Why Do Female Chefs Get Overlooked?

[theHandpuppet]

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/11/11/why-do-female-chefs-get-overlooked?hp&rref=opinion

Many found Time magazine’s story on “The Gods of Food” notable for what was missing — goddesses. There were no female chefs among the list of dieties or in a graphic of major culinary influences. Some chefs and food lovers were angered, others simply said, “So, what’s new?”

Why do female chefs rarely win the adulation and recognition of male chefs?

The debate goes on at the New York Times. See link above.

[In_The_Wind]

1. I think they do.

[pipoman]

2. As an

Executive Chef running 5 kitchens I have a difficult time recruiting women. All of my 4 pastry chefs are women, but chef de cuisine type cook applicants are rarely women. My son who is in culinary school at one of the largest and best known schools in the country has 42 people in his class, 7 are women. The road to becoming a chef in most restaurants, organizations, and facilities requires grueling hours and one can't be too thin skinned..bottom line is that there are easier ways to make the income of a beginning cook/chef without all the bs..

[zazen]

3. how did that particular apprenticeship culture get so abusive?

Seriously--I know so little about it, but this reminds me of all of the discussions in the 80s and 90s (I worked in a med school so that's how I came in contact with it) about how med school interning and residencies involved being verbally abused with impunity by attendings and grueling hours, and how that contributed to women opting out of the worst offending fields, like surgery.

I know there's been an effort in the past 20 years to reform a lot of this. Why hasn't this occurred with culinary schools, do you think?

[pipoman]

4. I isn't as much the schools as the commercial kitchens

the schools often require students to work while in school as part of the training. As with a lot of jobs, if a kitchen has a good employee, more and more of that employee is demanded. On the up side, apprenticeships in cooking are usually at least paid..but the workload of school combined with the demands of a job are overwhelming at times. My son works 45 hours in a restaurant and around 30 at school each week. As for how it became so abusive, it has a couple of centuries of history making it what it is today..A serious commitment and a passion for the work is what drives most who are successful in cooking..

[zazen]

5. thx--never knew that; n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

6. Alan Richman's piece at the OP is good

"Macho Men in the Kitchen Keep Women Down"

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/11/11/why-do-female-chefs-get-overlooked/macho-men-in-the-kitchen-keep-women-down