Dine & Dish #2: Queen of Cuisine

When Sarah announced that the second theme for Dine & Dish was Queen of Cuisine, I applauded. About time we heralded and celebrated the culinary paid efforts of females in the hospitality industry.

Until I stopped to think about how many restaurants I knew of--off the top of my head--that were fronted by females. Um... Kylie Kwong and her Billy Kwong restaurant. And... errr... ahhh...

A little more research and I've come up with Vanessa Martin from Il Piave, Karen Martini from Bondi Icebergs, Jane Booth of Booker's Cafe and Elaine Lee from the Westin's Mosaic restaurant.

And these are all great female chefs. At fantastic restaurants. The upper echelons of dining experiences... and er, monetary extraction. But is that the sum total?

As pointed out by Keith Austin in the SMH here:

"...of the 62 Sydney restaurants awarded chef's hats in the Good Food Guide 2004 only three had kitchens led by women."

He quotes Jane Booth as saying:

"Lots of young male chefs don't like being told what to do by a woman, they find it very difficult. I just think you've got to be really strong, just got to keep telling them that that's the way you want it done. You've got to believe in why you're there and why you're in charge. You've got to believe in yourself, I guess."

Is it any surprise that the female chefs who do survive the notorious entrenched sexism, channel that determination to the very top? Where are all the female head chefs in local restaurants; middle market eateries; pub bistros? It seemed that every kitchen I looked into over the past couple of weeks was filled with males!

I know there are more female head chefs out there. And I'm sure there are plenty more female sous chefs, chef-d-parties and demi-chefs.

So instead I'm celebrating all the women who toil over hot stoves or chopping boards or kitchen counters, not just the ones at the top. I'm saluting the friendly Vietnamese lady who satiates my bun mit cravings, the Chinese women who stand all day hand-making dumplings at Mother Chu's, the Turkish mothers who roll out moutains of gozleme at every outdoor event in Sydney, the females who work out the back for all the guts and little of the glory.

So this is a non-entry entry. On the one hand, I feel compelled to shake Sydney by the shoulders and demand more female chef profiling and a less testosterone-fuelled kitchen. On the other, I say meh, maybe we should relish men slaving away in the kitchen for a change =)

Check out the full wrap-up of Dine and Dish Queens of Cuisine here.