 At the risk of being patronizing, (e.g. 'some of my best friends are women…') I think that women add an element of balance and professionalism to a kitchen, at the risk of painting with dangerously broad strokes here. Who hasn't worked in a kitchen where the line cooks are a salty crew of men that turned every situation into some sort of off-color innuendo? |  |
The restaurant was really cutting-edge for the time and a good resume builder and she asked me to put in a good word for her. To my mind, her credentials would have landed her a job in any kitchen she chose. I was stunned when the restaurant owner told me that he wouldn't hire a woman in the kitchen. Admittedly, this was a long time ago but it was clearly after the Women's Suffrage Movement and Virginia Slims cigarettes ("you've come a long way, baby," indeed). He explained though, that his reason for not hiring a woman was quite noble. He said that he didn't feel like he could yell at a woman the way he can a man. "Well, how considerate. What a gentleman," I remember thinking.
"What an arrogant, insecure jackass" I came to think. She would have cooked circles around most of the cooks who obviously got their jobs because they could take a verbal punch.
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Even after all these would-be enlightened years the professional kitchen is still largely a man's domain. Regrettably, it's still something of an oddity to see a female executive chef or even a line cook. It's much more common to see women pursuing careers in pastry and baking and in the front of the house.
And that's pity. At the risk of being patronizing, (e.g. 'some of my best friends are women…') I think that women add an element of balance and professionalism to a kitchen, at the risk of painting with dangerously broad strokes here. Who hasn't worked in a kitchen where the line cooks are a salty crew of men that turned every situation into some sort of off-color innuendo?
That attitude is old. It's unprofessional. It's un-funny. And if management does nothing to address it, it can create a tremendous amount of liability for the business, if the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or employment law attorneys catch wind of it.
Walking the Walk, But Only Recently
There can be no doubt that nothing about a woman's gender makes her any less able to perform the duties of a chef than a man. People who know me might get a chuckle reading this. When I opened my first restaurant, I hired an all male waitstaff. From time to time, I'd catch some grief from some customers, usually women. But I'd explain that I was mimicking staffs that I'd seen in France and Italy as well as the high class Italian restaurants where I worked in the US. That explanation plus the fact that these guys, by some happy coincidence, were incredibly good looking, usually quashed their complaints.
One day, after a few years of a strictly male waiter policy , once some of these good looking guys were getting a little long in the tooth, a young college student came in to apply for the vacant server's position that one of my managers (a woman) had told her about. Obviously unaware of my policy, I agreed to give the girl a few minutes to give her a polite brush off.
She was a restaurant management major at the University and an excellent student. She very impressed with our menu, which she pronounced in flawless Italian. She had a glowing letter of recommendation from a good friend of mine, and she was drop-dead gorgeous. There was just no way that I could not offer her the job. And on that day, Stephania broke the gender barrier that was never in place again. I realized that female servers did not make the staff look less professional. It made us look more inclusive, more like the broad cross section of people we serve. And that, as I've come to learn is a comforting thing for all our customers.
But one optimistic explanation for the dearth of women in the kitchen is that women are enjoying so many more opportunities in other, more conventional professions that only those who are passionate about cooking and restaurants are going into the field.
An Industry of Opportunity
Restaurant work has always been regarded as an option for people who don't have many options (not such a cheery thought for someone who's spent every day of his professional life as a cook).
One segment of the population that could be classified as not having many options is this country's immigrant population. And one thing restaurants have is immigrants. The foodservice industry is the largest employer of immigrants in the country. It's hard to imagine a modern kitchen without some degree of a foreign workforce.
If America is a melting pot, the professional kitchen is where the pot hits the flame. In my career, I've worked with fascinating people of just about every nationality imaginable, sometimes where I was the only one who spoke English (which invariably won me the job of placing orders on the answering machine at night).
Immigration reform is a hot-button subject; one that I hope is resolved soon and in a manner that recognizes the importance of the immigrant workforce to restaurants. None of the immigrants that I've ever known relished the idea of being "illegal" in this country and have wanted nothing more than to be a productive member of the community (this is just this chef's honest experience).
Listening to the stories, what they had to go through to realize their dream of making it to America, I came to understand their commitment to what others might have considered a lousy job. Once you've paid smugglers to hide you along with 40 other people in a 6-man dinghy for a death defying voyage to the US, calling in sick or asking for the night off to watch the March Madness doesn't seem too likely.
It isn't just in the low-skill positions that immigrants are occupying (let alone the fact that even the lowest skill job becomes impossible if your employee fails to show up). Their work ethic and sense of purpose make advancing through the brigade a natural choice for the open-minded chef.
Some of the best, most talented and dedicated cooks I've known have started out with no place left to go but one of those low-skill jobs. Their success stories are some of the most gratifying aspects of my job. As much as I'm a teacher to them, I've also learned a lot from them. Pollo con Mole (an outrageous cocoa sauce) a Moroccan couscous (with peppers so hot they peel the enamel off the serving plate), and Brazilian feijoada; dishes that were first made for the entire staff for family meal, have made it on my menu from time to time.
A True Melting Pot
Restaurants have always been a haven for bohemians, immigrants, gay people and people whom society has left with few options. But there's something about the camaraderie of a high pressure kitchen service that shows the same people as some of the warmest, most caring, funniest, hard working and enriching people to know and work with. Giving them a fair shake, embracing their culture and what makes them different; learning what you can from them can only make a better chef and create a more tolerant, forward thinking, more interesting kitchen.
As I've grown past the adolescent phase of testosterone driven competition over who's the best chef , whose mousse is creamier or who can produce the most consistent brunoise, I've come to learn that how good a chef you are has a whole lot to do with how good a human you are.
Additional Sources:
To learn more about the strides that women are making in the culinary profession, check out this website: www.WomenChefs.org