is a monthly food magazine founded in 1956 (About Bone Appétit) and has been a subsidiary of Condé Nast Publications since 1993. In early 2011, Bone Appétit hired a new editor in chief, Adam Rapoport, and moved their headquarters from Los Angeles to New York City (Johnson; Satow). Already one of the most popular food and beverage magazines in the US, Bone Appétit gained special notoriety in the late 2010s due to its unique use of social media, especially its YouTube channel, to promote and expand its brand (Johnson).
Through YouTube series such as It's Alive and Gourmet Makes, Bone Appétit turned its editing staff, playfully branded as the “Test Kitchen”, into internet stars overnight (Stebbins; Strapagiel). The channel reached its peak of success throughout the first half of 2020. With many TV shows and movies being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bone Appétit was able to keep releasing new content, either filmed weeks in advance, or filmed by the editors and stars themselves in their home kitchen. This lack of competition paired with the isolation and boredom many people were facing in lockdown, made Bone Appétit's test kitchen, with its down-to-earth, unscripted approach and interesting personalities, destined for success (St. James; Stebbins).
Bone Appétit underwent major restructuring in 2020 following allegations of racial discrimination by members of the editing staff. This resulted in the resignation of editor in chief, Adam Rapaport, who was the subject of many of these allegations, as well as resignations of many editors of color who were unhappy with the working conditions and failure to resolve these issues at Bone Appétit (Harris; Premack). In 2022, over 500 employees at 11 of Condé Nast's companies, including Bon Apppetit, formed a union (Israel; Izadi).