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Women Do Belong in the [Executive] Kitchen
Opportunities for executive chefs are more plentiful than ever. So why aren’t more women heading to the kitchen? Traditionally, the restaurant kitchen was a male domain. But the times are changing, and executive chef positions are increasingly filled by talented women chefs.
Daniel Rogov, wine and restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune (Israeli version), has reviewed numerous texts that purport to explain why women cannot be chefs and has boiled the reasons down to the following five. Women:
- Cannot tolerate the hard work and long hours
- Would rather raise children
- Do not have the same level of taste sensitivity
- View cooking as personal rather than as a business
- Do not have the managerial skills to run a large kitchen
The Times They Are A-changin’
This archaic premise would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. For centuries, male chefs have sought to keep women out of restaurant kitchens and in home kitchens; hence there were fewer chef jobs available for females. But, as Bob Dylan so aptly crooned, “the times they are a-changin.”
Today, more women are setting their sights on executive chef jobs. According to Ann Cooper’s book A Woman’s Place is in the Kitchen, of the 2,134 certified executive chefs in the U.S. today, only 92 are women. However, inroads are slowly being made; the Culinary Institute of America is currently 25% female, up from 5% in 1972.
Female Chefs Rule
More and more top chef jobs are being filled by women—Cris Comerford, Executive Chef at the White House; Mary Sue Millken and Susan Feniger, owners of Border Grill in Santa Monica and Las Vegas and Ciudad in LA; and Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame, to name a few. Many female TV chefs have become household names—Rachel Ray of 30-Minute Meal fame, Ina Garten (the ‘Barefoot Contessa’), Giada De Laurentiis with Everyday Italian, and everyone’s favorite southern belle, Paula Deen.
Chef Jobs Inching Toward Equal Opportunity
Chef jobs are finally becoming equal opportunities for women chefs. If you have culinary talent and are looking for a suitable outlet, culinary school could start you on the path to becoming an executive chef.
Sources
Rogov’s Ramblings
SuperChefBlog
About the Author
Judi Sandall is a technical writer and a regular Chef School Review columnist. She is a graduate of the State University of New York, with a BA in English Literature.
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